Inline and Online with Celebrity All-Star Hockey

Inline and Online with Celebrity All-Star Hockey
By Matt Brown, Boston Correspondent

Related: Interview: Andy Abramson, GM Celebrity All-Star Hockey

The "Coolest Team on Earth" is not only takin' it to the streets this summer, they are takin' it to the net. The Internet, that is.
The Celebrity All-Star Hockey Team, after a 1996 season highlighted by a starring role at the 1996 NHL All-Star Game in Boston in February, is going from the coolest on ice to the hottest on pavement. The Celebrity All-Stars appeared at two Inline events this summer, one of them in conjunction with the NHL Breakout 96 Tour.
On top of that, C.A.S.H. (great acronym, eh?) is on the web with the big boys. Their Internet Website is hosted by the NHL's official net entity, NHL OPEN NET, and is developed and maintained in conjunction with IBM's Digital Media Group. Talk about having good connections! The site includes everything you ever wanted to know about Celebrity All- Star Hockey, including action photos from the games and extensive bios of all the players.
The Celeb's Inline season kicked off with an event at the National Sports Collectors Convention on June 30, 1996 at the Anaheim Convention Center in California. As part of this national trading card convention, the Celebrity All-Stars appeared on behalf of the NHL and NHLPA card companies, including Topps, Fleer, Pinnacle, Donruss, and Upper Deck.
Later in the year, C.A.S.H. will be in Santa Monica, CA for the NGSA Convention on October 5-6, also tied into the BREAKOUT 96 Tour. NHL BREAKOUT 96 is the National Hockey League's grassroots street and roller hockey tournament and hockey festival. It combines competitive tournament play with a variety of interactive hockey-themed activities, NHL players, instruction, and entertainment such as the Celebrity events.
The Celebrity All-Star Hockey Team has been staging charity hockey events since 1986 in support of their mission to promote hockey, raise money for worthy causes, and have fun in a team atmosphere. All of the celebrity players, from original players Richard Dean Anderson ("MacGyver"), Alan Thicke ("Growing Pains"), Michael J. Fox ("Back to the Future" ), John Bennett Perry ("Independence Day"), and Jerry Houser ("Slapshot"), to rising stars like Jason Priestley ("Beverly Hills 90210") and Matthew Perry ("Friends"), have a love of hockey and a commitment to help charitable causes. They all donate their time, make some serious personal sacrifices to play (Anderson sacrificed an all-expense-paid trip to Hawaii so he could play in a game in San Jose last season), and are thrilled to do it.
Most of the team's games are against squads of NHL Alums and local celebrities, but sometimes, like at the 1996 NHL All-Star Weekend, two full teams of Celebs compete in an All-Star shootout - lots of scoring and plenty of fun for the players and fans.
Not surprisingly, if you cruise the bios at their Website, you'll find that a large number of the players have Canadian roots. But although they have journeyed to Hollywood to seek fortune and fame, they haven't forgotten about their homeland's national game and the fun of playing hockey.
Like many fans, you may think that hockey reaches its highest levels in the Stanley Cup Finals. Well, consider this: Celebrity All-Star Hockey takes the best of the bigtime star-studded game, mixes in the pure joy of playing with a sense of commitment to helping others, and presents all of the above in a way that emphasizes entertainment over competition. Can you think of anything that better represents what hockey and hockey players are all about?
The point of a C.A.S.H event is to entertain, not draw blood. That's a wise choice, if you think about it, because playing against NHL Alums, it is pretty easy to guess who would get the worst of a physical game. For example, who would come out of the corners alive in a grudge match, 90210's Cameron Bancroft (Joe Bradley) or Bruin legend Terry O'Reilly?
Aside from the fun, the primary goal is to help charities. To date, the team has generated over $4.5 million dollars for local and national causes in the USA and Canada. This result speaks for itself.
C.A.S.H. has found a way to entertain hockey lovers while exciting and educating people who are just discovering the game. The drawing power of Hollywood stars and the goal of supporting worthy causes brings new people to hockey, and more than a few stick around for more.
A case in point in the Internet community is Carolyn E.Cooper, a Multimedia Design consultant who became interested in the Celebrity All-Star Hockey team because she was a fan of Chris Potter (from "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues"). Carolyn went to a C.A.S.H. game, discovered hockey, and now she is an avid NHL fan. Her web page is a testimony to the mission of the Celebrity All-Stars. Well, it is even more a testimony to her admiration of Chris Potter, but Celebrity Hockey is clearly an important part of her newfound love of the game. In her own words, "We've gotten hooked on hockey from the Celebrity games and support the organization and its work wholeheartedly."
Through going to C.A.S.H events and through her web page, Carolyn has gotten a number of her friends interested in hockey. This is a perfect illustration of all the good stuff the Celebrity All-Stars try to do: promote hockey, have fun, and benefit causes.
Want to know more? Visit the C.A.S.H. website and you'll see a history of the team, rosters, photos of the celebs in action, player biographies with photos as well as film and TV credits, and information on hosting a Celebrity All-Star Hockey event in your town. Though it is pretty unlikely that you, the typical LCS reader, will want to organize and run one of these events yourself, the website provides a great information package that you could present to your local hockey team or charity to enable them to plan and execute an event in your town. The site also includes an email address for more information or to give Celeberity All-Star Hockey feedback about their organization and website.
To reach the Celebrity All Star Hockey Team send e-mail to AABRAMSON@AOL.COM