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    Hockey Fights Cancer

    Scandella grateful to Wild for time with ailing father

    Tuesday, 11.17.2015 / 5:40 PM / Hockey Fights Cancer

    NHL.com

    Marco Scandella spoke Tuesday of the time he spent away from the Minnesota Wild to be with his ailing father.

    "My dad doesn't have much time left, so I'm really happy that the organization let me go back home to see him and say goodbye to him," the defenseman told the Wild website after the morning skate prior to playing at the Pittsburgh Penguins.

    "I owe it to him to play my best hockey, and that's what I'm going to do when I come out every shift. I just have to keep growing as a player and growing as a person."

    Laperriere leading charge against pancreatic cancer

    Wednesday, 11.11.2015 / 2:34 PM / Hockey Fights Cancer

    Jon Lane - NHL.com Staff Writer

    Philadelphia Flyers assistant coach Ian Laperriere did not know about pancreatic cancer until 2007 when his father was diagnosed with it at the age of 52.

    Three years later, Michel Laperriere lost his battle. The ordeal educated Ian Laperriere about the severe impact of the disease.

    "When we all found out it just hit us like a brick," Laperriere said. "He fought for three years, I'll give him that. That's a tough cancer. There's no good cancer but that's probably one of the worst. You don't last that long. Even as strong as you are and as much fight as you put in, that cancer is very aggressive and it's tough to survive."

    Cup winner DiPenta leading fight against blood cancer

    Friday, 11.06.2015 / 3:00 AM / Hockey Fights Cancer

    Mike G. Morreale - NHL.com Staff Writer

    Joe DiPenta accomplished the ultimate goal of his NHL career in 2007 when he won the Stanley Cup as a member of the Anaheim Ducks.

    He has since taken on an even greater objective in the fight against cancer as executive director of the Atlantic Canada chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) of Canada.

    "When I lifted that Cup above my head, those were the best six seconds of my life and the pinnacle of my career because it was the exclamation point for all the hard work and sacrifices that went into having that moment," DiPenta said. "I believe one day we'll have a similar feeling in discovering a cure for blood cancer.

    "I'm already seeing it and the feeling is right up there with that feeling I had winning the Cup. It's a lofty goal, it's a dream and it's something I'm striving towards."

    Movember, NHL team to spread men's health message

    Sunday, 11.01.2015 / 3:00 AM / Hockey Fights Cancer

    Jon Lane - NHL.com Staff Writer

    Movember, the charity movement with the mustache as its focal point, is back and bigger than ever.

    The Movember Foundation uses the month of November to challenge men to grow facial hair to inspire one another to live happier, healthier and longer lives. The foundation has raised more than $650 million and helped fund more than 1,000 breakthrough men's health programs in 21 countries.

    Movember's outreach has extended through its partnership with the NHL and Hockey Fights Cancer. The annual Hockey Fights Cancer campaign, launched Oct. 19 and running until Nov. 13, is a joint initiative between the NHL and the NHL Players' Association that's raised more than $15 million since its inception in 1998.

    Twenty-five NHL teams and 369 players contributed to Movember last year, according to the Movember Foundation. The Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, and Carolina Hurricanes ranked as the League's top-three fundraising teams. Every team in Canada registered and participated, and player participation grew 16 percent from 2013 with Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher emerging as the top fundraiser.

    Actor Dale running marathon to help fight cancer

    Thursday, 10.29.2015 / 1:59 PM / Hockey Fights Cancer

    Jon Lane - NHL.com Staff Writer

    Actor James Badge Dale has been affected by cancer; his mother died from the disease when he was 15 years old.

    He has a passion for hockey; he was a goaltender at the Division III and Junior A levels.

    He's an avid runner who recently ran a half-marathon in Utah at 9,000 feet above sea level and the Breck Crest Mountain Marathon in Colorado.

    On Nov. 1, Dale will use hockey and running to help his crusade against cancer when he competes in his first New York City Marathon. Dale will run wearing a Hockey Fights Cancer T-shirt and hat, and has taken to Twitter to request donations in support of the charity, a joint initiative between the NHL and the NHL Players' Association that has raised more than $15 million since its inception in 1998.

    Islanders' Martin visits cancer patients at NHL Store

    Wednesday, 10.28.2015 / 8:15 PM / Hockey Fights Cancer

    Jon Lane - NHL.com Staff Writer

    NEW YORK -- New York Islanders forward Matt Martin learned at a young age the value of being a role model and how the status of being a professional athlete can have a positive impact on others.

    One of Martin's idols growing up was retired NHL defenseman Ed Jovanovski, who played junior hockey for the Windsor Spitfires in Martin's hometown. Whenever Jovanovski came out for warm-ups, Martin tossed a piece of bubble gum over the boards and in return Jovanovski handed him hockey sticks. Seeing Jovanovski go the extra mile to put a smile on his face inspired Martin to where if he made the NHL, he would provide his fans with a similar feeling.

    "It really is amazing the effect it can have on you," Martin said. "It happened to me first-hand, and I just felt like carrying that along and touching as many people as you can."

    Senators GM Murray battling cancer through work

    Wednesday, 10.28.2015 / 3:00 AM / Hockey Fights Cancer

    Chris Stevenson - NHL.com Correspondent

    OTTAWA -- Ottawa Senators general manager and president of hockey operations Bryan Murray can be seen on an almost daily basis working the hallways, offices and stands at the Canadian Tire Centre, consulting with his staff, talking to his players and dealing with the media.

    Sixteen months after the 72-year-old was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer which had spread to his liver and lungs, Murray is holding his own in his battle and he said showing up for work has been a big weapon for him.

    "I've just had scans and I've been told everything is fairly stable," Murray said. "It's not growing, it's not shrinking, it's pretty much where it was. The chemo plus the other stuff I'm doing seems to have, at least for now, some control over the growth."

    The Senators host the Calgary Flames on Wednesday in their Hockey Fights Cancer Night game (7:30 p.m., ET; TVA Sports, SN1).

    Blues' Pietrangelo devoted to cancer awareness

    Friday, 10.23.2015 / 5:45 PM / Hockey Fights Cancer

    Louie Korac - NHL.com Correspondent

    ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo recalled the day he was in the hospital with his childhood friend and the two were playing Pokemon.

    Pietrangelo was 10; his friend Cosmo was 11.

    As kids, they were supposed to be enjoying life without a worry in the world. But one day, Cosmo was gone; he succumbed to cancer, and Pietrangelo, who like many NHL players have stories to tell of experiences with the disease, was left to wonder why his friend was no longer around.

    "That was the one thing I remember for some reason," Pietrangelo said. "We were playing Pokemon on the hospital TV. He was obviously sick at the time, but that was the one picture I still have in my mind 15 years later. That's the one picture I always replay in my mind.

    Oilers' Davidson details comeback from cancer

    Friday, 10.23.2015 / 3:00 AM / Hockey Fights Cancer

    Derek Van Diest - NHL.com Correspondent

    EDMONTON -- Brandon Davidson was preparing to fight for a spot with the Edmonton Oilers' American Hockey League affiliate in Oklahoma City when a bigger battle was presented to him.

    Heading into his first year of professional hockey, the defenseman was diagnosed with testicular cancer, putting his career in jeopardy.

    "I was diagnosed Oct. 1, 2012," Davidson said prior to the Oilers hosting Hockey Fights Cancer night Friday against the Washington Capitals. "I felt some symptoms come on, and basically through the physicals that we do as a team every year, we were able to identify it. Within two days of Oct. 1 I was on the operating table."

    Hockey Fights Cancer awareness campaign begins

    Monday, 10.19.2015 / 10:15 AM / Hockey Fights Cancer

    NHL Public Relations

    NEW YORK/TORONTO – The 17th annual Hockey Fights Cancer™ campaign, a joint initiative between the National Hockey League (NHL) and National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA), invites fans to join the fight, Oct. 19 – Nov. 13, 2015. Since its inception in 1998, through the charitable initiative, more than $15 million has been donated, and it has been dedicated to supporting national and local organizations involved in cancer care and research. Together, the NHLPA and NHL will distribute more than $200,000 in grants to local cancer organizations in all 30 NHL® markets and nationally to the following five cancer organizations:

    The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society will use its donation to invest in research to advance therapies and save lives, including targeted therapies and immunotherapies.

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