Boys' Hockey Plays for a Cause

Boys' Varsity Hockey Team Parters with Cam Neely Foundation, Breast Cancer Awareness, and Partners in Health

The 2009 – 2010 Varsity Boys’ Hockey Team is a little different than the varsity hockey teams of recent memory.  One way in which they have distinguished themselves from previous teams is that they are a varsity team comprised of no postgraduates.  Rather than a team of one year players, the 2009-10 team is led by a group of twelve seniors of which nine of the twelve are in their third or fourth year at Taft!  It is this point that I believe resonates with the Taft community. This is a group of young men that take tremendous pride in playing for their school, but also playing for the school motto “Non Ut Sibi ministretur sed ut ministret / Not to be served, but to serve.”  In fact, the 2009 – 2010 varsity boys’ hockey team has taken on three causes for charity this season to support those that are in need and to show that they are truly thankful for playing hockey at Taft.

The first charity event that the boys took part in was the “Prep School Winter Classic” at Fenway Park.  When the team found out that they would be given this unique opportunity and that Cam Neely was instrumental with providing them with this opportunity, Captain Thomas Freyre, and Assistants John Barr and Mike Petchonka immediately said “How can we show our appreciation?”  Two ideas which came up were to sell commemorative “The Game – Winter Classic” t–shirts and sweatshirts that was spear-headed by Coach Dan Murphy’s brother-in-law Graham Leveston and to wear “Retro” jerseys for the game and then sell them to members of The Taft Community at the end of the season with all the profits from the sales going to the Cam Neely Foundation (http://www.camneelyfoundation.org/).

The second event this year’s team participated in was a Breast Cancer Awareness game against Choate Rosemary Hall that was sponsored by Choate and the thought of Choate senior hockey player Dan Linnell.  As participants in this game, thanks to Dave Hinman, Taft’s Athletic Director, and Ginger O’Shea, Taft’s Assistant Athletic Director, the Taft team all sported “Pink” hockey socks to support the cause, and as a result both schools and teams pulled off a memorable night for all those that were involved.  In all, the event at Choate raised close to $15,000.00 for Breast Cancer Awareness.

The third contribution the “skating rhinos” made was to Partners in Health for relief of the January 12th earthquake disaster in Haiti.  Upon hearing about the tragic event in Haiti, again the senior class responded with the question “what can we do to help?”  They decided to have all the monies generated from snack bar sales from the weekend games against the Canterbury School and Northfield Mt. Hermon to be donated to Partners in Health, which resulted in a team donation of $700.00!  This team’s altruistic mindset has not stopped at the aforementioned events.  The team is also doing their share this month with Taft’s participation in the “Green Cup” challenge by practicing with the lights in Odden Arena on low to help conserve electricity!

The efforts that the 2009-2010 Boys’ Varsity Hockey team will not end when the season concludes this winter.  The team will continue to sell their retro “Fenway Jersey” until supplies are exhausted. If you would like to purchase the Fenway commemorative jersey, or contribute to any of the hockey teams endeavors, please contact Head Coach Dan Murphy via e-mail @ dmurphy@taftschool.org

Taft “Fenway Jersey” can be purchased with or without a number on the back.
The pricing is as follows:
Jersey with no number: $150.00
Jersey with number: $175.00

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