The 16th annual Cody Dennis Memorial Game will be held this weekend on Saturday, February 1st. 

Cody Dennis was a young athlete who was killed in a vehicle collision on his Harley on June 8, 2004. Since his passing the Dennis family has been a dedicated component to Blackfalds Minor Hockey through their annual memorial game. 

This year, Cody’s old teammates will be going head to head on the ice against the coaches of Blackfalds Minor Hockey and winners of the Cody Dennis Memorial Award. As always some of the minor hockey players will have a chance to have some fun on the ice as well.

“It’s kind of fun because we have some fun penalties where the goalie usually ends up in the penalty box against the kids, and there might be like worst helmet hair penalty kind of like fun stuff so everybody just has a good time at the game,” said Karla Danser, Cody’s Sister. 

Danser says she enjoys the game because it’s a great opportunity to catch up with the community of Blackfalds and many of her brother’s friends.  

“A lot of people get together that are originally from Blackfalds. It’s kind of a nice get together to see everybody. Everybody is great at helping out and we raise a lot of money for Blackfalds minor hockey which is awesome,” said Danser. 

At the game, there will be many raffles and a 50-50 in support of Blackfalds minor hockey. Danser says that generally, they raise around 5,000 dollars from hosting the game and this year, she’s hoping to beat their average amount.  

Danser is thankful for the continuous help of the Central Alberta Toy Run who always put in a large volunteer effort every year. 

After 16 years of hosting the event, Danser says she’s inspired to keep Cody’s memory alive and help out with the financials of minor hockey because she does not like to see other associations suffer. 

“I think it’s important because lots of minor hockey associations don’t get the extra things that we can provide to Blackfalds Minor Hockey. One of Cody’s old teammates-I talked to him the other day- his kids play in Lacombe and they don’t ever do special clinics for goalies or anything like that. They had to really push to get it because otherwise you just raise your fees for each family,” explained Danser. 

With the upcoming development of the dual ice surface, the Dennis family will be putting some of their donation towards the Dual Ice Development Society (DIDS). 

“We have donated to DIDS in the past and we’re planning on doing it in the future. We put on a program for the players of minor hockey in Blackfalds during Christmas break and it was (available) by donation from the kids, but all the donations didn’t go back to the program, it’s going towards DIDS and we are matching their donations. It’s exciting that hopefully in a couple of years maybe we can have a game on the new ice,” said Danser. 

The puck drops at 6:00 PM and admission is two dollars but don’t forget to bring a little extra cash to support Blackfalds Minor Hockey for a chance to win big.