Kane, ‘Champs for Charity’ Do the (Hat) Trick

You can take the man out of Chicago, but you can’t take the Chicago out of the man. Such is the case with former Blackhawks forward Adam Burish, who with sports agent Bill Zito had a great idea for a charity hockey exhibition. And, man, what a great idea it was.

Paige, Ashley, Colleen and Jen join Ryan Dempster after the hockey game.

“Champions for Charity” was a hockey exhibition held Friday (Oct. 26) at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill. The goals were aplenty. Team World prevailed 16-15 in a shootout. Team Chicago’s Patrick Kane had five goals. The most important goal was that of raising money for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana. The idea was to raise $250,000.

With a crowd of 11,649. Burish and friends reached their goal — and then some. How does $323,500 sound? Like the number raised by the event.

As promised, former Chicago Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster was celebrity coach of Team Chicago. Jenny McCarthy was a no-show so Chicago Bears kicker Robbie Gould was Team World coach. Somehow the fans were able to overcome the absence of McCarthy and have a rollicking time (note: This is the first time that “rollicking” has been used on this site by your humble correspondent).

All the success of the evening’s activities came without much advance publicity — or notice. Pat Nagle, who runs the facility, said he and all concerned parties had 10 days to get everything done. That’s warp speed and then some. Rosemont mayor Brad Stephens waived the rental fee, and everything happened so quickly that failure never was part of the equation.

Playboy Playmate Britany Nola has nothing to do with the hockey exhibition "Champs for Charity." And that's a problem?

“Champs for Charity” did not buy any ads. Meaning it was a commercial success without commercials. Sponsors signed on, and word-of-mouth spread the players on the ice once again. the news about the game. Stuff like that could make the Blackhawks rethink all the marketing it does. Then again, with the owners having locked out the players, there was pent-up demand to see NHL players on the ice.

With Don Fehr, director of the NHL Players Association, watching the game from a suite, your humble correspondent inquired about the possibility of having another of these games — nobody asked me, but the day after Thanksgiving would seem a good time — and having a network televise the contest.

He said he would hope to have a deal in place by then but did admit finding a broadcast partner — such as an ESPN — didn’t strike him as a problem.

For some people, hockey was the highlight. For those of us (OK, for me) who had the opportunity to be in the dressing room of the former members of the Ice Crew, the hockey was a distant second. But that’s a story for another day. And if things go according to plan, that day will be Sunday. Meaning tomorrow — provided that you are reading this on Saturday.

And plenty more for the “Champs for Charity” event. The question becomes: Because your hunble correspondent has individual photos of the four former Ice Crew members, should such pictures be spread over four days — thereby giving each lovely lady who just due — or should we use them all together? Four times the beauty.

Decisions, decisions.

Such is the life of a serious journalist fellow who is quite fortunate to have built up relationships with special people that allow for such access.

Some of the “Champs for Charity” highlights (with more to come another day):

Britany Nola is Playboy’s November Playmate — in case you were wondering (and even if you weren’t):

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