The St. Thomas University women’s hockey team give back to their community each year by supporting the Brendon Oreto Hockey School. This is year 23 for the women’s team.
Hockey can be about more than just putting pucks past your opponent’s goalie. Teams can make it their mission to donate their time and effort to helping their community off the ice.
The STU women’s team would be a prime example of a team that dedicates their time and effort off the ice to organizations in their community.
Every September, the team helps the Brendon Oreto Hockey School, a program that began in 1999 in memory of the Fredericton hockey player Brendon Oreto.
Related: Brendon Oreto Foundation — more than just a hockey school
“Every year, we go to this camp. It’s just one day for us … Our whole team comes and we help coach these kids,” said Claire Nimegeers, a fifth-year forward for the Tommies.
She has helped with the hockey school during all five years she has been a Tommie.
“We’ll teach them skating, stick handling, shooting. The basics of hockey.”
Over the 23 years, STU has been involved with the hockey school, hundreds of players have donated their time and effort to the organization.
“It means a lot to us. We have volunteered at other places over the years, but this one we will continue to do because it means a lot to the community,” said Nimegeers. “It means a lot to the Oreto’s, and we are just a big supporter of supporting hockey.”
For Peter Murphy, the head coach of the Tommies, having the team take part in the Brendon Oreto Hockey School is more than a yearly act of community service or a ‘causal connection.’
For Murphy the partnership is more meaningful, as he has built a strong personal connection with Oreto’s family. This connection started before he began coaching the women’s hockey team 23 years ago.
Murphy has even gone as far as to call the hockey school a ‘fabulous foundation’ because of their tireless work in the community.
Brendon’s father Tony has a strong connection to STU, but Murphy’s link to him was more personal. Before coaching at STU, Murphy coached high school girls at Fredericton High School. Brendon Oreto’s sister Kathleen, who had never played hockey, decided to try out for the team and made it. Her first game was also Tony’s return to the rink after Brendon’s death.
“We have a very profound connection to that school,” he said.
Every year when the team volunteers with the hockey camp, Tony visits the girls before they go on the ice so he can thank them in person for donating their time and effort to the foundation.
Following Oreto’s visit, Murphy tells the team about his close connection to the family, as well as why the camp is named after Brendon.
Murphy said there are ‘new kids that come in each year’ who are unaware of the stories.
“Once you hear the connection as to why we go, you’re not going to say no, [as] it does so much good in the community,” said Murphy. “The connections [are] there, and we’ll continue to support the program every year that they ask us to do it”
