Cody's Big Night At Pepsi Center

Last Thursday night, April 5th, Cody Beekman came to the Avalanche game at Pepsi Center, along with around 350 of his good friends, to be honored and receive a check from Dawg Nation to help cover his massive expenses. Last October, Cody was seriously injured when the car he was riding in was struck by a drunk driver, paralyzing him from the chest down.

After almost four months at Craig Hospital, Cody is now home and making terrific progress in his journey to recovery. With the aid of some of the handier members of Dawg Nation, he now has a house that's wheelchair accessible, including two ramps, larger doors, a new bathroom, and a hardwood floor. But he really needs a van with a wheelchair lift, and that's where several fundraisers, including the Avalanche game, came in.

Because of generous contributions to the Dawg Nation website, a benefit skate at the Ice Centre in Westminster, a grant from the Dawg Nation Hockey Foundation, and a portion of all tickets sold to the game at Pepsi Center, before the contest, we were able to proudly present Cody with a check for $13,300. That is the most money we've been able to give to one recipient so far, and it should be enough to purchase the vehicle that he needs.


Click to enlarge all pictures

After the game, the Pepsi Center ice was made available to Dawg Nation, and Cody was even able to get out and cruise the same surface as his heroes from the Avalanche, including his favorite player, Milan Hejduk.





Cody, along with all the Beekmans, are now part of the Dawg Nation family, and we'll continue to do whatever we can to help as he gets better and better. In the meantime, Dawg Nation will now move on to other fundraisers, including a night at the Comedy Works on April 25th, and our signature hockey tournament, Dawg Bowl II, on June 1st-3rd. All details are available at http://www.dawgnationhockey.org/.


Some highlights of the evening:


Some of Cody's teammates from his men's league squad The Scouts, along with Dawg Nation board member Dan Cashman


Cody's mom Debbie, along with board member Rob "Superfan" Packard


Cody, Debbie, and Dawg Nation president Marty Richardson


Dawg Nation hits the big time, with our logo up on the big scoreboard at Pepsi Center



Cody, Marty, his daughter Alexi, and Bernie, the Avs mascot


Board members Eddie Cribbs, Dan Cashman, and Andy Gerrie


Marty Richardson and Avalanche liaison Jake Godber



The Scouts on the players bench


Cody and his teammates

For more pictures, please link to the following:

https://picasaweb.google.com/105053956534403946860/CodyNightAtTheAVS?locked=true#

Little Cordie Much Better After Heart Surgery

Do you ever feel like things aren't going your way? Maybe things at work aren't great, you might be having car troubles, or, God forbid, you've gone a few games without putting the puck in the net?

Well kids, it's time for a little perspective. Imagine you have a three year old daughter that looks like this:



Now, imagine doctors tell you that your daughter has a faulty chamber in her tiny heart, and the only way to fix it is to have open heart surgery. Otherwise, it could give out at any time.

In the grand scheme of things, don't those everyday problems seem a little less important now?

This little angel is Cordelia Kmetz, or Cordie, who is the daughter of Candi and Timmy Kmetz. Timmy started playing goalie for Dawg Nation last summer, but his season was cut short after just a few games when he had to have surgery to repair four hernias.

This was not Timmy's first operation...far from it. He was diagnosed with bone cancer in his leg when he was a teenager, and has had 35 surgeries in order to save the leg and lead a normal life. They must have worked; his Dawgs I team just won the Edge Cup in the highest division, given to the league champion. He plays at least three nights a week, and is a total hockey junkie.

And you can bet the house that he would repeat every one of those 35 surgeries again, if it would save Cordie from having to endure an open heart procedure. You readers with kids out there- wouldn't you do anything to keep your child from having to go through something painful? Of course you would.

But this is the real world, and Cordie had to have it done in order to grow up as a normal, healthy little girl. So last Tuesday, the Kmetz's put their daughter's life in the hands of the unbelievably talented surgeons at Children's Hospital in Denver.

It took probably the longest three hours in Tim and Candi's life, but Cordie came through with flying colors. The bad chamber was fixed, and she did so well that she was able to come home in three days, instead of the seven to ten days they were expecting to keep her. She's resting comfortably at home, and the prospects of a normal life are terrific.

Well, as normal of a life as possible, when you have a dad that's a goalie...

Life In the Novice Dad Hockey League

(This week we have a post by Dawg Nation board member Bern Levesque)

Game time is 6:10pm it is currently 6:15 and the white team is waiting for their goalie.  He would have been ready on time had Jeff “Wolff Pack” Wolff not asked his goalie “Don’t goalies where breezers?”.  Jeff and Brad Marker helped their goalie take off his pads get the breezers on and then Jeff asked.  “Are the pads on the wrong legs?”  The answer was yes and not wanting to go out there like Martin “Cappy” Richardson had a few games prior, Brad and Jeff helped their goalie get the pads on correctly and then they hit the ice with big smiles on their faces.  There was still a problem: the other goalie was not out there yet.  He was unable to figure out how to get his hand in the goalie glove that he had borrowed for this very important matchup.  So is the life in the Novice Dad Hockey League.

Mike Raftery of Comedy Works and Matt Kayser of KD Kanopy have been spending most of their free time at the ice rink over the last few years watching their kids play hockey.  Not having grown up playing themselves, they wanted to give hockey a try.  In late summer 2011 they organized a non hockey playing parents vs kids game at the Ice Ranch and it was a huge success.  Feeling they were on to something they decided to take things one step further and organize a private drop in club for people with little to no on-ice hockey experience.  It was an opportunity to give the great sport of hockey a chance.

Why is this story on the Dawg Blawg you may ask?  The members of the league have been supportive of the Dawg Nation Hockey Foundation since the very first fundraiser up at the pond, and have been seen drinking beer at the hockey tournament, laughing out loud at the Comedy Works, sitting in the stands at an Avs game and swinging a golf club at Green Gables.  When Mike and Matt started their league they were getting some yeses and mostly maybes. Then Dawg Nation reach out to their membership and were able to rustle up a dozen players so that the league would have two complete rosters to get it going.  This included Dawg Board Member and proud father of multiple Dawg players Rob “Superfan” Packard.

Although I don’t put on breezers before goalie pads, or know which legs the pads go on, I still enjoy coming out and playing with these guys.  Sitting in the dressing room with guys like Slappy, Castro and the Wolf Pack, listening to the laughter and the playful banter makes us realize that we are here for more than just the game; we are here to be part of a hockey team. 

In the last few months it went from a bunch of guys falling down and breaking skates (Jody “The Mullet” Seltzer and Mike “So Serious” Raftery inspired the jersey logo) to feeling as though we are playing a real hockey game.  Guys are passing, skating and shooting so much better than they were the first night.  It has been an amazing experience being out there on the ice with a bunch of guys that are there because they love the hockey experience.

From left: Mike Raftery, Bern Levesque, Matt Kayser

On behalf of Dawg Nation I would like to congratulate the Novice Dads Hockey League.  I would also like to thank Mike Raftery of Comedy Works for putting together the amazing fundraiser “Stand Up for Dawg Nation” and Matt Kayser of KD Kanopy for donating an awesome canopy that will be on display at many of our Dawg Nation events.

P.S. My team won 3-0 behind a 34 save performance.  As goalie mentor and referee Scott Nelson says.  “Ugly saves count too.”