FAYETTEVILLE -- The Fayetteville-Manlius community has a big reason to be proud tonight. The Boys Varsity Hockey Team raised $8,000 in a charity game for the Carol Baldwin Breast Cancer Foundation.
Hundreds came out to the "Pink in the Rink" at the Onondaga Nation Arena Wednesday. The idea for the event started after Hockey Mom, Nancy Chase, lost her battle with the disease.
"A lot of people remember her for her smile and her laugh especially. It just made her that much more of an inviting person, it meant a lot to us how welcoming she was and how she was a mother like figure for all of us whenever we were over there," said Derek Andrake.
Nancy was a teacher at Enders Road Elementary School and was involved in the F-M food pantry and a faithful communicant of St. Anne's parish.
"When Nancy passed away it affected these kids a lot, and they wanted to give back. It's really neat to see them say we want to do something in honor of not only Nancy, but in honor of this cause," said parent Matt Napierala.
The F-M community also continues to mourn the loss of 19-year-old Matt Murphy to leukemia and Father Kevin Hanon, St. Anne's beloved priest, to stomach cancer. The year before, another friend lost her father to brain cancer.
"They need to be proud of themselves. We hope that we teach our kids this kind of stuff. But they get it. They're very good kids," said parent Deborah Bell.
Organizers also sold more than 900 "Pink in the Rink" t-shirts for the game. All proceeds are being donated to the Baldwin Foundation. The team also dedicated a bench to the Chase family marked with "Chase Your Dreams."
Click here to see the interview with F-M hockey players which aired Wednesday morning on Today in CNY.
