The El Paso Rhinos of the Western States Hockey League will also donate all proceeds from a special jersey auction following two exhibition games in El Paso against Mexico's Under-20 men's national team on Sept. 28-29.
The monetary donation will largely come from ticket sales of a team that's won back-to-back WSHL championships.
"It's a pretty sad time in El Paso," said Rhinos coach Cory Herman, who played professionally in the city of nearly 700,000 and retired there in 2000. "Everybody is in shock right now. You just can't believe it happened. It's very, very sad. We wanted to do something to help."
The games against the Mexican men's team, ranked 36th in the world by the International Ice Hockey Federation, were announced in June. But they now take on a greater importance in the aftermath of a shooting at a Walmart that killed 22 people and injured at least 24 others.
"There were people from Mexico who died that day too," Herman said. "This is a loving city; well, it's really the biggest small town you'll ever visit. This is the type of place that if you're broken down along side of the road, within a couple of minutes you have people stopping trying to help you. People are just in shock right now."
