The EVZ’s youth development program plays an active role in society, offering young people the opportunity to spend their free time in a meaningful way while introducing them to ice hockey. As a major youth organization in Swiss ice hockey, EVZ passionately and enthusiastically supports and trains young ice hockey players in recreational, competitive, and elite sports. In addition to sponsorship, patronage, and membership contributions, the Skateathon at the EVZ Family Day is a very important source of income for EVZ’s youth program, helping it to achieve its goals.
At the Skateathon, all EVZ youth teams skate together with players from the men’s and women’s teams, EVZ employees and fans, as well as parents, friends, and relatives for ten minutes each. The goal is to skate as many laps as possible on the ice – this year, an incredible total of 15,500 laps were skated by 411 skaters! A total of CHF 245,000 was raised for the EVZ youth teams, more than ever before. The largest amount was raised by a player from the U14 team, who collected CHF 1,899.
In addition to the traditional skateathon in the Academy Arena, visitors were also treated to a variety of entertainment in the OYM hall: the youngest visitors showed off their skills during a training session at the Young Bulls hockey school, the men’s and women’s teams held an autograph session, fulfilling countless requests for autographs and selfies, Fans had the chance to win original helmets worn by the women’s team on the Zuger Kantonalbank wheel of fortune, and alongside mascot Kolin, the popular mini Zambonis also brought smiles to children’s faces.
Fans still have until Sunday, November 16, to get their hands on a special souvenir: Andreas Wingerli, Lukas Bengtsson, Tomas Tatar, and Gregory Hofmann are auctioning off items of equipment they have worn! All proceeds from the auction will go to the EVZ youth team!
