To all Islanders Hockey Club players and families,

When you walk into Gallant Arena and look at our DREAM BIG banner with six of my former players you can see a logo for Cure AT/RT.  I, along with my wife Deborah, have been involved with this project as well as the Dana Farber Cancer Institute for over 10 years now.  The reason is a very special girl in our life was diagnosed with AT/RT in 2006.  Her name was Avalanna Routh and she was the daughter of Cam and Aileen Routh of Merrimack, MA.  AT/RT is a very rare form of pediatric brain cancer.  There is no cure and this is why we raise funds and fight in honor of Avalanna.  Av passed in the first year of the Islanders in 2012 and we hung her jersey on our bench the rest of the season.  We still honor her with a stall in our locker room and by raising money for AT/RT which goes directly to Dr. Charlie Roberts who now works at St Jude to find a cure for this terrible disease.

We are going to try something new this year and on Wednesday, March 28, 2018 we will hold the Avalanna Skate-Apalooza from 7pm-8:30pm on the Gallant Arena.  All of the NCDC Team members will be there skating and having a great time.  We are hoping you can reach out to friends and family and ask them to come and skate that night too.  Cost will be $10 per person or $25 per family.  Please help us out by attending and to spread the word.  We will also name the recipient of the Avalanna Routh Memorial Award that night.  Each year the players vote for the player who made the biggest difference in other peoples lives, just as Avalanna did in her life. 

In an effort for you to get a feel for Avalanna please take a look at the attached videos/photos and feel free to google her name and you will find out just how special this young girl was to this world. 

Thanks in advance, 

Coach Tremblay