NHL, Sabres, Maple Leafs begin legacy project for teenagers in Hamilton
Donate to Hockey 4 Youth to expand programming as part of Heritage Classic festivities
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The Buffalo Sabres, Toronto Maple Leafs and NHL will donate to Hockey 4 Youth, helping the organization expand its programs for new Canadian teenagers, with activities that include free on-ice hockey, ball hockey and off-ice T.E.A.C.H. (technology, entrepreneurship, arts, community giving, and healthy active living) life-skills sessions.
"This is just the beginning," Hockey 4 Youth founder and executive director Moezine Hasham said. "We know there are a lot of kids that want to participate in sport. We think the only barrier should be the boards. Nothing else should stop a young person from getting into the game and learning life skills like how to be a team player, about resiliency, about getting back up when you fall."
With the Heritage Classic legacy project donation, Hockey 4 Youth will be up to 11 programs in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and now Hamilton by October 2022.
To date, more than 550 kids from 38 countries of origin, including Syria, Afghanistan, Columbia, Ethiopia, Hungary, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Vietnam, have participated since Hockey 4 Youth began in 2015.
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Hasham said that feedback from the program's children has been encouraging.
"We know we're having an impact," he said. "Eighty percent of our kids feel socially included after participation; 94 percent of them feel better about their emotional, psychological and mental health and physical health as well; 87 percent feel like they've established connections with adults and staff and volunteers of the program. That's really telling.
"The whole idea behind Hockey 4 Youth is that we want to foster social inclusion for newcomer and high-priority teens, all genders … plus the off-ice element in T.E.A.C.H. The idea there is, can we help these kids feel like they fit into their new country? Can we help them foster friendships? Can we give them experiential learning and pathways to learning and mentorship? Can we help them feel comfortable in society and feel like they're supported?"
Hasham's parents are of South Asian descent and refugees from Uganda in 1972. He was born in Vancouver in 1977.
"The way I got my first equipment was from a neighbor, Mrs. Brown, who still lives across the street from my mom," Hasham said. "Their older son had outgrown his equipment and it was offered to me because I was playing road hockey every day and that's how I got into ice hockey at 4 or 5.
"I'm extremely excited about our expansion to Hamilton because I didn't make it as a player or broadcaster but the idea of working with the NHL, it's a dream come true for me on a personal level. What it means is we're establishing roots in Hamilton for helping kids and with the NHL, and two world-class organizations, the Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs, for all of us to come together to leave behind a legacy project in a community where there is significant poverty and a significant number of newcomers, this is going to be life-changing for a lot of these kids and that's really important to me that the League said, 'Hey, let's working on something together and let's help expand hockey for youth.'"
At Saturday's announcement, Maple Leafs alumni Rick Vaive, Peter Ing and Mark Fraser, who is Toronto's player development, diversity, equity and inclusion lead, and Sabres alumni Wilf Paiement and Wayne Primeau joined Sabres mascot Sabretooth and Maple Leafs mascot Carlton at Smith Gym on the campus of McMaster University to help two dozen new Hockey 4 Youth teenagers take part in ball hockey skills drills and a scrimmage.
The group also had the opportunity to design their own outer skin for a pair of skates, part of the creative exercises of the T.E.A.C.H. curriculum.
And each of the new Hockey 4 Youth participants will be guests of the Sabres, Maple Leafs and NHL at the Heritage Classic. The outdoor game will be played at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton on Sunday (4 p.m. ET; TNT, SN, TVAS NHL LIVE).
Jeff Scott, NHL vice president, community development and growth, also participated in the ball hockey clinic and skate skins design session Saturday and said the League, Sabres and Maple Leafs are proud to help get the Hockey 4 Youth program off the ground in Hamilton.
"It's leaving something that will last once we depart," Scott said. "We want the impact of the Heritage Classic to live within the community once we're gone.
"It's gratifying but we know the job is not done. We've got a lot more to do, which is wonderful because that's what wakes me up every morning. This is only just the beginning. It's only Day 1. Yes, we've been working with [Hasham] for the past couple of months on building out this vision here but to be here today and see these young individuals and holding sticks and interacting with alumni, for that's the catalyst and the jumpstart for what the future can be for our investment in this program."
