BATAVIA — On the scoreboard, the city Police Department squad beat the Fire Department team, 5-2, Sunday night.
The game at the David M. McCarthy Memorial Ice Arena on Evans Street, had another purpose — to raise money for the McCarthy Memorial Foundation.
Marc Witt, general manager for CAN-USA Sports, said about 200 tickets were presold. Witt said the hope was to raise $1,500 to $2,000. CAN-USA beat that goal by raising $3,200 as over 550 people attended.
The fundraiser was set on the same day as the Buffalo Bills home game, and Witt admitted he was worried about attendance.
“It seems like we are doing fine,” Witt said before the game. “It should be a fun time.”
Brian McCarthy, president of the David M. McCarthy Memorial Foundation and one of the referees along with Dan Meyer, said the McCarthy Memorial Foundation is dedicated to supporting youth athletics in Genesee County. Brian McCarthy said his older brother, David, passed away in a car accident in 2006 and, through that loss, McCarthy said the family came together to figure out what to do in his memory.
“I had a friend who was running a golf tournament at the time, and he basically offered to make that golf tournament a fundraiser for the foundation,” he said. “We got started as a golf tournament. Now we are one of the biggest golf tournaments in the Genesee area.”
The foundation tries to help as many of the youth sports as it can. If youth sports is looking for financial assistance whether it is for equipment or travel expenses, the foundation accepts grant requests. The foundation Board of Directors votes on a grant to provide money to youth sports.
McCarthy said he wants the community to know how appreciative the foundation is of all the support it receives.
CAN-USA Sports has held games pitting police departments against fire departments before, but not on the ice. Witt said he approached the police and fire departments about doing a hockey game and for charity, and both jumped on it.
“The fire is 2 and 0, so the police are chomping at the bit to get a good win,” he said.
The police managed to finally secure a win over the fire department, coming out on top 5-2.
Firefighter Matt Morasco said it looked like a lot of people were there for the game.
“Thanks to the community for coming out and supporting us, and supporting the McCarthy Foundation. We appreciate it,” he said.
Morasco said there was no specific fund-raising goal.
“We printed off 600 tickets and we hoped to sell as many as we could,” he said. “This is our first year, so we’ll hopefully build on this year and do it better next year.”
“We’ve been looking forward to it. We’ve been practicing … for about five weeks now. We’re just looking forward to getting out there and hopefully having a good game,” Morasco said before the puck dropped.
Morasco said the McCarthy Foundation does a lot for youth sports.
“If we can help them out, we’re very happy to do so and by selling tickets to the community, they’re helping us out as well,” he said. “We’re hoping to make it a yearly event. Hopefully we get a good turnout tonight and we’ll take it from there.”
Police Detective James DeFreze said the firefighters and police had scrimmaged before they decided to give it a try.”
As to the team’s uniforms, which were black, blue and white, DeFreze said the team ordered them online.
“I wasn’t planning on playing goalie, so mine’s not personalized. I’ve never played hockey, never played goalie, but I’m the equalizer. We have a little more veteran players on our side,” he said. DeFreze said the players have not all played together.
For the police team, Conor Borchert and Steven Cronmiller each scored a pair of goals and CJ Lindsay had one, plus an assist. Matthew Lutey collected four assists and Bryan Moscicki had one. For the Fire Department’s team, Ryan Whitcombe scored twice, assisted both times by Jonathan Wolcott.
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