- More than 2,500 fans filled Sacred Heart University’s Martire Family Arena for the fourth Shoulder Check Showcase
- Team Shattenkirk beat Team Prentiss 15-9 in the game’s first live NHL Network broadcast
- Read below for Ryan Leonard’s goal, the video of the night and what Chris Kreider said about how far this thing has come
A charity game that spent its first three years in a municipal rink in Stamford played to a packed college arena on national television Thursday night.
More than 2,500 fans came out to Sacred Heart University’s Martire Family Arena in Fairfield, Connecticut for the fourth Shoulder Check Showcase, where Team Shattenkirk beat Team Prentiss 15-9 in the event’s first live NHL Network broadcast. Ryan Leonard scored one of the cleaner goals of the night.
Leonard was announced with Team Prentiss and ended up dressing for the other bench. He faked a shot and lifted the puck over Alex Lyon’s glove for his side’s seventh goal. Watch the finish:
This was the first year away from Terry Conners Ice Rink, which hosted the first three editions. Chris Kreider has played in every one of them, and the Ducks winger was asked what the jump to a $70 million building felt like.
“It’s pretty incredible,” Kreider said, per Bill Price of NHL.com. “Just from last year to this. It gives me goose bumps.”
Rob Thorsen started the game and the HT40 Foundation after his son Hayden died by suicide in May 2022. Hayden was the kid who checked on his teammates with a hand on the shoulder, and that gesture became the whole mission.
Players and fans put their left hand on the shoulder of the person next to them before puck drop and said, “Reach out, check in, make contact.” A video of NHL players singing Bill Withers’ “Lean On Me” ran ahead of the game. Take a look at the version Shoulder Check cut with players from around the league:
Trevor Zegras came up in the same Mid Fairfield youth program as Hayden and has done more than anyone to get NHL players on a plane for this. He talked about what pulling into the arena felt like.
“It started with an idea and some people with a lot of passion,” Zegras said. “And what it’s grown into, just driving in here, it’s hard to believe. It’s awesome.”
Over 25 NHL players took the ice, including J.T. Miller, Spencer Knight and Shayne Gostisbehere. Gritty made the trip. The Zambonis played the outdoor party before an afternoon rain shower pushed everyone inside.
Lyon saw plenty of rubber in a 15-9 game. He explained why the night’s message sits with him.
“Life is hard, you know? Really hard,” Lyon said. “And it doesn’t matter who you are or what circumstances you have. Everyone faces challenges on a daily basis.”
Thorsen counted more than 200 volunteers working the building, and he said the calls keep coming: “It’s almost like the more we do it, the more demand we get for it.”
