A group of Montreal Canadiens traded their sticks for bats during a charity softball game in Kelowna, BC on Friday.
Shea Weber, Carey Price, Brendan Gallagher and Karl Alzner joined former Hab Josh Gorges and other players, including Brayden and Luke Schenn and Blake Comeau for the game.
“It’s a lot of fun. You see a lot of faces you’re trained and conditioned to hate. It’s nice to get everybody out here and have a little fun,” said Gallagher.
The event, which was organized by Gorges, was held to raise money for JoeAnna’s House, which helps families seeking treatment at a Kelowna hospital.
“Most of the guys here live in this area. Josh and Blake had this idea of setting this ball game up, it’s such a great cause,” said Weber. “A lot of us have kids and we know what’s it like. You see kids that have sick kids and to be able to give back to a charity that means so much to all of us in this community, we definitely jumped at that chance.”
With the off-season well underway, Gallagher said he’s been keeping in shape in the gym.
“I haven’t started skating yet, it’s a lot of time in the gym, a lot of stuff that during the year you don’t get a chance to go,” he said. “It starts a week, two weeks after the season ends, you start rebuilding for next year. It’s about this time you start looking for the season to begin.”
Monday marks not just Canada Day but another national holiday – the frenzy of the opening of NHL free agency. Gallagher said he had faith in the Habs’ management, led by General Manager Marc Bergevin.
“We know our group. If we add, great. If not, we have a team we feel is ready to compete,” he said.
“It’s big day. I honestly don’t really know, we’ll have a lot of fun this weekend and when July 1 comes, like anyone, we’ll be watching to see what happens,” said Weber.
