Chris Pronger connects Alumni Game with fundraiser

ST. LOUIS -- When Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman Chris Pronger heard his daughter's teacher was in need, he and his wife, Lauren, tried to find ways to help.
Pronger's daughter, Lilah, is in the second grade, and the son of her teacher, 7-year old Luca Gruszka, was diagnosed with leukemia on Dec. 12.
"How quickly your life can change," Pronger said Friday. "It could happen to anybody."

Together with the Blues Alumni Association, the Prongers started a
GoFundMe page
to benefit Gruszka and his family.
They decided to incorporate the 2017 NHL Winter Classic Alumni Game between the Blues and the Chicago Blackhawks at Busch Stadium on Saturday (2:30 p.m. ET; SN, FS-CHI, FS-MW) into the fundraising effort.
For every goal the Blues score Saturday, $200 will be donated to Luca's GoFundMe account.
Pronger, who played for the Blues from 1995 to 2004, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2015 and works for the NHL Department of Player Safety.
He took over the

on Friday to promote the fundraising campaign.
"I know there's a lot of situations like this out there, but it was somebody that we knew and were close to and we wanted to help with the situation," Pronger said. "You try to lend your fame or your ability to get in contact with the media. It just happened that the alumni game was coming up and my wife and I were trying to figure out something to do to raise money and we came up with donating $200 per goal."
Luca's father, Jered, also taught Pronger's youngest son, George, so the Prongers know the Gruszka family well. Luka was released from Children's Hospital in St. Louis on Friday, but his immune system is too weak following chemotherapy for him to attend the alumni game or the 2017 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic at Busch Stadium on Monday (1 p.m. ET; NBC, SN, TVA Sports, NHL.TV).
Pronger, who will play Saturday for the first time since his career was cut short in 2011 by post-concussion syndrome, said the plan is for Luca's father to attend the alumni game and, "assuming Luca is doing OK because he has been kind of up and down with the chemo," his mother, Angela, will be at Busch Stadium for the Winter Classic.
"I saw [Luca] today and he was all fired up that this was going on," Pronger said. "He's been watching every day and following on the internet how the GoFundMe page is doing. It's been just a chance to give back to the greater community and those that have always supported me in the past."