By Thia James

Memorial tournament proceeds donated to help young boy

Dec 24, 2014 | 6:06 AM

When the Prince Albert Crown Royals hockey team heard about fundraising efforts to help the family of toddler Bentley Broome, they sprang into action.

Broome, who turns three in January, has undergone a handful of surgeries and has had to travel with his family to Saskatoon for evaluations for medical conditions he was born with. His family is preparing him for another surgery, which will take place next month. A friend of his mother started a GoFundMe campaign aimed at offsetting the costs associated with the back-and-forth travel between the two cities, medical expenses and his parents lost work time. 

The online campaign, launched by family friend Deanne Schmalz, has now raised more than $14,000 of $20,000.

The Crown Royals heard about the toddler, who team member Pierce Pellerin described as “pretty inspiring.”

On Monday, Pellerin got in touch with Bentley’s mother, Erika, to let her know that the team decided to donate $2,000 raised through a memorial hockey tournament towards assisting the Broome family with their travel and medical expenses.

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“We are very, very happy that we can could help them out and try ease some of their worries especially during the holidays. With Erica actually being a RN, I’m sure it’s very hard and stressful having to see your own kid going through so much. She is really a humble and kind person. Some players on our team have kids and little brothers of their own and know that if they were in need we hope people would do the same,” Pellerin wrote in an email late on Monday.

He said they hope to meet Bentley sometime soon and maybe one day, he could lace up with the Crown Royals. The Crown Royals team is in the B division of the Ernie Heit Memorial Hockey League, a recreational league.

The memorial tournament is dedicated to the memory of good friend and team mate Scotty Yeomans. He died in a car accident in Saskatoon in May at the age of 24.

“We all miss him dearly,” Pellerin said via telephone on Monday.

Crown Royals team members had played hockey with Yeomans for a long time and he was also pretty involved in the community, Pellerin said.

“And I don’t know like what a better way to … memorialize him than have … a hockey tournament,” he added.

This past weekend, the team hosted the tournament and a dance in the Ches Leach Lounge. The tournament was more about getting everyone together to play hockey because that’s what Yeomans loved to do, Pellerin said.

“And … we don’t want to make profits off it, so we decided … we wanted to give it to a deserving charity or like the family that needs the money for the surgery,” he said.

One of his friends on the team told them about Bentley’s story and at the time, they weren’t sure what cause they’d donate the money to.

“They’re definitely deserving of it,” he said of the Broomes.

He called Erika Broome, who said that at first, she was shocked. When Pellerin went to her home on Monday to deliver the donation, she gave him a hug.

“We are so grateful,” she said on Tuesday. “We can’t believe the response from everyone, and the help that they’ve been willing to provide us. It’s just been very overwhelming and [we are] very grateful.”

Then there’s also the support and concern showed to the family by members of the community. When Broome is out in the community, she’s stopped by those looking to find out how Bentley is doing. She said Bentley is happy and appears healthy and has a lot of energy.

She described the overall community response as “immense.” Broome feels that often the bad things about Prince Albert are mentioned and not enough light is put on the good things and how giving the community is.

“Everyone’s been so amazing. It’s been absolutely incredible … I don’t even have words to describe how much relief it provides for us to know that we don’t have to worry about anything when we go for surgery with him [Bentley].”

An additional $500 raised by the Crown Royals will go towards the Prince Albert SPCA, in Yeomans’ name. He owned a Chihuahua named Carlos.

It’ll be a yearly fundraising event, Pellerin said, and that this was the recent event was the first annual Scott Yeomans memorial. The team is grateful to the tournament’s first-year supporters.

The Crown Royals also include: Brady Leachman, Brett Leachman, Riley Raab, Blair Nilghe, Mike Sommerfeld, Evan Henry, Nick Hudye, Lyndon Jenson, Cody Smith, Mitch Corfmat, Brady Raab, Myles Lukan, Brandon Tomiak, Kyle Sawchuk, Keegan Ledoux, and Keanan Tibbs.

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames