It was a hard-fought battle but the Peter Skene Ogden Grads were no match for their elders during the annual Grads vs Teachers hockey game last Wednesday.
The grads lost 6-4 to the team comprised of teachers and parents but came out $1,729 richer thanks to ticket sales and concession. They raised an additional $5,310 through a raffle, run over the past several months, with Marianne Hewitt winning $1,500, William Holyk $500 and Anna Bramsleven $250.
Fundraising committee member Gwen Scott said the night was a lot of fun.
“It’s a tradition and we appreciate the teachers and parents donating their time,” Scott said. “I was hoping the game would be a little bit closer but what are you gonna do?”
Scott said they bolstered the teacher’s team with parents and reminded the grads the game was for fun, to avoid a repeat of injuries suffered in the past. The grads split themselves into two shifts with the second shift scoring all the grads’ goals in the second half of the game.
Sarah Balbirnie and Sienna Lamarche, who played in the first shift, said they were surprised by the skills of the opposing team. They said they had a good time even if they couldn’t sneak any goals past the teacher’s goalie, Lee Hansen.
“It’s fun because our teachers talk so much smack before the game and you’re just waiting to go out there and beat your favourite teacher,” Balbirnie said. “It did not work for us. We didn’t really have a strategy, we just wanted to go, have fun and beat up our coach.”
Lamarche and Balbirnie both gunned for their longtime hockey coach, Balbirnie’s father Wade, but couldn’t stop him from scoring twice. Lamarche said she enjoyed the chance to play with some of the boys for the first time in years.
“It was interesting mixing us. We’ve grown up with a lot of these kids our whole lives and getting to play with them one last time was pretty fun,” Lamarche said. “It was a lot of fun and it lived up to the hype.”
PSO tech education and auto shop teacher Chris Leflufy said the best part of the game was beating his students, something he was sure teachers would brag about in class.
“Glory lasts forever as they say,” Leflufy said. “I have a really good relationship with all these students. It’s just a worthwhile event and we had fun.”
Scott said the grad committee still intends to help run the Outhouse Races in April and may do a Jail and Bail style fundraiser in the spring. The dry grad celebrations are set for Saturday, June 17.
patrick.davies@100milefreepress.net
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.