Huntsville residents will have to wait a bit longer to see Toronto Maple Leafs alumni come to town.
The Rotary Club of Huntsville’s NHL Alumni Game has been postponed to October.
Leafs alumni were set to go head to head against Huntsville’s finest in the Don Lough arena at the end of February as part of Huntsville Snowfest, after being bumped back from the same time in 2021.
With that event being modified this year, as well as capacity limits and restrictions making a comeback in January, the club’s Rob Saunders says it wasn’t feasible to run as scheduled.
“We’ve had such strong community support for it that it pains us when we’ve had to delay it a couple of times, but it will happen,” says Saunders. “And I think it’s going to be the kind of event the town is really going to rally around and have a lot of fun.”
Saunders says likely participants include former Leafs Wendel Clark, Darcy Tucker, Rick Vaive, Mike Krushelnyski, Al Iafrate, and Matt Martin.
“These are names that were still playing in the 80s and 90s, and I know Ross [Kirwin, of Rotary] has had the experience of watching these guys in alumni games before,” says Saunders. “He says they may have lost a step, but they’re still pretty smart hockey players, and they can make a young buck look pretty foolish sometimes.”
Proceeds from the game will help fund the construction of a year-round outdoor sports court in town, according to Saunders.
Aside from missing out on some federal funding contingent on the game being part of Snowfest, Saunders says the only thing that’s been set back is the date.
“The players I think will all be six months older, but still ready to go,” says Saunders. “So I think we can pretty well mirror the thing into October and have the same kind of event that we planned on having. I don’t think we’ll have much leakage.”
Saunders says the game is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 22, with dates to be firmed up in the coming weeks.