The fourth annual 11 Day Power Play wrapped up on Wednesday with the group of 40 players, the "Frozen 40", officially breaking the Guinness World Record for the longest played hockey game. In addition, the event raised $2.1 million towards cancer research in Western New York supporting organizations such as Roswell Park, Oishei Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Program, Make-A-Wish and Camp Good Days.
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Although the 2021 event just came to a close with smashing success, the 11 Day Power Play will have a short turnaround, as the 2022 event is already set to take place starting Thursday, June 23 and going through Sunday, July 3 at Harborcenter.
The 2022 event will return to its Community Shift format with players from all around the community taking part and forming teams to not only take part in the 11-straight days of hockey played, but also help raise money for cancer research.
"$7.2 million [raised] for a very small organization in Buffalo, New York. There's really no words. It's just unreal," said 11 Day Power Play co-founder Amy Lesakowski on Wednesday following the final horn of the 2021 event. "We're going to continue to fight, and we're going to have the Community Shift and we're going to do this again, and we're going to support our families locally who are battling. That's why we're here."
"[The Community Shift] was our flagship after we did the original event," said 11 Day Power Play co-founder Mike Lesakowski, Amy's husband and one of the "Frozen 40" players participating. "It'll be at Harborcenter, teams will apply and play in three-hour shifts around the clock, just like we did. If anybody is interested, apply on our website.
"It's kind of a quick turnaround. It's in June already, so if anybody is interested, we're going to go back to the Community Shift format. It's tons of fun, and we raise a lot of money."
The last scheduled 11 Day Power Play Community Shift was scheduled to take place in 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was forced to take to the streets as a street hockey game. Amy Lesakowski is looking forward to seeing everyone getting back on the ice for the 2022 Community Shift to help raise money for a good cause.
"There's so many teams out there that want to get in and play and start fundraising to support families battling. So we're going to open those flood doors and hope that we have 3,000 participants next year at Harborcenter," Lesakowski said.
With the success of playing the game and holding the event at Buffalo RiverWorks this year, Lesakowski adds that plans are already in place for more 11 Day Power Play events to take place at the outdoor rinks and restaurant.
"We're not going to stop being here at RiverWorks. We're going to do some things in the winter time," Lesakowski said. "We obviously loved the facility, the staff is great to work with, and we're just excited to be able to keep working hard at fighting cancer."
The 2022 event will mark the fifth annual 11 Day Power Play taking part in Buffalo. It started in 2017 at Harborcenter with the first event playing out similarly to the 2021 event with 40 players attempting to break the world record for the longest hockey game played.
Mike Lesakowski says its amazing to see the local community continue to come out and support the event time-and-time again, every single year.
"It's really heartwarming," Lesakowski said. "Buffalo is a hockey town, as everybody knows, and we have Roswell [Park] in our backyard. The beneficiaries that we have are such great organizations, and to have the community's support, to just kind of embrace it, means a ton. We thought we were doing a one-time event in '17, and it's kind of taken on a life of its own in a good way. So we've raised a lot of money that's going to do a lot of good, and we're just going to keep going. We'd be remissed if we didn't."
For anyone looking to take part in the 2022 Community Shift for the 11 Day Power Play and sign up a team, you can head on over to 11daypowerplay.com and fill out the applications available on the website.