Local hockey player helps raise funds for the fight against Alzheimer’s disease | bloginfo(‘name’); ?>

May 19, 2022 0 comments

By Brian Lockhart

A local hockey player is stepping up to help raise money for Alzheimer’s research and competed in the 2022 BayCrest Pro-Am tournament.

The tournament was held at Scotiabank Pond in North York from May 12-14.

Local hockey player Mark Bates laced up his skates to play for the Newmarket HealthyNow team.

Approximately 30 NHL alumni will participate in the tournament, and teams will be able to choose NHL players through a draft. There are former big names in the NHL participating in the tournament.

“I choose to dedicate my efforts to helping Baycrest Health Sciences raise valuable funds for its mission to provide care and research for diseases like Alzheimer’s disease,” said Bates. “It’s one of the top 40 research hospitals in the country and I want to support them, so they can support us in the future.”

The event has already raised $1,778,792 for the charity. Mr. Bates’ team raised $19,659 and he raised $2,645 through his own efforts from local donors.

His team included former NHL player Mike Krushelnyski, Team Canada member Brianne Jenner and former NHL player Brent Gretzky.

The HealthyNow team was happy to be on the ice playing with and against former pros and faced former players Nik Antropov, Al Iafrate, Brad May and Rick Vaive.

All players pay their own expenses during the tournament and all profits are donated to charity.

Research aimed at understanding and treating Alzheimer’s disease. Every 4 seconds, someone in the world is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia. You can always donate to Mr. Bates by visiting: secure.supportbaycrest.org/registrant/FundraisingPage.aspx?registrationID=4838040&langPref=en-CA.