Springbank hockey team strives for $100K in nationwide contest

A group of pre-teen hockey players is looking for help to win $100,000 to help feed Calgarians.

The Springbank Rockies PeeWeeAA team ran a charitable campaign called, Forty Feet of Food, and it's made it to the top 10 in theChevroletGood Deeds Cup.

The competition is run by the automaker and Hockey Canada to encourage young players to help their communities. The first-place prize is $100,000 to a charity of the team's choice.

The team picked the Nathan O'BrienChildren's Foundation, created in memory of the five-year-oldSpringbankRockies Timbit player.

"His sweater hangs in our lobby and we're very proud of that and want to keep his spirit alive," head coach Kevin Heise said.

The foundation supports the Calgary Food Bank, the coach says, so the players started collecting enough food donations to fill a 40-foot trailer and their effort took off.

They raised nearly 7,600 kg of food and $5,000 in cash enough to stretch 53 feet, Heise said.

"These guys have had a good year on the ice," he said."But I tell you, this has been[as] a dadand a coach and a parentit's been a real, real proud experience."

Video competition

They submitted a video to the Good Deeds Cup and they're hoping to get the most views. In order to count as a vote, winger Carson Cull points out, you must watch the full video on YouTube.

"Maybe put that thing on loop when you're sleeping,"Cull said. "Give us a chance to win $100,000, which would be really good."

The Calgary Food Bank has a "five-to-one buying power,"Heise said, "so that $100,000 can turn into a half a million bucks really quick."

Thefundraiser has touched the rest of the league, other sports and teams, as well, he said. Skaters and visiting teams have collected donations.

Each semifinalist has already received $2,000 toward their charitable campaign. The three with the highestnumberof views will receive an additional $5,000before moving on to the final three-way race for the grand total.

If the team wins, they also get to be featured on Hockey Night in Canada a prospect the players find pretty exciting.

Lots of ideas

Other teams in the race across Canada are raising funds for a homeless shelter in Halifax, hospice services in Windsor, Ont., and tornado relief near Dunrobin, Ont., among other causes.

Rockiesplayer Max Heiser said he has learned a lot, including by visiting the Calgary Food Bank to help sortdonations.

"I was amazed how big it was, how much food there actually was," hesaid of the 60,000-square-foot warehouse.

"It makes you really think about how much people are affected by it," Cull added.

The Nathan O'Brien Children's Foundation was created by the little boy's parents to do good work in the community.

Nathan and his grandparents were murdered in 2014. Their killer is serving life in prison.

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With files from the Calgary Eyeopener.