This past Saturday (Jan. 31, 2015), I chaired and played in Hockey Night in Toronto as part of the Slice the ICE fundraising series for Shaare Zedek Medical Centre in Jerusalem. This charity hockey game, hosted at the historic Maple Leaf Gardens (Mattamy Athletic Centre), featured Maple Leaf alumni Darcy Tucker and Shayne Corson along with charity fundraisers who raised a minimum of $1500 to play in the game. The following is my thank you speech from the event.

For those of you I haven’t had a chance to meet tonight, I’m Lawrence Mandel and along with my co-chairs Jordan Black and Daniel Lindzon am proud to be chairing our 3rd annual Hockey Night in Toronto, as part of the Slice the ICE for Neonatal Care event series.

This afternoon I was thinking back to Jordan and my conversations three years ago about what we wanted this event to be. We talked about having two star players battling opposite one another, we talked about having a great venue and supporting party to compliment the on ice experience, and we talked about filling the teams for an active game and, most importantly, an active roster of fundraisers who can truly help Shaare Zedek Medical Centre and its patients. How far we’ve come in three short years. What you see here tonight is due to the dedication, effort, and perseverance of an awful lot of people.

Let me start with a special thank you to former Maple Leafs Darcy Tucker and Shayne Corson for joining us here tonight to play hockey with our online fundraisers. Those of us who were on the ice can all tell you what a thrill it is to play hockey alongside two guys who, aside from being excellent players on and off the ice, know what it takes to take the Leafs deep into the playoffs.

To our hockey players – you have my heartfelt appreciation for all of your hard work in meeting your $1,500 fundraising goal. It is a real pleasure to report that together we’ve raised over $110,000 for the neonatal intensive care unit at Shaare Zedek in Jerusalem.

I’d like to single out a few hockey players who, along with myself, did an excellent job in raising over $3,000 each to earn their autographed Tucker and Corson jerseys – thank you to Richard Goldstein, Ron Lindzon and Jordan Black.

As well, I’d like to give a special shout out to those hockey players who raised $1,000 by January 20^th and earned Corson and Tucker autographed photos. They are: Jordan Black, Jordan Glaser, Richard Goldstein, Ben Gordon, Lee Hodgkinson, Danny Holland, Daniel Lindzon, Jared Lindzon, Ron Lindzon, Efram Kazam, Jordan Klimitz, Lawrence Mandel, Saul Mandelbaum, Michael Melnick, Brad Premate, Ron Somogyi and Adam Wainstock.

I’d now like to thank you, our generous sponsors, donors, families, and friends for all your support. Your generosity in donating both your money and your time is a huge reason why Slice the ICE is a success this year.

I also need to thank our dedicated and enthusiastic committee of volunteers. Look around. Take it in. This is what we can accomplish when work together as we have over the past 6 months. Outstanding work.

Now, Philip Black. Philip, I’ve called you out in the past and will continue to as long as you keep blowing us all away with your tireless dedication to this event series and Shaare Zedek Medical Centre. What can I say? You’re a tremendous role model. A real mensch. Thank you.

A special thank you to our Presenting Sponsor, Fabricland, to our Hockey Night in Toronto Sponsor, BMO, Hockey Rink Sponsor, Minden Gross, Entertainment Sponsor, Bounce Entertainment and our official Beer Sponsor Molson’s courtesy of Mattamy Athletic Centre. We genuinely appreciate your support of Shaare Zedek and tonight’s event.

Thank you once again for coming out to support us tonight and I look forward to seeing you on Thursday, February 26, in Collingwood for the 18^th annual On the Slopes for Candy ski event and part two of Slice the ICE for Neonatal Care! This is the last day to purchase tickets at the early bird price of $165. Buy your tickets here tonight at the registration desk.

Before I wrap up, I’ll remind you again to bid on the auction items before the silent auction closes at 10:45.

Up next, we’ll have an autograph and photo session with Darcy and Shayne. For those interested, please line up on the left hand side of the banner.

On behalf of the entire Shaare Zedek family, thank you for participating in Hockey Night in Toronto and I look forward to having you join us again next year.