Inaugural Battle On Hill charity hockey game to aid ChadTough Foundation

‘Watching the entire Michigan family rally behind us has been amazing’

In an effort to give back to the community, the inaugural Battle On Hill charity hockey game will take place at 7pm on February 6 at Yost Hockey Arena, with all proceeds going to the ChadTough Foundation.

“Our goal from Thanksgiving until Winter Break was to find the charity we wanted to do and lock up what we needed,” said Evan Gerstein, senior captain of the Hillel team. “This year we were struggling with who to donate to, who would make a good community impact, and then, sadly, Chad Carr passed away and we kind of had this epiphany that this is who it should be.”

Chad Carr suffered from Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG). Founder of ChadTough and mother of Carr, Tammi Carr, said that the main goal of the ChadTough Foundation is to bring awareness to DIPG and rally to cure pediatric brain tumors through research. Unfortunately, Carr passed away Nov. 23, 2015 after battling for 15 months.

“It’s been a hard time for us, but it’s been so helpful to see so much support and so many people jumping on board and realizing what a problem this is,” said Tammi Carr. “I think people are really understanding that this is a real impact that can be made.”

Similar to the Greek charity game Freeze the Puck On Cancer, Battle On Hill is a new event created by the Michigan Hillel Ice Hockey team. Hillel will battle students in the Ice Hockey Club at the Ross School of Business.

Evan Gerstein, senior captain of the Hillel team, said his two other co-captains and he were thinking about how they could give back to the community further. With their inspiration stemming from the Freeze the Puck on Cancer event, Gerstein said the team reached out to the Ross team since they are in the same league as them at Veteran’s Ice Arena.

Hillel Ice Hockey team during a previous game. Image courtesy of Evan Gerstein.

“From there we basically called Yost,” said Gerstein. “We bought an hour and a half of ice and we are going to make this a yearly thing.”

To pay for the ice, the two teams split the cost, which was around $400 according to Gerstein. The team is not taking any donations from the event to reimburse the costs of the ice.

“We wanted this to be about the ChadTough foundation,” said Gerstein. “Both teams agreed that we would pay for it and we were all happy to do that.”

Stephen Schoenberger, captain of the Ross team, agreed that he, too, was looking for a way to give back.

“As a club, we’re always looking for ways to give back and we wanted to do some type of charity game and this is exactly what we were looking for,” said Schoenberger.

After recently losing his father-in-law to cancer, Schoenberger said he knew other people have experienced similar situations dealing with cancer as well.

“For such a brave young kid like Chad to have put his story out there and helped use his message to raise funds to help other people, I don’t think we could have come up with any better charity event,” said Schoenberger.

Chad Carr this past summer at Camp Michigania. Image courtesy of Emily Butt.

As for donations, the goal of the event is $5,000 to be matched by a private donor, Gerstein said. The event has already surpassed this goal, with $5,004 in donations.

“A little bit here and there comes together and makes a lot of money,” said Carr. “We’re a Michigan family and I think watching the entire Michigan family rally behind us has been just amazing and helps us really get through this time.”

Amidst busy schedules and cold weather, the event will have several activities taking place throughout the game to further encourage students to attend, Gerstein said.

Both Gerstein and Schoenberger noted that since the game is the same day as the Michigan vs Michigan State basketball game at the Crisler Center, students can cheer on the men’s basketball team and then head down to Yost to watch the game later that afternoon. While the game begins at 7pm, doors and ticket sales will open around 6:15 according to the event’s Facebook page.

At the event, there will be a 50/50 raffle, music, and possibly a ‘shoot the puck’ competition fans can take part in between periods. The concession stand will also be open.

The M Den and Underground Printing have both chipped in gift cards and merchandise to be raffled off during the game as well. ChadTough merchandise will be available for purchase and the Carr family will be there to see the puck drop.

“I think the game is going to be plenty entertaining and I hope the winner of the game is going to be the ChadTough foundation,” said Schoenberger.

Tickets will be available at the door for $5 and the teams will accept credit card payments along with cash. To donate or learn more about the event, visit their GoFundMe or visit their Facebook page. To learn more about the ChadTough Foundation, click here.

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