February 27, 2012 2:46 PM
This past weekend is one most Checkers fans will not forget. The sixth annual Pink in the Rink, presented by Presbyterian Hospital, drew a single-game Checkers record of 13,102 fans, with a weekend record of more than 25,000 packing into Time Warner Cable Arena over the two-game set.
On the ice, the Checkers earned three of a possible four points against the AHL’s top team, the Oklahoma City Barons, with various fundraising efforts combining to raise more than $42,000 for charity.
 Friday marked the second annual boy scout sleepover, with 1,000 boy scouts and their families attending the game. Of that group, 300 stayed to watch “The Mighty Ducks” on the big screen and takepart in a question and answer session with Checkers forwards and all around good guys Zac Dalpe and A.J. Jenks before camping out on the ice.
Friday’s game also featured the culmination of a second fundraising partnership between the Checkers and Cannon School. The “Heroes for Houses” project raised more than $7,000 for Kannapolis-area families in need, including one whose house burned down in January. In 2010, the two organizations teamed up for “Hockey for Haiti” and raised more than $10,000 for the victims of that country's devastating earthquake.
The Checkers also asked fans who attended Friday’s game to bring in old eyeglasses to donate to the Lions Club in exchange for a free game ticket from Horizon Eye Care. In all, fans donated 220 pairs of eyeglasses for the Lions Club’s recycling program to help the estimated 150 million people worldwide who are in need of corrective lenses.
 Pink was everywhere to be seen on Saturday as players wore pink and sported pink sticks, officials wore pink jerseys for the first time in AHL history, and 2,500 fans received pink beanies at the door courtesy of Presbyterian Hospital. The ice was lit up pink during pre-game introductions and the CheckMates performed the “Survivor Dance” during the second intermission with a group of breast cancer survivors. The post-game jersey auction generated $17,250 for the “pink” charities of the evening.
The Checkers would like to take this time to thank everyone who made this weekend a great success and one for the record books. We hope to see you all next Saturday and Sunday!
 This Community update is brought to you by Goodrich Corporation, who is a proud sponsor of all Checkers community initiatives. Goodrich Corporation, a Fortune 500 company, is a global supplier of systems and services to the aerospace, defense and homeland security markets. With 2007 revenues of $6.4 billion, Goodrich is headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., and employs more than 24,000 people worldwide in approximately 90 facilities across 16 countries. |
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