On Christmas Eve several downtown police beat members hosted a shinny hockey game at the McCauley rink which saw several youth from the community participate.
The event was the brain child of local beat Const. Jack Redlick, who himself played pro hockey until the pull of helping others won, and he joined the police service four years ago. The idea began innocently enough as one of many ‘you know what would be fun?’ that float around countless conversations in countless areas. But Jack took the idea one step further, says Sgt. Dave Kabyn of McCauley beats, who participated in the game.
“He saw the game as a way to bridge the gap and open some doors between the youth and police - a relationship that is sometimes strained,” says Sgt. Kabyn.
From there the plan began to come together as Dan Glugosh was contacted, to see if a relatively short notice game at the rink would be possible. Beat members from District 2 (Boyle/McCauley) were able to recruit other beat officers to play, and local businesses graciously donated items for the event.
Given the little time to plan and hectic schedules of the holidays the event was well attended. Community youth and adults joined the game with several spectators from the area and the service itself. It was a hotly contested event with Sgt. Kabyn providing some stellar goaltending as the game finished in a draw and after going to a shoot out, no clear winner was decided. The winner of the jersey raffle was the games youngest participant “The Brodie Kid”.
“Without the efforts of Dan the rink would not have been ready to go in time,” says Sgt. Kabyn. “To him we owe special thanks. As well a thank you must go out to all the people and businesses who donated their goods and time to help make the event a day to remember, a day we hope to repeat and grow as the years go on.”
Overall the day was a success and as if to further reinforce the positive effect we all felt the event had. On the following day of the hockey game, Sgt. Kabyn, Const. Redlick and his partner Mike Furman happened to be walking past the home of one of the kids who played in the friendly hockey game just the day before. As they walked past the home, the youth saw the police members and sprung out from his home (minus his jacket) to say hello and to ask when the next game would be.
“I guess the ‘doors’ Jack was hoping to open truly did,” says Sgt. Kabyn.
A special thanks goes out to Lucky 97 Market for the hot dogs and condiments, the Italian Bakery for the buns, hot chocolate from Second Cup, pucks and a raffle prize (autographed game jersey) from the St. Albert Steel hockey club, game day jerseys from United Cycle and lastly our own EPS Blues hockey team, which lent us some jerseys on very short notice.
Also, thank you to all Edmonton Police Service members who helped organize or participated in the game.
Written by Sgt. Dave Kabyn and Const. Michael Bates