After a year hiatus from hoisting the cup at the annual Breakthru Winter Hockey Invitational, the perennial powerhouse known as the Star-Nosed Moles returned to the United Center with a chip on their shoulder, not just because they intended to reclaim the top spot in the tourney, but because of a distinct overall lack of recognition.
“The Star-Nosed Moles are no one’s favorite or darling, for they are the ugliest creatures on earth, and as such, have no fans,” said David Lockie, Breakthru Midwest Region President … also moonlighting as the Star-Nosed Mole’s head coach.
That motivation was all Lockie’s team needed to pull off a two-day run where the Star-Nosed Moles stood atop a heap of talented teams as the only one without a loss during the round-robin tournament, securing the trophy yet again.
“Leading this group onto the ice was truly humbling and will forever resonate as one of the proudest moments of my life,” Lockie said.
The Moles, led by team captain Kevin Roberts, put the biscuit in the basket a total of 22 times during their four games, while only yielding nine pucks to the back of the net.
Here’s a brief rundown of the official results (2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss and “goals for” was the tiebreaker):
“As I reflect on the tournament, I wanted to express my appreciation for all the associates who choreographed an exceptional weekend for the participants, families and friends who were able to partake in the activities at the United Center and at MB Ice Arena,” Lockie said. “The six teams that participated were well coached and the play was competitive. Unfortunately, there can only be one champion. As luck would have it, the most scorned and misunderstood team took home the hardware.”
We were honored once again to have such an incredible turnout of players from a number of our markets, including associates from Arizona, Canada, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada and South Carolina, as well as 21 players from various wine, beer and spirits suppliers.
Congrats to all this year’s players for another top shelf performance on the ice!
Star-Nosed Moles
Aces
Sewer Rats
Finishers
Blackbirds
Grinders
OT: Working Overtime for Charity
As is tradition with the Breakthru Winter Hockey Invitational, our associates take it upon themselves to help raise money for a charitable organization, and this year’s efforts supported the Chicago Blackhawks Foundation.
In total, we were able to raise more than $66,000 for the foundation,and the money will specifically go to supporting BUILD Chicago and Inner-City Education (ICE).
We’re so proud of all our associates for helping make this year’s tournament one of the best editions yet, and for being such incredible supporters of our company value of making the communities we serve a better place. Thank you for joining us in supporting the Chicago Blackhawks Foundation.
See you all again next year!
2019 Breakthru Winter Hockey Invitational Video Recap
2019 Breakthru Winter Hockey Invitational Photos