The Rayside Balfour atoMc Tigercats got to celebrate the end of their hockey season with a visit from a hometown hockey star.
Olympic gold medalist and Sudbury native Tessa Bonhomme returned to her old stomping grounds on June 6 as one of three McDonald's atoMc Hockey ambassadors and played a game of pickup hockey with the youngsters at the Chelmsford Arena.
“This place has definitely had a facelift since I last played here,” said Bonhomme. “I think the last time I played here was when I was playing for the Lady Wolves.”
The Tigercats were selected as the winners of the atoMc Hockey contest for the Ontario/Quebec region, in an organization that now supports more than 50,000 young hockey players across the country.
Other atoMc ambassadors include Los Angeles Kings defenceman Drew Doughty and Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc Andre Fleury.
“I was keeping my eye on them (Tigercats) as the contest was going on and when I saw that they had won I emailed the organizers right away to make sure I got to come up here,” said Bonhomme. “I was reading up on them and I saw that they had won the Copper Cliff Ken Creasey tournament, which is a tournament I played in when I first started out, so it was just really neat how everything tied together. You definitely didn't have to ask me twice to come up here.”
This is the fifth season that McDonald's atoMc hockey has been in existence and Bonhomme has been an ambassador from day one.
McDonald's has also been a supporter of Hockey Canada for 25 years, and all team jerseys come with a Hockey Canada logo on them, a feature that Bonhomme admires.
“Growing up playing hockey you always knew what that logo stood for and the values that hockey instills in kids like teamwork and commitment to team goals,” said Bonhomme.
“ I would've loved to have a jersey with that logo on it when I was a kid, it's pretty cool.”
After their game of pickup hockey, the players got to enjoy a team party at McDonald's with Bonhomme.
