Thursday, May 9th saw the annual hockey games—Slapshots for a Cause—take place, a charity event that brings together people from all over the aftermarket industry every year.

The brainchild of Brad Shaddick, former Director of Sales, DRIV Canada, the guys and girls gathered at the CAA Centre in Brampton for the 33^rd faceoff of this popular matchup.

Matt Koval, Chairman of the board for Slapshots thanked everyone for turning out for this cause but mentioned it was also a time to have fun and enjoy a game that had some serious roots. Brad Shaddick then gave everyone a brief history of how Slapshots started and why. This is all very interesting and fully explained on their website—slapshotsforacause.ca.

Four full teams

This year four full teams took to the ice to see who would win the coveted Lube Koval Trophy—the person who originally donated the ice time and money to the cause. Sadly, Koval has since passed away but his wife, Jan has very kindly donated the ice time for this event ever since. I think it should also be noted that taking part in the games was eleven-year-old Maddox Koval, grandson of Lube and Jan and the third generation to take part in Slapshots for a Cause. He was a welcome addition to the lineup.

The winner of the Lube Koval Trophy was the White Team consisting of Nick Swinton, Tyler Brown, Mitch Brown all from Gates Canada; Tony and Cory Racioppo of Fincham Automotive Supplies; Ryan Earley from Armatures DNS 2000 Inc., Dave Cochrane and Cassie Clayton from Delphi and Tim and Carson Knight from Automotive Trade Supply. Way to go everyone!

The winner of the ‘Chuck a Puck’ was Matt Koval, who’s puck landed closest to the red line at centre ice, and the donated Connor McDavid jersey was won by Alfred Abouelnil.

The Cause

As stated, this is a Charity Event and again this year the monies raised went to the Canada Ukraine Foundation to help the people in need in the war area—many of whom have lost their homes, belongings, family and friends to this disastrous conflict. All monies will certainly help, and this year Slapshots for a Cause presented a volunteer from the Foundation—Oksana Kuzyshyn with a cheque for $10,000. This brings the total donated to charity by Slapshots to $226,000! Everyone who donates and attends this event should be very proud of themselves.

This a great charity event for a great cause but also a chance for those in the industry to get together, play a friendly game of hockey, have something to eat and drink but especially help people in dire need of funds and support.

Next year tell everyone you know about this event. It’s always in May and you will get notice earlier in the year. Slapshots for a Cause has their own website and of course, you’ll also see it on Autosphere.ca. Maybe you’d also like to be a sponsor and join the following elite group…

Platinum

• Tenneco DRIV
• Gates Canada
• Autosphere.ca
• Delphi
• Ideal Supply

Gold

• Modern Sales Co-op
• Pico/Techspan
• Cawthra Automotive Supplies
• Standard Motor Products

Bronze

• Mevotech
• Duplicolor
• ZPS
• Ware’s Automotive & Industrial

Participants from:

• Specialty Sales & Marketing
• CRC
• Tenneco DRIV
• Kleen-Flo
• Wakefield
• Bumper to Bumper
• ERI
• National Sales
• Armatures DNS 2000
• Fincham Automotive Supplies
• Magna Charge
• Gates Canada
• Delphi
• Ideal Supply
• Automotive Trade Supply
• Outsourced Inc.

And from most of the sponsors listed above.

Remember to tell others and be on the ice next year!