ST. PAUL - Two teams of St. Paul minor hockey players laced up their skates between Christmas and New Year's to help raise funds for the first ever Ben's Cup in Edmonton, organized by the Ben Stelter Foundation.
The Hockey Alberta Sanctioned tournament was held Dec. 27-29 at the Ardrossan Recreation Complex and Strathcona Olympiette Centre. There were 16 teams in the U-11 tournament and 16 team in the U-13 tournament.
Ben Stelter was a young Edmonton Oilers superfan who died Aug. 9, 2022 at the age of six. Ben had been diagnosed with glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer.
St. Paul Minor Hockey sent a team to compete in both the U11 Tier 1 and U13 Tier 2 tournaments.
"The Ben Stelter Foundation is working hard to bring Proton Beam Therapy to Canada for the first time," according to information from the foundation's website.
After paying their team tournament fees to take part, each player participating was required to raise $100 for the foundation. But some players went above and beyond. St. Paul players Brady Samson and Brady Dechaine each made their way to the Top 40 All Star team thanks to their fundraising efforts.
Dechaine raised an impressive $4,400 and Samson raised nearly as much - $4,330.
Overall, the U11 St. Paul Canadiens' team raised $10,590 and the U13 St. Paul Canadiens' team raised $3,075.
Doing it for his dad
Samson had personal motivation to raise funds for the cause.
“My Dad just beat cancer after a three-and-a-half year battle of Classic Hodgkin Lymphoma. I wanted to raise as much money as possible so others can get cancer treatments and beat cancer like my Dad did," said Samson.
To help propel his fundraising efforts, Samson got his mom, Carmen, to post a video of him on social media, asking for donations.
"I also collected bottles and cashed them in. I also got cash donations from family and friends," says Samson.
He says the best part of being in Ben's Cup was taking part in the all star game.
“It made me feel so good that I was able to raise enough money to make the top 36 player fundraisers. It was a lot of hard work," says Samson.
Carmen says the tournament was a great experience - one she hopes to take part in again.
"Ben’s Cup will be an annual event and we look forward to going again next year and raising money for the Ben Stelter Foundation for proton therapy. We are already saving bottles to put towards our fundraising for the tournament next year," she says.
Shy but determined
Dechaine's mom, Kerry, describes her young son as being quite shy, so getting out and asking for donations was a bit of a challenge.
But, he approached his teachers at École du Sommet in St. Paul, along with family and friends - and even received an anonymous donation near the end of his fundraising efforts to qualify him for the all star game.
"We had told Brady that he would have to work hard to get donations in order to make the all star team, so we reached out to all of our friends and family, and they were more than generous with their donations," explains Kerri.
Dechaine also collected bottles to earn more cash, and received funds from strangers who were supportive of his efforts.
"Brady said the best part was being able to hold Ben's Cup after the all star game. . . . We also had the opportunity to meet Ben's parents, Mike and Lea Stelter. They were so genuine and caring," said Kerri. "Brady loved everything about [the experience], he loved the swag including a special jersey with Ben's favourite number - 22 - on the back."
Kerri says the Dechaine family is looking forward to being involved with the tournament in the future.
"The whole experience was unreal and heart warming. Our family is huge Oilers fans, so when Ben came into the spotlight we fell in love with him. We followed his story from the very beginning and want to continue supporting the Ben Stelter Foundation in any way we can, which may include participating in Ben's Cup next year or volunteering."
The tournament as a whole raised over $600,000.