BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - $1.1 million was raised in the street hockey edition of the 11 Day Power Play.
The annual hockey tournament concluded Sunday night at Buffalo Riverworks. Organizers were forced to improvise this year due to restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
“We had less people here which meant Mike (Lesakowski) had time to spend with each captain,” Amy Lesakowski, co-founder of the 11 Day Power Play, said Monday. “We got to know them personally. We heard their stories. We interviewed every captain that came through for our live stream. The community was able to watch the live stream from home. It didn’t matter what we were playing. I think a lot of captains, when we interviewed them, they wanted to do something to give back this year. Whether it was street hockey or ice hockey, that did not matter.”
11 Day Power Play: This year's street hockey tournament raised $1.1 million in the fight against cancer. Amy Lesakowski told WBEN that many of the players prefer ice hockey and that the organization hopes for a return to the ice in 2021. pic.twitter.com/m2obdmBjzw
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August 31, 2020 Lesakowski praised their safety precautions for the event and said they would do things the same way this year if they had to do another event in the same format next year.
Players and organizers generally prefer to play ice hockey instead of street hockey and Lesakowski said their goal next year is to have the event return to the ice. Still, she didn’t rule out street hockey given the unknowns about the future.
“We’re not going to rule out street hockey,” she said. “I think it was very successful and we’ll do the best we can to get on the ice and monitor how things are going with the pandemic and hope hockey games in Buffalo can happen at that time.”
