Written by Michael Menzies : https://lakelandconnect.net
The biggest event in the short history of the St. Paul Canadiens Alumni Foundation was held on Saturday night, strengthening its ties with the Montreal Canadiens.
“The relationship between Montreal and St. Paul is alive again,” said Foundation president Pat Lamoureux.
After over a year of planning, Canadiens alums from both communities squared off in an exhibition contest last weekend. It was originally meant to be last year, but it was pushed to late 2022 due to the gathering restrictions, but that didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits at the game and banquet that followed.
With live auction items to raise money for charitable causes for the region and to help support the hockey and academic scholarships of the Alumni Foundation, more information will be shared soon on what the event was able to generate for everyone.
“It was an opportunity for us to just remind the community, and a lot of people have not been aware of the uniqueness of almost four-and-a-half decades of a relationship with Montreal, and we were able to sort of cap off,” said Lamoureux.
“We’re still cleaning up and wrapping up the weekend’s events, but like we’ve announced, some of those proceeds certainly will be shared to various community programs.”
Some Montreal Canadiens legends like Stephane Richer, Brian Skrudland, and Richard Sevigny were among the ten plus who took on St. Paul players who spanned from the late 1960s to today.
The St. Paul U9 team also took the ice in the first intermission with the former pros and the St. Paul Skating Club performed during the stoppages as well.
With partners like the Town, County, STEP, Saik Insurance, amongst several others, there were dozens of people who helped volunteer to get the event from an idea to reality.
“This has become real. The reception that we had with Montreal on the ice, with our alumni guys was just overwhelming. Our guys had a brilliant time, Montreal had a great time on the ice,” said Lamoureux.
“It’s about reconnecting with the grassroots and letting the kids and reminding all of us the importance of it all.
“We just excessively thank everybody in the community who was involved and continue to be involved in both organizations.”
The alumni in conjunction with the NHL Indigenous Alumni are having a similar exhibition game on January 14th at 4:00pm, which will be followed by Jr. Canadiens game.