NetNews

One of the most heated rivalries in all of college sports - between St. Lawrence and Clarkson in hockey, of course - became the unlikely impetus for a team effort that benefited local health-care organizations. A St. Lawrence sorority and a Clarkson fraternity put the rivalry aside and joined forces for a good cause that will benefit two health-care organizations.

Prior to the men's hockey game at Clarkson's Cheel Arena on Friday, January 27, 12 men from Sigma Phi Epsilon will gathered at the Kappa Delta Sigma sorority house in Canton. In a display of rivalry-defying hospitality, KDS hosted the fellows for dinner, after which pairs of runners from both organizations ran the puck back to Potsdam, in time to drop it on the ice at Cheel for the 7 p.m. face-off.

Both groups collected donations and sponsorships for the event, with proceeds going to Canton-Potsdam Hospital and the American Cancer Society. They also collected donations at the game, and presented the hospital's foundation with a check for $2,000.

According to former KDS president Amy Benvenuti '06, of Barre, Vermont, who coordinated the event, the idea came from members of "SigEp."

"They approached me at the end of last semester to suggest the idea and both houses were very enthusiastic about it," Benvenuti says, adding that they also did most of the, uh, leg work necessary to pull the event off. "They divided the route into sections. There are 12 one-mile intervals with drivers making the exchange of runners each mile. New York State troopers have been identified and are in complete support of this activity! The guys at SigEp are completely to thank for this idea and organizing most everything. They have been amazing and it has been a pleasure to work with them."

Photo credits: top two photos of the "puck run," above, Grant Currie

Bottom photo, of check presentation: Christopher Lenney

Men's Hockey At St. Lawrence

Posted: January 30, 2006