“Pick A Fight With Cancer”: The Fedorin Cup

This past weekend I had the opportunity to “Pick a fight with cancer” at a local charity hockey game sponsored in part by the Anaheim Ducks.

The annual Fedorin Cup has been played for the last 17 years and is a trademark event of the charity organization Athletic Sports Fund of America (ASFA). It has had some prominent names in hockey playing alongside local amateur players. The ASFA was founded in 1998 when a local hockey player Eric Fedorin was diagnosed with brain cancer; and has continually raised money for the American Cancer Society, the NHL’s Hockey fights Cancer, the USC (University of Southern California) Norris Cancer Center, as well as many other charitable organizations and local families in need.

With the ASFA being a local Southern California charity and the Fedorin Cup based in Orange County, most of the NHL players in the game have either played or coached for the Anaheim Ducks at one time or another. Some former and current NHL’ers include: Sean Pronger, Chris Pronger, Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, George Parros, Brad May, Dustin Penner, Mike Commodore, Teemu Selanne, Saku Koivu, just to name a few. This year the crowed had the distinct pleasure to watch two local boys play in the tournament, Emerson Etem of the Anaheim Ducks (from Long Beach, CA.) and Jon Blum of the Minnesota Wild (from Rancho Santa Margarita, CA.) . They give their time and effort to bring to light what the ASFA is doing to help fund cancer research and help those already diagnosed with the disease.

This years Fedorin Cup, like years previous was fun to watch. The format for the game was USA vs. Canada. Having an opportunity to see professional players skate alongside the everyman, the person who wears a suit to the office or work boots to the construction site; is not to be taken lightly it’s not something that happens very often or in every town. There are some amateur players who have taken part in this event multiple times and then there are the players who get a once in a life time chance to play on the ice with some of the biggest names in hockey; that’s what makes this event so special.

The major part the of Fedorin Cup event besides the game itself is both a live and silent auction, leading up to the game the ASFA website holds an auction for one person to have a spot to play in the game. That auction alone this year raised over Twenty five Hundred dollars. During the game any person in attendance can bid on the jerseys from off the players backs. All of the pro jerseys went for over three hundred some over five. I personally bid and won an amateur player jersey for the fact that it had my name and number on it. His name is Adam Lawrence, he wears number 34; I couldn’t pass it up. Nice guy, he and I went back and forth on twitter after the game; without people like him, and all the folks at ASFA the Fedorin Cup wouldn’t exist.

I began by stating that the Anaheim Ducks are a partial sponsor and that is true, but I would feel remiss if I neglected to share at least some of the other sponsors, the California Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA), Eagle Rider Motorcycle Rental (Which donated a 2 day weekend motorcycle rental for the event), Go Pro Cameras (Frederick Andersen was wearing one on his helmet during the game.), Hockey Monkey, and the Fedorin Cup apparel was supplied for sale by Violent Gentlemen. If any readers want to “Pick a fight with cancer” check out the ASFA website for further information: www.asfamerica.com