The Golden Hawks hockey team led by fourth year forward, Anthony Sorrentino are concluding their successful month-long Movember campaign this week.
Sorrentino and his teammates have found various ways to stay connected this year even while being off the ice and have done an excellent job this month in raising money towards a great initiative.
“The support has been extremely well so far. It’s my first time coordinating a campaign of such, so it has been fun to help create the content and have some fun with it,” Sorrentino said.
“Sorrentino has been leading that initiative for us and the guys have been doing a great job in participating,” Coach Greg Puhalski said.
The Movember initiative has been around since 2003 and encourages donations in order to tackle prevalent men’s health issues. The four main pillars include men’s mental health, suicide prevention, prostate cancer and testicular cancer.
Each week, the Golden Hawks hockey team has spotlighted one of the pillars and is aiming to spread awareness and raise money towards fighting the issue.
“Obviously, men’s health is the primary cause. Any sort of awareness we are able to spread, whether that’s through knowledge of the four pillars or showing support by growing our mustaches for a good cause. It has been really fun,” Sorrentino said.
Sorrentino has focused the promotion of the campaign on Laurier’s social media accounts (Twitter and Instagram) and encourages anyone to donate to help spread awareness.
“It’s been really fun. Chief [Puhalski] gave the leadership group full reigns to run social media this year,” he said.
The current tally for Laurier’s Golden Hawks hockey team sits just below $2,500 with just over a week left to donate. Laurier’s men’s rugby and cross-country programs are also embarking on the initiative, spreading awareness and raising money through their teams and staff.
Sorrentino has enjoyed leading the campaign for them, not just for the donations but also for its impact on the players in what has been such a difficult season being held off the ice.
“It goes beyond the fundraising. Any awareness we can spread is awesome, but to be honest with you it’s been a great way to get the guys together. Especially some of them that we haven’t seen much, like the first-year guys,” he said.
“It’s been a cool process to get the guys interacting with one another, chatting and poking fun at each other,” Sorrentino added.
The team will continue to promote the Movember campaign throughout the last week of the month and will also have a few challenges and a Laurier “Movember Cup Playoffs,” with a bracket-like structure. That is some of the fun that Sorrentino and the team have been able to have while also raising over $2,000. With just one week left, “anyone is more than welcome to donate and help out the cause,” Sorrentino said.
