Adorned in red jerseys and playing without helmets, Ray Bourque and Cam Neely didn’t quite look like the franchise players they were in the past, when they turned heads and racked up playoff appearances for the Boston Bruins.
It didn’t matter to the FleetCenter crowd on Sunday, as Bourque, Neely and a host of former Bruins, NHL players and Hollywood names skated off for the fifth annual Celebrity Hat Trick, a benefit for the Leary Firefighters Foundation.
It was a sight to see for those in attendance as Bourque and Neely worked their magic alongside the likes of ’70s-era Bruins Terry O’Reilly and Ken Hodge, along with the longtime NHL scoring threat, Pat LaFontaine.
Denis Leary captained their team, which also included Hollywood director Bobby Farrelly (“Dumb and Dumber”) and actor Michael J. Fox.
Johnny “Pie” McKenzie, a Bruin great from the 1970 Stanley Cup champion team, was the captain on the opposing side with 1980 U.S. Olympic hero Mike Eruzione, under the watchful eyes of legends Bobby Orr and Derek Sanderson, chosen as coaches for the event.
McKenzie’s team pulled out a close 17-16 victory in the fittingly named “Hockey’s Greatest Skate for America’s Bravest,” as both sides went on the offense in two 25-minute periods. NHL players, including the Rangers’ Tom Poti, also participated.
Leary’s Firefighters Foundation, founded in 2000 in response to a December 1999 warehouse fire that killed six Worcester Fire Department firefighters, has raised over $4 million for fire departments in Boston, Worcester and New York. Once again, one of the premiere events of the Foundation was a success, Leary said.
“We’ll usually take in $400,000 to $500,000 at this event, but we don’t think about the money, we think about the things we do, which is provide trucks and training equipment to these firefighters,” said Leary, a Worcester native and the star of FX’s “Rescue Me,” a firefighting themed drama.
With support stemming from hockey supporters, Hollywood and the music industry (Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler served as the coach of Leary’s team alongside local comedian Lenny Clarke and actress Gina Gershon), Leary’s goals continue to be achieved.
Recently, the foundation bought two mobile command centers for the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) and Boston Fire Department (BFD), trucks that would allow a command center to be stationed up to seven miles from the emergency.
“One of the reasons [FDNY] lost so much of their manpower is because when you fight fires in a skyscraper, your command station is in the lobby, and the most senior members of the department were in the lobby of the WTC, and they lost a lot of them,” said Leary, noting how the mobile command centers allow chiefs to stay in the vehicle, while still communicating with their staff. “They don’t have these east of the Mississippi. The practicality was that they never thought of getting it. So, we bought one for the NYFD, so if there’s ever an experience like 9/11 again or something smaller, they don’t have to be in the building.”
With the NHL lockout now going on after players and owners could not reach agreements as of Sept.15, the contest may prove to be the last hockey game featuring professional players until next season — a fact that frustrates both fans and the legends that helped build the business.
“I think we will play. I just can’t believe that the two sides can’t get together to make a fair deal,” Orr said. “Changes have to be made, and I think changes will be made and a fair deal will be put in place.”
Orr added that funnyman Clarke was involved in a few of the player’s ideas for a possible end to the work stoppage.
“Our idea earlier was to put [Gary Bettman, NHL commissioner] in a room, and put him in there with Lenny, and then there would definitely be a discussion,” Orr said. “I think a fair deal can be made in the end, I think we’ll see some hockey this year, I really do. I just can’t believe they can’t come to an agreement. This isn’t about the players, or the owners. The game must go on.”
Neely added that the game is lacking some of its common traits from the past, including divisional rivalries.
“Any prolonged blackout is not good for the game. I think there’s a lack of divisional rivalry in the NHL right now. This past year, you didn’t see Boston and Montreal playing each other for six weeks,” he said. “It’s a great game, it’s an awesome sport to watch and be a part of and it’s disappointing not just for the fans but for the people who are making a living off it.”
Participants in the Leary Foundation celebrity game put their strife with the NHL aside for one afternoon.
“Michael J. Fox had a great line at his [Parkinson’s disease] foundation event a couple years ago where he said, ‘My foundation is the only organization founded on the idea that we want to go out of business,'” Leary said.
“They want to find a cure. I feel the same way. I’d love to go out of business and not have these events if firefighters were funded correctly by the federal government and their local governments, but I don’t think it’s going to happen for a long, long time.”
