Three games, seven hours, a big crowd and thousands in dollars raised; the 3rd annual Start Talking Cup was a great success.
The numbers are out and 1,200 people attended and $15,400 was raised for the Start Talking Campaign.
The Barrie Molson Centre was full of families and hockey fans as three games entertained the crowd while the concourse was full of representatives to educate and inform on mental health.
The Director of Support Services Jim Harris enjoyed the games and seeing people engaged on the issues.
“We’re happy to be here raising valuable funds for many mental health programs,” said Harris. “But truthfully the main thing here is raising awareness. It’s a wonderfully inexpensive day for families at only two dollars a person and I’ve seen so many who walk through the doors head over to the tables to ask for pamphlets and information on mental health help. That is what the day was created for three years ago and it keeps getting bigger.”
The first game was a Minor Atom AAA battle between the Barrie Colts and the North Central Predators.
With the game never in doubt and the hometown Colts winning 7-1, Head Coach Brian Laforge was relieved to get the two points but even more so that his team could be a part of such a community-based event.
“These games aren’t exhibition so it’s good to get the two points for the win,” said Laforge. “It can be quite a distraction for these kids with all the hoopla and being in the big facility, but we made sure they were aware of what it was all about. It’s nice to see them talking not just hockey today, but I saw both teams off-ice discussing why we are here, that’s a warming feeling when you see that.”
The second game was the new addition to the event and the first girl’s game in the Start Talking Cup.
The tilt between the Bantam AA Barrie Sharks and Aurora Panthers may have been a 4-0 Panthers win, but was entertaining nonetheless.
More than that, the game put the very successful local girl’s team in the limelight and will help highlight the many issues that women deal with and may choose to be silent on.
Barrie Police Chief Kimberley Greenwood was not just there to drop the ceremonial puck, but the well-respected Chief made sure to greet folks and listen to why they had come out.
“Today was quite an honour as I got to join other women in the community to help with an event that does so much good for bettering mental health,” said Chief Greenwood. “It is so important for the Barrie Police whether we are officers responding out in the community or those that are coaching, managing and assisting with sports involving youth. We’re seeing young people impacted by many forms of mental health and this can help us reach out to them on a larger level.”
The main event of the day had the hometown Colts defeat their Minor Midget AAA North Central rivals by a score of 4-0 to claim their third consecutive Cup.
Team captain Mitchell Russell was awestruck at playing in the BMC for such a huge cause, but believes that it will continue to be a great day for fun and learning.
“It’s unbelievable that we get to be a part of something like this,” said Russell. “It’s a regular season game but I don’t think we’ve talked too much about that part as much as we did the mental health part. I was nice to when someone came in from the Canadian Mental Health Association to speak to us and it made us understand that some of us are probably going through issues that we should talk about.”
