ARTICLE - HOCKEY IN HAITI

Rudy's mother got to meet the football Miami Dolphins organization and Annuelle got to meet the basketball Miami Heat organization and some NBA players. I was wondering if the NHL would get involved and this week the NHL players faced off to help Haiti. They raised $1 million dollars to help rebuild the damaged Grace Children's Hospital which is located on Delmas 31. This hospital not only helps children but has an excellent HIV and Tuberculosis program as well as an eye clinic. They help a lot of people here in Haiti and they are located in our neighborhood. Pray that the funds raised will help to build an even better hospital! I have always wanted hockey to be accepted as a sport here in Haiti. When I explain to the guys that it is a sport with metal blades on a type of boot on a large ice surface they are not too interested. Now I can tell them that Haitian people play hockey! Maybe one day hockey will be played here in Haiti. It would have been nice for the guys to meet the players and they were just down the road! Below is an article about a couple of NHL players who visited Haiti and how the NHL is helping Haiti. Now the professional baseball players need to step up to the plate.

HAITIAN OPTIMISM BUOYS HOCKEY ENVOYS
(National Post) - By Michael Traikos

Georges Laraque was expecting a nightmare. Toppled buildings. Dead bodies. Unspeakable sadness. Basically, all the worst parts of the Bible.

But when the former Montreal Canadiens forward arrived in Haiti this week as part of an NHL Players' Association fund-raising effort, he was taken aback for another reason. The people on the streets were singing and banging on instruments. They were laughing and dancing and smiling. They looked, said Laraque, nothing like what he had seen on TV.

"When I got to the airport, I was like, 'This is going to be hard to see,' " Laraque, who last visited the country 20 years ago, said in a phone interview from the capital, Port-au-Prince. "But to see the people's courage, you'd never know that this country has been hit by this big of a tragedy. It's the total opposite of what I expected."

When a massive earthquake struck Haiti in January, the results were devastating. A confirmed 230,000 people died. As many as one million Haitians were left homeless. And many important buildings, including hospitals, were destroyed.

Laraque, whose family left Haiti and moved to Montreal when he was an infant, felt a need to do something. So, along with the NHLPA and World Vision Canada, he set up Hockey for Haiti. With an initial donation of US$100,000 from NHLPA Goals & Dreams, the foundation has now raised more than US$1-million to help rebuild a children's hospital.

On Tuesday, Laraque and Nashville Predators defence-man Dan Hamhuis -- along with officials from the NHLPA and World Vision Canada -- visited Haiti to see first-hand how the country is being rebuilt.

Hamhuis, who is from Smithers, B.C., had been helping organize his sister-in-law's upcoming wedding when an email arrived asking if any hockey players would like to go to Haiti. The father of two young girls initially hesitated, because of the potential dangers involved. But his wife convinced him the trip would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience to help people in need.

"It's not your everyday trip," said Hamhuis, whose last vacation was to Switzerland for the 2009 world championship. "This is living in the dirt with a tarp pulled over your head. It takes you out of your comfort zone.

"But this is a beautiful country too, with the scenery and stuff. But the people are obviously not in the same economic state."

Indeed, once Hamhuis got off the plane he was greeted by rows and rows of tents set up in the streets by displaced families. The temperature was stifling. And the city was badly in need of a facelift.

But, like Laraque, the general feeling of optimism was what amazed Hamhuis the most. "You certainly admire the people," he said. "As little as these people have, their struggles and burying a lot of their relatives and close friends, they're not feeling sorry for themselves. They're on the street working and selling food and walking around like usual. It's pretty shocking."

It might have been shocking for the Haitians when Laraque and Hamhuis brought out hockey sticks and showed them what the two players do for a living.

Few had seen the game played. And none knew how to take a shot. But it was not long before a game of ball hockey erupted on the dusty streets.

"They picked it up quickly. They were running around, shooting the ball and were actually pretty good," said Laraque, who might have to build an arena the next time he visits.

"It will have to be one that has synthetic ice," he joked. "That way they don't have to worry about it melting or whatever."