By Darren Lum

Published Nov. 22, 2018 

This
year’s Red Hawks hockey team is winning off the ice by giving an assist
to the community organization, the Heat Bank Haliburton County.

The
varsity boys’ hockey team chose to partner with the Heat Bank, which
helps struggling county residents heat their homes through the winter,
among other initiatives.
Hawks head
coach Jason Morissette, who thought the launch of this effort was timely
given the past week was the Week of Kindness, said this initiative will
provide his student players life lessons that go beyond the game of
hockey. 

“Hockey is not always about
winning,” he said. “You’re not always going to win everything. It’s also
about helping. Helping each other. Helping the people. It’s also about
self-sacrifice because you might be in role or a position you’ve got …
it reflects really well on life. Sometimes you’ve got to make an assist
to take a hit to give your [teammate] a breakaway. Sometimes you got to
come back and help out your goalie and it’s a lot of work. You don’t
really want to do it, but you have to do it. It’s all those things.
They’re all important.” 

During every
home game the team will accept donations on behalf of the Heat Bank from
the public. All of these donations will go directly to the Heat Bank.
The team has also committed to volunteer their time to split wood (and
possibly deliver it) on Dec. 1 at Abbey Gardens. There is a hope to add
more dates to their schedule and possibly more ways to raise awareness
and money for the charitable organization.

The team’s home opener is against Campbellford at 1:15 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 22 at the A.J. LaRue Arena in Haliburton. 

Morissette
said relationships between hockey teams and their community isn’t an
entirely new concept, but could still see how this endeavour is a win
for everyone. This is Morissette’s first year as the head coach after
being the assistant for the past two years and a “helper” for several
years before for Ron Yake. He appreciated the support from the new high
school principal Chris Boulay.
He said this initiative will enable his players to bond as a group and become a family. 
Love is at the heart of this community outreach effort by the team. 

“These
guys all love their county. They love Haliburton County. They love the
towns they all come from. They all come from different towns. They’re
just open to helping out,” he said. “It’s looking to get them involved
with volunteering … it’s good for building morale and team spirit.”
Morissette
chose to partner with the Heat Bank to raise its profile and because of
the widespread need and how it serves people throughout the entire
Highlands, including high school students.
“Every
town uses that organization … every kid in our school and every kid
in our community and every person in our community can . It’s
a county-wide initiative. That was a big part of it. The other is a lot
of these guys can connect with it.”

Heat Bank co-ordinator Tina Jackson welcomed this partnership.
“We
are beyond thrilled with this new partnership! Working together to
overcome challenges and to celebrate wins is something both of our teams
are focused on. We at Heat Bank are looking at this as an assist from a
fantastic team of players to help reach our goal of ensuring that no
one goes cold this winter. It’s a community power play!” she wrote in an
email. 

The team’s captain Owen Smith,
is hoping he and his teammates can offer more help than just the one
wood splitting day. He is looking forward to following through with not
just the wood splitting date, but also to raise awareness of the
organization among the public. He believes in giving back to a community
because it has been there for him and his family, who have endured some
challenges recently when his father was injured. He encourages the
public to come out and donate to the Heat Bank. 
“They’re giving their time everyday. It’s a big part in our community so give as much as you can,” he said. 
Jackson appreciated how this partnership fosters youth involvement. 
“This
is also a great opportunity to continue to celebrate youth involvement
in our community. What a great way for these players to know that they
have the power to make a difference and I know we can have some fun
along the way,” she said. 

Keep up to date with the team’s standings and statistics with the Game On mobile (www.gameonmobile.com) app.