- Noah Dobson’s HockeyFest raised $45,000 this summer, the most in the event’s four years
- The Summerside, PEI street hockey festival has now brought in $100,000 for a local charity since 2023
- Read below for what Dobson says about going home and the record 167 teams that showed up in June
Noah Dobson’s street hockey tournament just cleared six figures.
The fourth edition of Noah Dobson’s HockeyFest raised $45,000 for Community Connections Inc., a Summerside, Prince Edward Island nonprofit that supports adults with intellectual disabilities. It is the biggest single-year haul the event has produced, and it pushes the running total to $100,000 since the Canadiens defenseman attached his name to it in 2023.
The June weekend at Credit Union Place drew 167 teams, another record. Games are played on half-scale rinks with real boards, netting and referees. When Summerside first hosted a festival like this in 2022, roughly 25 teams entered.
Dobson was asked in June what it means to run the thing in the town that raised him, and his answer went straight back to minor hockey, per canadiens.com.
“It’s super special for me to give back to a community that gave so much to me. I was given every opportunity and a great experience as a kid growing up in Summerside’s minor hockey program, and I’m super grateful for that. To go back and host a big event, give back to the community, put smiles on kids’ faces and allow them to interact with pro players and NHL players is super special for me to return the favor.”
Summerside is a city of about 16,000 on PEI’s north shore, and Dobson never really left. He built a home gym and a shooting pad on his lakefront property there and trains through the summer before heading back to Montreal.
The event landed on the front of the Montreal Gazette’s sports section this week, a little over a year after the Canadiens sent two first-round picks to the Islanders to get him. Here is the organizers’ look at the page:
His first season in Montreal held up on the ice too. Dobson put up 47 points in 80 games and blocked 188 shots, second-most in the league, on a Canadiens team that spent the offseason trying to add without gutting the young core.
Organizers have already booked the fifth HockeyFest for June 18-20, 2027, back at Credit Union Place.
