Over the past couple of seasons, the Red Wings have hosted events they call “legacy projects”, which aim to help the community and make the city a better place for those who call Fredericton home.
One of the players involved in legacy events is Zach Bishop, a twenty-year-old centerman, who said the projects are about “improving the community and leaving an impact that goes beyond hockey.”
“Last year, we had Hockey Fights Cancer and Feed the Lions,” said Bishop, “and then we had two [other events] that fell through partway through [the season] just due to guys getting traded, and the availability of their projects just wasn’t there.”
Last season, Bishop was in the group that helped organize the Hockey Fights Cancer Night against the Summerside Western Capitals. At that game against the ‘Caps’, Bishop and his teammates raised around $10,000 for cancer research and donated almost $6,000 to the Canadian Cancer Society. Meanwhile, the team gave another $3,000 to those locally battling cancer, said Bishop.
The Red Wings are planning to do many of the same legacy events as last season, with a couple more events included. Those include the Leo Hayes High School ‘Feed the Lions’ and the Hockey Fights Cancer night. Other projects include Red Wings working with the Special Olympics and a Mothers Against Drunk Driving night.
“[Our event] will either be on February 23rd or February 24th,” said Bishop. “That block … from the end of January to the end of February … That’ll be when all the games will take place.”
As for the inspiration behind the legacy events and projects that the Fredericton Red Wings hold, Bishop said “[the motivation] comes from our owner, Roger Shannon.”
“He always preaches to us ‘you want to leave this place better than how you found it,’” said Bishop.
“When you come in and you get your jersey, you want to leave that jersey at the end of your time on the Red Wings better than you found it.”
