Seattle always knows how to put on a ‘Sho’.
For a second straight year, the Thunderbirds played host to the annual South Sound Police vs. Fire Charity Cup on February 28.
This time, the Law Dogs came out on top in a heated tilt in front of more than 1,000 fans.
“The competition is really high,” Thunderbirds senior account executive Dylan Lockhart said. “It means a lot to these guys when they’re out there playing. There’s one or two fights a year that break out because of it. I know that it really gets the crowd going. I know we had some of our guys here watching it.”
Naturally, there is more than bragging rights on the line at the Charity Cup.
The Thunderbirds provide the ice and kick back a portion of proceeds from their own ticket sales to support the Puget Sound Firefighters and Behind the Badge Foundations, which, in turn, provided a donation to the Tukwila Food Pantry, a local organization that provides food, hygiene products, furniture, and other necessities for people in need.
Between the 1,000 tickets sold by first responders, donations from the Thunderbirds, chuck-a-puck, merchandise, 50/50 and raffle items, the Charity Cup hit a new high with $20,000 raised.
In addition to the T-Birds skaters in attendance, forward Marah Wagner of the PWHL’s Seattle Torrent also came out for a pre-game pep talk.
Tickets also rolled over for Seattle’s tilt against the league-leading Everett Silvertips at the accesso ShoWare Center later that night, which saw more than 6,200 fans pack in, though the Thunderbirds would have to settle for a single point in a 3-2 overtime loss.
“This season’s event, we had a full building,” Lockhart added. “I think we had almost as many people in the building for that Saturday game against Everett as we did for the WHL Championship game a few years ago in 2023… And then the hope is that we can continue to grow. Last year, they raised about $11,000, so this year, jumping up to $20,000 is a pretty substantial increase. The goal is just to keep building on that and doing it again year after year.”
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.
