In 2020, the world faced an unprecedented upheaval as the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe, altering the fabric of our daily lives in profound ways.

For our children involved in minor hockey, March 12, 2020 was the day hockey "stopped". For us at TCFIHA, this day was the start of our annual tournament. We had teams from as far as San Jose already here in Coquitlam ready to play but had to go home after this announcement.

We were lucky to have a hockey season starting in September 2020, however it was a season of no games, just practices. In order to keep our athletes engaged in just practicing all season, our coaches had to come up with innovative drills and games where everyone had to maintain 6 feet apart.

One of our coaches, Peter Blane, came up with the idea of a skate-a-thon and challenged the rest of the teams in the Association to raise money for our local food bank. The result was amazing! We raised over $25,000 to Share Society in this first ever skate-a-thon.

This year is our 4th skate-a-thon and we hope to continue a tradition where we as a hockey community support those in need in our larger community.

AMOUNTS RAISED

• 2020 - over $25,000
• 2021 - over $21,000
• 2022 - over $14,000

This year will be the first year where we will have 2 sessions split into the age groups below. In previous seasons, we had teams take a practice session for a skate-a-thon.

What if your team has a game or practice at the same time as the designated skate-a-thon times?

As you know ice is a scare resource and it is virtually impossible to find two ice times where all our teams don't have a game or practice. We hope your team will still participate in raising money for the food bank, even if you can't participate in the scheduled skate-a-thons. After all, the skate-a-thon is the driver to help get donations for those in need.

What can you do instead?

• Have a skate-a-thon on one of your practice ice.
• Share ice with another team(s) to have a skate-a-thon
• Just collect online donations to help, even if your team can't do a skate-a-thon
• Have a team food drive and/or toy drive. See the Share Wish List below

SKATE-A-THON FAQs

• Link to online donations or scan the QR code below https://bcvfd.foodbank.bc.ca/fundraiser/2023skateathon
• Encourage online donations. Tax receipt is issued at time of donation.
• Bring a food item or toy to the Skate-a-thon for the Share Society
• CLICK HERE FOR SHARE SOCIETY TOY WISH LIST
• CLICK HERE FOR SHARE SOCIETY FOOD WISH LIST
• All players are to be in full gear

SKATE-A-THON DOWNLOADS

• DOWNLOAD PLAYER PLEDGE FORM
• DOWNLOAD MANAGER TALLY FORM
• DOWNLOAD LAP TALLY SHEET 

This will be fun addition to your team's hockey season and at the same time help those in need in our community. We hope your team can join us!