Games combine hockey, charity
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They've traveled a million miles from Madison Square Garden to Honolulu and raised more than $1 million for the Seattle Ronald McDonald House and local charities.
And these hockey players — Microsoft executives and engineers, former NHL stars, film and television actors, Hawaiian Airlines pilots and employees among the six different teams — will be back this weekend where the fund-raiser started — at KeyArena.
The fourth annual Microsoft Hockey Challenge will precede tomorrow night's 7:05 Thunderbirds game against the Portland Winter Hawks and Sunday's 6:05 regular-season finale against the Prince George Cougars.
The event, which started as an intra-company game between U.S. and Canadian Microsoft Exchange employees, raised $1.2 million last year for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Western Washington. Brian Valentine, Microsoft's senior vice president of Windows, personally donated $5,000 in fulfilling a pledge to pay for every goal scored against him as goalie for the Microsoft.net team during a game against Sun Microsystems.
Hockey, Hollywood and heart will blend to benefit the Seattle Ronald McDonald House, which provides housing for families of seriously ill children being treated at nearby hospitals.
Scheduled to return for the NHL/Celebrity Team are actors Cameron Bancroft, Kiefer Sutherland and D.B. Sweeney, as well as coaches Wayne Gretzky and Tom Arnold. Joining them will be former NHL players Richard Brodeur, Doug Bodger and brothers Geoff and Russ Courtnall, as well as Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr.
Former Boston Bruins star Cam Neely will skate for the Seattle All-Stars. Serving as captain will be Pat LaFontaine, the former high-scoring NHL center, who has established the Companions in Courage Foundation.
The team will be celebrating a reunion of sorts on ice in this silver anniversary season for Seattle junior hockey. On that roster are former Thunderbirds Martin Cerven, Regan Mueller, Jamie Huscroft, Al Kinisky and Troy Hyatt and former assistant coach Jim McTaggart.
Hawaiian Airlines will bring back its team, first taking on the Partners All-Stars that boasts NHL alums Alexander Daigle, Ron Duguay, Brad Palmer and Larry Melnyk.
Microsoft Challenge schedule
(All games at KeyArena)
Tomorrow: Game 1 — Microsoft Windows vs. Microsoft Exchange Game 2, 12:30 p.m.; Game 2 — Hawaiian Airlines vs. Partners, 2:30 p.m.; Game 3 — NHL Old-timers/Hollywood All-Stars vs. Seattle All-Stars, 4:30 p.m.
Sunday: Game 4 — Loser vs. Game 3 loser, 11 a.m.; Game 5 — Winner vs. Game 3 Winner, 1 p.m.; Game 6 — Microsoft.net vs. Sun Microsystems, 3.