The Rocky Mountain AAA Raiders are stepping up for an important cause in their home finale.
Rocky Mountain’s Feb. 29 game at Pason Centennial Arena versus the Calgary Fire at 6:30 p.m. is a fundraiser for Strong Safe Minds with the $2 admission fee going toward mental health charities.
“We’ve teamed up with Tavis MacPhee from Classic Source for Sports,” said Raiders head coach Dustin Borbandy. “He’s donated third jerseys for us with an emblem that he has designed himself, just in honour of his brother and his family.”
The Raiders will be sporting a third jersey with the uniform designed by Borbandy and MacPhee. The mental health support hits home for MacPhee who lost his brother Sean to suicide.
“I thought it would be nice to let the community know that a local business has struggled with it and been a big part of this,” Borbandy said. “We’re going to honour Tavis and everything that his family has gone through and just make it aware.
“Even though they’re in a time of crisis they want to make sure to get that awareness out there.”
In addition to the cost of admission, the Raiders will have new apparel for sale to also raise funds along with open donations for all those who want to support the cause.
“After (Tavis) and I have talked lots, we’ve noticed these athletes, not just hockey players, but athletes in general, they play and it’s very demanding on their bodies and their minds,” Borbandy said. “It’s something that needs to be recognized and it is being recognized, but always that little extra never hurts.”
The Raiders (16-8-4) enter the final weekend of the regular season in fine form.
Rocky Mountain picked up a pair of wins in a three-day span including its first victory of the season over the first-place St. Albert Slash.
Isobel Pettem-Shand and Hailey Wiltshire scored in the shootout in the 2-1 victory on Feb. 21 in St. Albert as Rocky Mountain handed the Slash just its fourth loss of the campaign.
Ali Kieren made 24 saves and stopped two of three Slash shootout attempts.
“Right now for us it’s not just about beating the team, but it’s the timing,” Borbandy said. “Especially moving into playoffs here and then hopefully having that success and getting into provincials, knowing if we face them we’ve had success against them.
“Our habits are starting to come through, we’ve been really working on them in practice and just paying attention to them, not just running a practice to have a practice, paying attention to details and we’re translating those over onto the ice.”
The Raiders made it a perfect weekend by knocking off the Fire 4-3 in a fiery tilt on Feb. 23 at the Scott Seaman Sports Rink.
Okotokian Jordyn Matthews had two goals, Sydney Benko and Kallie Clouston added the other markers and Hali Lawrence made 21 saves in goal.
“I didn’t think we played our best, but we started to play great in moments where we focused again on our habits,” Borbandy said. “It’s always a bit of a battle with Calgary and it’s a good healthy rivalry, which is always fun and exciting to be a part of.”
Following the Feb. 29 contest the Raiders hit the road for one more regular season contest on March 1 in Red Deer.
The playoffs begin the following weekend with four teams vying for a spot in the Midget AAA female provincials — held March 20-22 in Calgary.
“Overall I’m very excited with this club,” the coach added. “Great group and we’re gelling well.”
For more information go to midgetaaa.afhl.ca
