Kensington Valley 14U Ravens take on breast cancer

 

By Nick Barnowski – 

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the Kensington Valley 14U girls’ team is doing their part to help raise money and remember loved ones.

Led by coach Tom Hall, the Ravens have sported specially designed black jerseys featuring the breast cancer ribbon and pink letters on them throughout their season. The team recently wore them at the Ignite the Ice tournament in Cleveland, Ohio, where they brought the championship trophy back to Brighton.

Hall credits Livonia Knights coach Ashley Murphy for the original idea of wearing custom jerseys to honor breast cancer awareness.

“The concept came from a Livonia Knights team that had done it in years past and it caught my eye and I thought it was a great idea,” Hall said. “We kind of added to it a little bit, we were in a cancer tournament and wanted to wear them in the month of October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.”

Is your team doing something to help fight breast cancer during the month of October? Tell us by contacting editor Michael Caples at mcaples@mihockeynow.com, by tweeting us (@MiHockeyNow) or by posting on our Facebook page. 

Instead of last names on the back of the jerseys, the nameplates say “In memory of…” or “In support of…” with the girls getting to choose who they want to honor or remember on their backs.

 

In addition, Hall and his coaching staff challenged the girls to do well academically. With each good grade his players got on their report cards, they would donate $100 to a breast cancer charity.

“We donated to the Susan G. Komen foundation and to St. John’s Providence hospital,” Hall noted.

It’s clear how much of an impact the uniforms had not only on the girls themselves, but the parents as well.

“The parents, when they saw the jerseys hanging in the locker room for the first time, they were really taken back,” Hall said. “To watch their girls compete the first time they wore them, there were a lot of choked up parents.

“It’s great for the girls and it’s really just a cool concept. You can see why every time we wear them we get a lot of great comments.”

Despite scoring only six goals in five games at the tournament in Cleveland, the Ravens were able to make it to the championship game where they defeated Little Caesar’s 1-0. In the first round they tied Little Caesar’s and teams from Chicago and Glenview, Illinois. They defeated Ann Arbor in the semifinals.