The Innisfail Eagles are hosting their first-ever Sportsman Dinner on July 23 with flamboyant hockey personality Brian Burke headlining the event.
The dinner at the Royal Canadian Legion is being held the night before the hockey team's 4th Annual Charity Golf Tournament at the Innisfail Golf Club, an event that is the Eagles' biggest fundraiser of the year.
“We wanted to add to our golf tournament event. Everyone has a golf tournament. We wanted to make ours a little bit more special,” said Dez Lorencz, the Eagles' director of hockey operations. “It adds stuff to the community. Not everyone is a golfer. This gives people who are not golfers an opportunity to get involved and come and bid on silent auction items and stuff like that.”
The always-colourful Burke is the current president of hockey operations for the Calgary Flames, and was previously the president and general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was also the general manager for the United States national men's hockey team for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and was once the NHL's executive vice-president and director of hockey operations under league commissioner Gary Bettman.
“In my time in Innisfail, and from talking to other guys, I don't think there has been an event of such magnitude like this. Brian Burke is probably the top guest from the NHL that you would want,” said Lorencz. “He's entertaining. He is funny and he is one of the top figures in the NHL as far as I am concerned, and I am not even a Flames fan. I would pay money to hear him speak anywhere.”
The Sportsman Dinner will also feature Duane Sutter, Edmonton Oilers scout and former NHL player; Kelly Kisio, Calgary Hitman president and former NHL player; former NHL player and coach Rich Preston; and Innisfail Eagles current head coach Brian Sutter.
Individual tickets for the Sportsman Dinner are $75 each while the price for the golf tournament only is $175 per person and $700 for a foursome.
The combined price for a ticket for both the golf tournament and Sportsman Dinner is $225 per person and $900 for a foursome.
Citizens can purchase tickets for both events by visiting the Eagles' website at www.innisfaileagles.com.
“And tickets are going to go fast. The legion is not that big,” said Lorencz. “For an event like this we could definitely have it in a bigger place.”
Although both events are fundraisers for the hockey team, part of the proceeds will be put back into the community, said Lorencz.
He noted that since the annual golf tournament's inception more than $7,500 has been donated to the Helping Hand Fund, which helps underprivileged kids afford to play sports through donations of equipment and/or registration fees.
