Hockey fans are known for their passion, so can you imagine thousands of hockey players coming together to take on cancer? Well, that’s what happens when The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation hosts the Road Hockey to Conquer Cancer, a dusk to dawn street hockey fundraising event, every fall. The results are literally record-breaking.
Road Hockey to Conquer Cancer rallied 1,900 participants on 167 teams, together raising an astounding $3.19 million for vital cancer research at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. The totals set the Guinness World Record for the largest road hockey fundraiser in the world — breaking a mark already held by the event — and a Top 30 P2P Fundraising event.
Some friendly competition
On the way to event’s historic achievement, Road Hockey players and teams collected funds with individual player and team fundraising pages built on raisin’s Peer-to-Peer module, which has powered the event’s fundraising for more than 10 years.
Fundraising is a source of competition amongst Road Hockey players and teams — perhaps not surprising given the passion of hockey fans. In this spirit, teams are placed into divisions by industry with winners crowned on event day. Team and player fundraising results are broadcast in real-time on their pages, along with a custom leaderboard that’s sortable by division.
Leading up to draft day it’s not uncommon for teams to “scoreboard watch” to see who will lead the tournament in fundraising and have an opportunity to draft one of the NHL alumni and celebrities in attendance to play on their team.
White glove treatment
The Road Hockey Team at The PMCF is the most supportive in the game. The PMCF understands that fundraising isn’t always easy and works directly with their players, hosting workplace orientations, sharing toolkits and just generally being available for assistance. Even small things like knowing players on a first name basis make a difference.
By getting to know players and accommodating their preferences, Road Hockey not only creates a world-class game day experience, but develops long-lasting connections with players – over 80% of whom return year-to-year.
