PM Haper Becomes Coach For Charity

As chronicled before on the Confessions of a Hockey Fanatic blog, the current Prime Minister of Canada has gotten involved with the game of hockey weather it would be with his children or as a fan while in public office.

This time around, Prime Minister Harper has picked up a clipboard and became an assistant coach with legendary personality Don Cherry. It was for a charity event in Barrie, Ontario to benefit the Royal Victoria Hospitals's cancer care centre.

Earlier in the evening, the professed hockey fan got a healthy round of applause from the thousands of people who packed the arena for the charity match.

"What other country in the world would you have 5,000 people come out on an hot ... night in a cold rink to support a great charity?" Harper told the cheering crowd. "Isn't this great?"

The celebrity guest list was rosters of former NHL'ers

The game featured over 20 former and current NHL players, including Wendel Clark, Darcy Tucker and Shayne Corson.

They were joined on the ice by Conservatives Peter MacKay and Dean Del Mastro, as well as former Olympic skater Kurt Browning and singer Michael Burgess, who belted out the national anthem. Former NHLers Mike Gartner and Steve Thomas also played during the fundraiser

as well as a young kid, Garret McMullen, 12, who was there to honor her mother. He got to meet with the Prime Minister and be included in the pre-game ceremonies.

They raised $200,000 for the cancer center.

[Via: The Hockey News and CTV]