At the end of any given match, Carter Esler emerges from the Spokane Chiefs’ crease battered, weary, and covered in the familiar black streaks that come with facing a lot of rubber.
But the 17-year-old knows that the on-ice struggle pales in comparison to many of the challenges faced by people from all walks of life around the community.
For his sophomore season, Esler decided to put a new twist on a classic in hopes of helping out.
The star goaltender teamed up with Bauer to create custom goalie pads, blockers and gloves honouring different causes and jersey theme nights on the Chiefs’ calendar, and auctioned them off afterwards to benefit numerous organizations.
While Esler wanted the main focus to be on each cause and the money raised, he also did his research on each cause and looked for meaningful details to include in each set.
“I think a big thing for me, doing this project with all the special jerseys, is just to kind of make sure that everyone sees that the battles that people go through every day, just to know that there’s someone there to always be there for you, and to help you out,” Esler said. “I don’t want to miss anything, and I want to make sure that everything’s on. I want to make sure they’re perfect as can be.”
The Okotoks, Alta. product started off by teaming up with young patients being treated at Providence Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital in Spokane.
Esler and the Bauer team turned the kids’ holiday-themed drawings into a wrapping paper-style setup that ended up raising $2,500 for the hospital.
“The enthusiasm for his visit was crazy,” Providence associate art therapist Katie Rongey said. “I have never had so many children and their families be excited to tell me about a visit in over five years. And then, the call for art like that, trying to get people roused to make Christmas art the week of Halloween, was one of those really wonderful moments of trying to make it playful and connective and offer this opportunity to do something really phenomenal. So while some of our kiddos got to meet Carter on the other end, he had a wider impact that was ongoing.”
Esler and Chiefs equipment manager Tom Frater flexed their creative muscles again with a fighter-jet-inspired getup for Chiefs’ Military Appreciation Night in February in support of the Washington Fallen Heroes Project, and followed it up with a bold pink-and-purple setup for Chiefs Fights Cancer night, benefiting Every Woman Can PNW.
As part of the series, Esler also took the time to sit down with a representative of each organization to learn more about the cause.
“Part of our mission is to support the families, because they’re the ones that are still here, and every day they wake up with that loss,” Washington Fallen Heroes Project director Keirsten Lyons told Esler. “When you have community that you can turn to, or even just one person that you’ve connected with that you know you can call, whether it’s three in the afternoon or three in the morning… It really helps. It helps you get through that hard moment.”
Esler capped off the season with an old-school brown-and-red set for the team’s throwback night to raise money for local minor hockey programs.
In total, Esler raised nearly $9,000 for local charities through the four auctions and was named a finalist for the Doug Wickenheiser Memorial Trophy, which is awarded annually to the WHL’s Humanitarian of the Year.
Now preparing for his NHL Draft season, Esler is expected to have as big an impact on the ice as he’s having off of it.
The Western Hockey League strives to promote and foster a welcoming environment in communities close to our 23 teams in Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest. Each club has the creative freedom to allow its players and staff to work with the organizations and groups that they are most passionate about. The end goal is to create and maintain long-lasting relationships and ongoing partnerships within their community.
Through McSweeney’s WHL Community Collective, we aim to highlight these outstanding initiatives done by each club throughout the season.
