While every game in the Dawg Bowl Tourney is fantastic, and showcases not only great hockey, but truly great people, it is our Survivor Game that is the highlight of the weekend. This year we set our sights on Traumatic Brain Injury Awareness. Following the premier of our newest and most inspiring DNHF video (thank you Landon Smith and Brandon Leid for all your work on this), the National Anthem sung beautifully by Addison Thall, and a puck drop by our own Dawg Father’s mom, Ortrud Richardson, we welcomed several new Survivors to our roster, and highlighted Van Stone, Jonny Landis, Paul Zancanelli V, and Siena Garaffa, who have all suffered traumatic brain injuries. While their lives have been altered, their spirit and drive have allowed them to relearn those skills most of us take for granted, like walking and talking. These incredible athletes have stories that are nothing short of inspiring, and like all of our Survivors, have overcome incredible odds to be back on the ice. The standing room only crowd cheered wildly as each of Survivor took to the ice… with Siena scoring first, and Van getting an assist, followed by Jonny scoring an amazing hat trick plus one! With Paul’s dad pushing his sled, he too was able to be part of the exciting shoot out, and everyone was on their feet cheering, with barely a dry eye in the house. Proving once again hockey heals!
We were also honored to be joined by the Samuelson Family at center ice for a check presentation. Keenan Samuelson is battling stage four liver cancer, and while he couldn’t be with us during his treatments, his family came and he live-streamed the event, as teammates, friends and all of Dawg Nation gathered in support and presented them with a check for $50K.
We want to give a huge shout of thanks to Marathon Medical for sponsoring this year’s Survivor Game, Craig Hospital for sponsoring the jerseys and to K1 Sportswear for their usual tremendous work in designing the special jerseys. We simply couldn’t do this without you all.