Brockville Winter Classic to welcome NHL legends for action-packed weekend
The Brockville Winter Classic (BWC) has announced a dynamic roster of nine NHL alumni players who will be hosted right here in Brockville and will participate in all of the All-Stars Weekend festivities from Feb. 15 to 16.
The alumni component of the BWC began in 2016 with the Montreal Canadiens, followed the next year by the Boston Bruins. The event continued to grow in popularity, and Brockville has now hosted players from the six original NHL teams.
Instead of rostering players from specific NHL teams, the players coming to town this year represent a medley of NHL legends who have previously attended a BWC event. This lineup includes Ray Bourque, Alexander Daigle, Al Lafrate, Brad May, Todd Gill, Shean Donovan, Andre Roy, Ron Tugnutt, and Andrew Raycroft, all of whom are ready to engage in some friendly competition for a good cause.
Ryan Billing, board member with the BWC, told Brockvilleist, “We really just want to invite people back that have been to our event, who embraced the community and embraced what we’re doing. This year, we are going a little bit deeper where it’s not a franchise, but we’re calling it ‘All Stars’ so that it’s just kind of going through all of the years and the people that we really enjoyed having in Brockville.”
The fun-filled weekend will kick off with the BWC Outdoor Classic at the Rotary Rink at 148 George Street in Brockville. From 8 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 15, former NHL Legends will take to the ice at Rotary Park in Brockville, along with many of the best local players around. All outdoor games are free to watch for members of the public.
The Brockville Winter Classic Gala, the premier event of the weekend, will take place on Feb. 15 from 7 pm to 11 p.m. at the Memorial Centre at 100 Magedoma Blvd. The gala offers attendees a chance to enjoy live entertainment while rubbing shoulders with former NHL greats.
Billing explained, “We try to treat this as a first-class event, both for the players and the local players. It feels almost like it went just from running a local fundraiser to a festival for the community. There’s lots of stuff going on at different places throughout the community, while our events are going on too, like the Four Nations watch party and the Burnbrae farms breakfast.”
The weekend will wrap up with the highly-anticipated showcase Alumni Game at the Brockville Memorial Centre on Feb. 16 from,1 to 4 p.m. Part of the funds raised from this event will go towards the BWC’s mission of supporting local hockey programs and making the sport more affordable. This year, they subsidized entry programs, resulting in a 62 per cent increase in participation.
“Our goal is to further develop that, so that we could then have some subsidy programs going to keep kids in hockey. It’s great we can get them in, but now, how do we keep them in?”
Visit www.brockvillewinterclassic.ca for event details and grab your tickets to see the legends play live right in your own city.