About Minnesota Hockey Fights Cancer

Our mission is to energize the hockey community in Minnesota to build awareness and support the fight against cancer. Our efforts support youth through high school hockey teams in fundraising for organizations, families, and individuals that they choose. We are 100% volunteer-run, and all funds raised by teams go to the cause(s) they choose.

Any team, association, high school or other interested hockey organization can join the fight by visiting https://mnhockeyfightscancer.org/game-registration/.

The annual campaign starts in October and goes through the final week of the high school hockey season.

The Role of Minnesota Hockey Fights Cancer

Minnesota Hockey Fights Cancer seeks to energize the community in the fight by:

• Bringing teammates together through a common goal and doing good off the ice
• Bringing teams together in an association and high schools to compete against one another while doing good off the ice
• Helping bring our communities together by telling stories about victories and losses against cancer in our communities.
• Helping bring communities together to support people in their communities engaged in the fight against cancer
• Providing community engagement

Minnesota Hockey Fights Cancer facilitates this through:

• Providing online fundraising portals for each team
• Distributing proceeds raised by the team (minus credit card fees)
• Providing helmet decals, stick tape, game pucks and placards
• The John Gegen Cup for the Top Association
• The Michael Weiss Fight Championship for the Top High School
• The Jessi Pierce We Fight For Award for the Top Team
• The Cap George MVP Award for the Top Individual(s)
• Providing ideas and recommendations for building awareness and fundraising

Steps to Get Involved

1. Register your team’s game at https://mnhockeyfightscancer.org/
2. A member of our team will contact you with the link to your fundraising portal
3. We will send your helmet decals, stick tape and signs to your team
4. Implement some or all the fundraising ideas below

Fundraising Ideas

1. Challenge others to sign up and compete against you via social media platform (players, teams, associations, schools…)
2. Identify a player and /or parent captain to lead the charge at all levels of your organization (team, association, schools…)
3. Have players, coaches, families, and fans collect donations from family, friends and supporters of the cause.
4. Have a t-shirt or jersey designed to raise donations.
5. Engage with local media or community information outlets to share information on your campaign
6. Ask a local business to sponsor your game by making a donation or matching funds to your campaign
7. Work with a local franchise like; Chipotle, Jersey Mikes, Culvers, T-Rex Cookies or a local business to do a fundraiser that gives a percentage of the sales to your association, school or team to donate
8. Game Day Ideas
   • 50/50 Raffle – Half the funds go to the prize winner and half the funds go to the cause
   • Auction – Hold a live or virtual auction by:
   • Securing items to bid on that are either purchased or donated
   • Bidding on experiences like: being on the bench for pregame warmups, doing the ceremonial puck drop, being a kid game announcer
   • Designate a wall or walls at your arena or at a local business to display I Fight For placards.
   • Display your donation link or a QR code.
   • Bake Sales
   • Chuck A Puck
   • Pass the Pail Donations
   • % of Concessions
   • Invite a food truck that will give a % of sales back
9. Email / Text Campaign – Have each player, coach, family member and / or fan contact 5-10 people with the link to your donation page to help them support your goal.

Sample Calendar of Events

1. Week One
   • Register Your Team / Association / School / Hockey Organization
     • Visit https://mnhockeyfightscancer.org/game-registration/
   • Choose Your Cause
   • Design Fundraiser T-Shirt
     • If you want help with design or coordination with a vendor contact admin@mnhockeyfightscancer.org
2. Week Two
   • Plan Game Date Fundraising Activities
3. Week Three
   • Team Receives Game Supplies
   • Promote Your Event
     • Social Media
     • Newsletter
     • Websites
     • Posters
     • News Release to Local Media
     • Email / Text Campaign
4. Week Four
   • Game Date
     • Send thank you messages along with link for additional donations
     • Make sure offline donations are accounted for by emailing your totals to admin@mnhockeyfightscancer.org

Pre-Game Announcement

Welcome to [arena name] for this matchup between [away team] and YOUR [HOME TEAM]!!! {Pause for Applause} During today’s (game or event) we are honoring every organization, family or individual that is fighting or has fought cancer. More than half of us have a relative that has been impacted by cancer and almost all of us know someone personally that has been affected. Today we are participating in the Minnesota Hockey Fights Cancer campaign which is a volunteer effort to get all Mite through High School teams in the state of MN to hold a Hockey Fights Cancer game. All funds raised by us today will go towards [Beneficiary]. We ask, if you are able, to support our fundraiser by donating online using the QR codes posted [location(s) in the arena] and / or supporting our efforts on social media by liking and sharing our posts about today’s efforts.

[Share any additional opportunities to support efforts. For example, a percentage of today’s concession sales, online auction, chuck a puck, 50/50 raffle, etc.]

[Share any specific individuals who you are honoring or remembering with your efforts]

Thank you for your support and LET’S PLAY HOCKEY!!!