The Columbus Blue Jackets forward and Ohio native is hosting a charity event on Sunday, Rosie's Gear for Goals TopGolf Event, with the aim of helping young, underprivileged hockey players get the gear they need. Roslovic was acquired with forward Patrik Laine in a trade with the Winnipeg Jets on Jan. 23 for forward Pierre-Luc Dubois and a third-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft.
"I've been wanting to do this for a while," Roslovic told the
team's website
. "Even when I was in Winnipeg, I had always wanted to come back and give back to Columbus and Columbus youth hockey... It's not necessarily for kids who play the sport and already have the means to do it. It's more for kids who never even may have heard about it or don't have any equipment to play it."
Roslovic said some of his teammates will attend as will members of the Columbus Crew.
"I know how expensive hockey can be. And that's been my biggest thing -- my vision a couple of years ago was to hold events to raise money and host a camp and outfit kids and youth in Columbus to get them on the ice or get them on the roller rink. We can use that money to create awareness and maybe have some new kids start playing the game, watching the game or whatever it might be, just to show hockey in a different light and introduce people to the sport."
Roslovic chose the TopGolf in Columbus looking for a more interactive way to have a good time for a good cause.
"It's a Sunday afternoon, and I think it'll be a cool, fun interactive event," Roslovic said. "It'll be cool to see how it's an everyone knows everyone kind of thing. I know how small of a town Columbus can be, so I think it'll be great."
The 24-year-old is a product himself of Columbus' growing youth hockey programs and says he just wants to keep it going.
"It really is crazy now to see what these kids are doing," he said. "When I was in that 6-10 age group, there were probably one or two house league teams when I was younger. I bet you there's probably three leagues now. It's pretty crazy to see and it's pretty cool to see... I just want to keep on going down that path of helping kids learn to play, learn to skate, learn the sport in general. It's one of those things that's been my passion because I was a kid once who grew up here."
For more information, visit the
Rosie's Gear for Goals website
.
