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Rocky Mountain Raiders helping to grow the game in Kenya

"We're in a tough spot right now, but to be able to help out others during these types of times is pretty heartfelt and heartwarming for our group and for everyone involved."

The Rocky Mountain Raiders have provided an overseas assist that could have lasting effects.

Raiders parent Jamie Shand presented Kenya Ice Hockey with over 85 pieces of hockey equipment and team swag this week after the Alberta Elite Female Hockey League U18 AAA team, its families and friends rallied to collect the goods last month.

"One of our parents has been going over to Kenya for a few years and has taken an interest in trying to grow hockey over there and help them out," said Raiders head coach Dustin Borbandy. "This past year he came back and he was talking to a bunch of us about looking for donations, used equipment, things like that.

"The majority of our team donated apparel to equipment, sticks, friends outside of our team donated equipment. And he went over there with five or six hockey bags full, a full set of goalie equipment and 50 sticks."

Borbandy said the initiative was a terrific opportunity for team bonding during a tough time in which team sports are heavily restricted and the squad isn't able to gather, train, practice or play games.

"During this pandemic it's pretty tough to find the positive at times when you're constantly hoping that things will change and things will open up and they don't so you kind of get discouraged and kind of get down," he said. "So to have something like this go through kind of lifted our team's spirits and the team camaraderie.

"Everybody rallied together getting stuff and feeling proud. I just got word (Thursday) that they're going to be putting our plaque of our logo at the orphanage so we'll be flying the Raiders colours down in Kenya."

In a trip to the country last year, Shand became familiar with the work of the Kenyan Ice Lions hockey team who earned notoriety a couple years ago when they played a scrimmage with NHL superstars Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon.

"I didn't even know about that when I first started talking to them. So I was going to come out here and put in solar power in remote places and it kind of evolved from that to ice hockey when I met a bunch of the Ice Lions when I was last here," Shand said. "We went to kind of a slum area and with 250 dollars we bought 10 families food for a week, it goes such a long way.

"The guys with the Ice Lions are such incredible people, they help out with their community. They have no money themselves or beautiful cars, they live in what Canadians would say way below the poverty line yet they're the ones helping out."

Shand, in a phone interview from Kenya, said the ice hockey infrastructure in the East Africa country is confined to a small rink inside the Panari Hotel in the capital city of Nairobi. The costs of playing on the rink are out of reach for a lot of locals, he added.

"We showed up and every Sunday they play in an area there where literally hundreds of locals play hockey, they play roller hockey and speed skate a little bit every Sunday in that town," Shand said. "So we brought a bunch of sticks to that and they were very happy with that.

"And shortly after that we went to the orphanage and got a tour of the orphanage. At the orphanage there's 36 girls in one bedroom and 30 boys in the other room, it's 66 kids in one room with one light-bulb in each room."

The trip will culminate with a party at the orphanage with collections of food, money and hockey equipment so the youth can play ball and roller hockey in the courtyard.

The initiative also has support from the NHL's Hockey Diversity Panel and now particularly with the Black Girl Hockey Club, a non-profit organization that advocates for Black women in ice hockey.

While the trip started out as a means to support Kenya Ice Hockey as a whole, it's evolved into one in which girls hockey has been emphasized.

Shand said there's plans in the works to set up a pen pal program featuring girls from the orphanage and Raiders players along with future teammates of his daughter Isobel at Indiana Tech.

"Once a month they would get a letter overseas from Canada and the U.S. and acknowledge their birthdays and Christmas and make them feel like they're special," he said. 

Shand said Raiders coaches Borbandy and Shelli Oaks, along with Raiders Isobel Pettem-Shand, Joceyln Elliott and Claire Hobbs and Claire's mother Karen were instrumental in the process, among many other helping hands.

The Raiders have not been able to skate in a league game since November.

Since then, it's been about creative avenues to keep everyone engaged and connected from virtual workouts and player homework to team and alumni trivia nights and a recent bake-off.

The Kenya Ice Hockey initiative is just the latest example.

"We're in a tough spot right now," Borbandy added. "But to be able to help out others during these types of times is pretty heartfelt and heartwarming for our group and for everyone involved."


Remy Greer

About the Author: Remy Greer

Remy Greer is the assistant editor and sports reporter for westernwheel.ca and the Western Wheel newspaper. For story tips contact [email protected]
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