Easter on the ice at Menard arena

March 29, 2005

JEREMIAH BARTZ

Frontiersman sports editor

Local hockey fans added pucks to the ham dinners, pastel-colored eggs and Sunday Masses on their Easter agenda this year.

Fans ventured out in the Easter snow to the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena for a charity hockey game to benefit Mat-Su Crime Stoppers.

Gary Greene, an organizer of the event who regularly assists in the promotion of charity hockey games across the United States, said more than 1,000 fans attended the event.

Greene was able to snag former National League Hockey stars Bernie Nichols and Doug Smail for the event. Each player captained a team made up of local athletes. Nichols led a team of high school all-stars and Smail guided a squad made up of adult league players.

The Smail squad slipped past Nichols' team 14-13 in an overtime thriller.

In addition to the game, the organization auctioned off items that included a poster autographed by NHL legend Bobby Hull, a basketball signed by Los Angeles Laker standout Kobe Bryant and a Los Angeles Kings sweater signed by Bernie Nichols.

All proceeds from the event and auction will benefit the local Crime Stoppers program. Mat-Su Crime Stoppers is a nonprofit organization established in 1982 to support the citizens and communities of the Mat-Su Borough. The organization allows callers to remain anonymous when providing information on a crime committed and to be paid rewards up to $1,000 for information that leads to an arrest and conviction. The program is funded through private donations from concerned citizens and businesses as well as fund- raising.

This was the first event of this caliber hosted locally by Crime Stoppers. Nichols, a standout for several NHL teams, amassed more than 1,200 points during his 20-year professional career. Nichols hit the 100-point total twice during his career, totaling 100 during the 1984-85 season with the Los Angeles Kings and 150 points with the Kings during the 1988-89 campaign.