Former Islander greats tee-off in Saskatoon charity golf tournament
- Fraser Needham | July 17, 2014
The ninth annual Garry Peters and Rich Pilon Celebrity Golf Tournament kicked off Wednesday morning in Saskatoon.
The tournament officially starts tomorrow at the Dakota Dunes Golf Links and all funds raised go to KidSport Saskatchewan.
The golf tournament was started by former NHLers Peters and Pilon in 2006.
Tournament chairperson Jackie Pilon says organizers started the event as a means of making sports accessible to all children.
"Gary, Rich and Dan Demchenko (Saskatoon baseball) got together and they decided that they wanted to raise money for a sports organization that benefits youth," she says. "They knew they struggled for money sometimes as kids when they were trying to play their sport that took them to great heights, so they wanted to be able to give back."
Shannon Hanson of KidSport adds last year the program funded 9,000 kids from across the province to take part in activities and they couldn't have done it without events like the Peters and Pilon golf tournament.
"As we know, sports very expensive and yet its really valuable," she says. "It helps develop our leaders of tomorrow. So, an event like this helps us put some of those kids into opportunities they may not have."
This year's guest celebrity golfers include former New York Islanders Bob Bourne, Clark Gillies and Billy Smith.
The three were a key part of the Islander dynasty that won four consecutive Stanley Cup championships from 1980 to 1983.
Gillies, who hails from Moose Jaw, and Bourne, who grew up in the Kindersley area, both say it is always nice to return home and help a good cause at the same time.
Bourne says it still amazes him how often he is recognized today even though those Islander championship teams go back more than three decades now.
"That's one thing I love about Saskatchewan, though, is people don't forget and I am at the age now, I just turned 60, where there's a lot of people in their 30's and 40's who still come up to me and they remember," he says.
Gillies adds recognition tends to be a bit age- and place-sensitive but overall people still do remember the Islanders' glory years.
"Guys that are our age that were watching in the 58-, 59-, 60-year-old range, especially in New York, they were all growing up at the same time we were playing and we still get noticed quite a bit in New York," he says. "Not quite so much out here because we look a little different - the hair's not brown anymore and it's a little bit grey."
Since its inception, the golf tournament has raised about $450,000 for KidSport and Pilon says the event is on par for another good year in 2014.
She says this year's tournament is sold out with 216 golfers participating which should raise about $100,000.
Children between the ages of five and 19 are eligible for KidSport funding to a maximum of $750 per year, per child.