Back in the Nation’s Capital

Montreal was electric and with the buzz of our last game wearing off, it was time to get Sens Nation fired up to raise food, money and awareness for the Ottawa Food Bank on Sparks Street in the heart of Ottawa. Last year, Ottawa was extremely proud of the fact that they raised the second most amount of food on our cross-Canada tour and were determined to step up again and give Vancouver another run for it’s money!

Setting up the day, we had the city behind us from the very first ball drop! Mayor Jim Watson brought his cast of councillors down for the annual ball hockey affair on the capital’s busiest street as Councillor’s Tim Tierney, Scott Moffatt, Dave Chernushenko played hockey for food and Councillor Marianne Wilkinson came out to cheer everyone on as the day progressed.

Returning to Ottawa it was fun to see some familiar faces, and after three tours we had a couple special moments as we met old friends of Five Hole for Food in a city neither of us were familiar with. Over the last few years we’ve had the pleasure of meeting some dedicated hockey fans that are determined to put that passion to action with their sticks on the concrete and food in the bins. To that end, it was humbling to find that a friend of FHFF from Vancouver, and a friend of FHFF from Toronto, both ended up in Ottawa for our game. It’s been great seeing communities come together to join us, but it’s even more incredible finding people join us on the road in other cities as we grow our impact and try to help even more people on each East-West trip!

We had one cool encounter on the road today as we met a family that was doing a tour very similar to ours. Difference was, they were going the opposite direction! While we go from East to West, they had started in Vancouver and were driving East with the intention of visiting every NHL city along the way. Any hockey fans that dedicated are great in our books and they joined us on Sparks Street for a bit of hockey and we had a blast!

With the numbers pouring in, Ottawa wanted to make sure they put in a very strong effort and with the numbers coming in, the city took a huge step forward from last year’s totals and brought in more than 8,000 lbs of food for Ottawa’s food agency umbrella organization. As we head into Toronto we’re gearing up for one of the most epic days of ball hockey the tour, the city and the country has ever seen as we take over Yonge Dundas Square! With over 32,000 lbs of food, things are getting exciting. The halfway point of the tour is upon us and we’ve got lots of time to reach our 100,000 lb goal. Will you play hockey for food?