CHS hockey team to ‘Pink out the Rink’ in honor of coaches’ wives

This coming Saturday, December 22, the Canton High boys’ ice hockey team will join forces with hundreds of fans to “Pink out the Rink” for their game against Mansfield as a show of support for two members of the Bulldog family who are currently battling breast cancer.

Senior captain Michael Denehy

Tara Shuman, wife of head coach Brian Shuman, and Kristin Rocha, wife of assistant coach Corey Rocha, were both recently diagnosed with the disease. Tara is a former CHS teacher who became a health care attorney, and Kristin is a kindergarten teacher in the Westwood school system. Both are young mothers, still in their 30s, and both are handling their ordeals with tremendous strength and grace.

Inspired by these two courageous women and determined to do their part to help, the team’s four senior captains — Michael Denehy, Kurt Leavitt, Steve Mullaney, and Pat Ward — got together in the fall with assistant coach Scott Connolly and their teammates to discuss different fundraising ideas, and they ultimately settled on a “pink out.”

For the fundraising component, the boys decided to sell pink Bulldog t-shirts, featuring a design conceived by CHS senior Lauren Oldenburg, as well as rally towels, with the goal of creating a sea of pink in the stands for Saturday’s game against the Hornets.

Connolly urged the four captains to go “all in” with the project and purchase 1,000 shirts, and the boys eagerly accepted the challenge, selling the shirts and towels whenever and wherever possible over the past few weeks — at school lunches, in between classes, and at the rink on weekends.

Mullaney said they have already sold several hundred and have reached their break-even point, and whatever they sell from this point forward, along with any donations they receive, will go directly to the Canton-based nonprofit organization We Beat Cancer in honor of Tara and Kristin.

Founded by cancer survivor Jeff Gallahue and his wife, Pat, We Beat Cancer is a Gallahue/Rooney Family Foundation initiative that focuses on providing assistance to local cancer patients and their loved ones.

According to the organization’s website, We Beat Cancer offers financial and informational support to members of the community who are struggling with the issues that the Gallahues faced during Jeff’s battle with throat cancer. The Gallahue and Rooney families also happen to have deep ties to the CHS hockey program, and the players could not think of a better way to honor their coaches’ wives than to give back to an organization such as this one.

The captains see it as the least they can do, especially for two coaches who have given so much to them over the past four years.

“We’re fortunate to be able to play for coaches like [Shuman and Rocha] and a program like this,” said Leavitt. “And something like this (cancer diagnosis) really puts things in perspective for us as high school kids.”

“It gives everyone on the team the motivation to work harder every day,” said Ward, adding that it’s nice to be able to provide the coaches with a daily “getaway” from the stresses of cancer.

Shuman agreed, and he also said it helps to work with someone in Rocha who understands exactly what he’s going through.

“Corey is the first guy I called when we found out about the diagnosis,” he said. “It helps in a way that we don’t have to even talk about it; the other person gets it.”

Shuman also heaped praise on his four captains and Coach Connolly for their generosity and hard work in putting together Saturday’s charity event, although he was not exactly surprised by the gesture.

“These guys have always been good about any sort of charity work or just rallying around someone who needs help,” he said. “They have been awesome raising money for the Scott Herr scholarship foundation, and they’re really just a great group of kids.”

As for Connolly, Shuman said he has never met someone who can “do so much and take on so many roles,” between his day job as a marketing executive with the Providence Journal to his involvement with various youth sports, among other activities.

Connolly, however, downplayed his involvement in the fundraiser, insisting that the four captains deserve the lion’s share of the credit.

“With all the things you hear about kids in that age group, they’ve really taken the ball,” he said. “I’ve mostly sat in the background and dealt with the money.”

“As high school seniors, they called a team meeting without any input from me or Brian,” Connolly added. “And it wasn’t just the varsity kids; it was the JV kids as well. These guys showed their leadership and really showed why Brian picked them as captains.”

Connolly did plan a little gathering for the adults immediately following the game at the Town Club, where there will be a few small raffles and an opportunity for people to make donations; however, he could not say enough about the work of the players, or of the family atmosphere that Shuman has worked hard to instill in the program over the past few seasons.

“This [fundraiser] just shows the type of kids they are and the type of program really that Brian has put together here,” said Connolly. “And when everything is said and done on Saturday night, I think those four captains will remember that night more than any state tournament game or anything else in high school. I really believe that, because they’re all so engaged in it right now.”

Pink t-shirts and towels will be available for purchase at Saturday night’s game, which starts at 6 p.m. at Metropolis Rink. For more information about We Beat Cancer, go to www.webeatcancer.org. To read Tara Shuman’s blog, go to www.tarabeatscancer.com.

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Posted by Jay Turner on Dec 19 2012. Filed under Uncategorized. Both comments and pings are currently closed.