Elk River Girls Hockey Teams Set Fundraising Record for “Stick it to Cancer” Tournament.

Elk River Girls Hockey was well represented in this year’s “Stick it to Cancer” hockey tournament.  With three teams in this year’s tournament, at the Schwan’s Super Rink in Blaine, the girls had a great chance to win a championship.  The teams sponsored by Olson Fish Co. did a fantastic job on the ice taking first and second place for the weekend.  While you would think the championship display of hockey on the ice would be the highlight of the weekend, what they did off the ice is even more impressive.

The three teams, made up of mostly Elk River Girls and few from surrounding communities, raised over $18,000 this year for the event which sets the record for the largest amount raised at the tournament.  The idea was started by Chris Dorff back in 2010.  The Dorff family who has been affected by cancer over the last ten years, wanted to do something to help with the cause.  “Breast cancer affects too many women and it seems that almost everybody knows somebody that has battled the disease.  I want to do everything I can to put a stop to it,” said Dorff at this year’s event.

Dorff and his business Olson Fish Co. have given the girls an opportunity to play some hockey and help out for a great cause.  The girls raised a significant amount of money through working bake sales, knocking door-to-door in neighborhoods, and talking with both local businesses and some as distant as Norway.  “We have some great families in our hockey community, it does not surprise me one bit that they are capable of doing great things like this,” said Dale Sager, the Elk River Girls Hockey Coach.  Freshman Madison Bizal has skated in the tournament for a number of years with the teams and she had this to say, “Being a part of the Stick it to Cancer tournament has been a rewarding experience given my grandma is a breast cancer survivor.  The Elk River teams have raised so much money for cancer research.”

 
Last year the University of Minnesota Cancer research center was so impressed with the donations to the “Stick it to Cancer” tournament that they invited the Elk River Girls Hockey players down to the University to see what kind of research is being done with the donations. Since this Elk River group has started playing in the tournament and have been donating, they have raised over $88,000 for cancer research. 

All of the girls really appreciate what is being done here and they get to play some good hockey.  Elk River’s senior captain Haley Williams may have said it best, “It was a fun tournament and a great cause and I’m thankful that I could be a part of it.”  It is becoming a great tradition for everyone, and I am sure you will see us represented at this tournament for a long time.