Auctioned players chosen for alumni game

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

The Strathmore 2015 Alberta 55 Plus Summer Games committee, along with former NHL player Dennis Polonich, have announced the majority of the roster for the Calgary Flames alumni game that will be taking place on March 15 (5 p.m.) at the Strathmore Family Centre.
The roster will include country star and Calgary Flames anthem singer George Canyon, former Flame Dana Murzyn, Dennis Polonich, former coach Archie Henderson, Neal Coulter, Rich Preston, Russ Romaniuk, Pat Elynuik, Warren Skorodenski, Morris Lukowich, Claude Vilgrain, Steve Kelly and Mark Astley.
Polonich has been very thrilled with the response of the players.
“I sent off an e-mail because these requests come quite often to the alumni. So because I’m championing this event with Neal Coulter through Colleen (Huber) detailing what the event is,” said Polonich.
“And because there is so many alumni in the Calgary area, you quickly get 10-15 responses.”
He added that the players like to come to these events just to give back.
“They like giving back, and it’s a fun way for us to get together, (enjoy the) camaraderie and the jokes in the dressing room, those things will never go away,” he said.
Polonich was involved in helping the committee with ideas of fundraising for the event and came up with giving people the opportunity to auction themselves off to play in the game.
“It went great, they’re apparently sweet players that have paid to play with us. They get a Flames jersey and we’ll autograph the jersey for them and they get to dress in our dressing room and hang with the guys, it’s a great experience for them,” said Polonich.
The lucky auction winners were Derek Alce from Carseland, John Gauvin of Strathmore and Keith Van Bavel, also from Strathmore.
The coach’s spot was unable to be auctioned off, however, they still raised over $1,000 for the games.