The NHLPA launched the Goals & Dreams Fund, a C$15M
program created by the organization to assist grassroots
hockey around the world over the next five years.
Application forms requesting aid from the Goals & Dreams
Fund are available through the NHLPA office in Toronto or
online at http://www.nhlpa.com (NHLPA). In Toronto, David
Shoalts wrote that the NHLPA has "embarked on the biggest
step in its history toward preserving and promoting" the
game. The "bulk of the fund" will come from product
licensing fees, which normally goes to the players. The
money "will be available" to countries where the NHLPA's 700
members are from. The fund will support "everything from
ice time to equipment to arena renovations and
construction." The NHLPA "expects to fund" programs like
inner-city hockey in the U.S. and native programs in both
the U.S. and Canada, Sweden, Finland, Russia, the Czech
Republic, Slovakia and a few other countries. NHLPA Dir of
Business Relations Mike Gartner said that players from each
country "will form a committee that will examine the initial
applications." Maple Leafs D Dmitry Yushkevich noted
"problems" in Russia "caused by the Russian mafia's
involvement" in hockey and said, "We have to be very careful
in Russia" (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 11/20).
WHO GETS THE MONEY? The NATIONAL POST's Alan Adams
reported that since more than 50% of NHL players are from
Canada, it will "get the most money for programs such as the
upgrading of arenas." Adams noted that the Fund comes as
the NHLPA "has taken" PR "hits for not rebuking Alexei
Yashin for refusing to play out the last year of his
contract" (NATIONAL POST, 11/20). In Toronto, Mark
Zwolinski reported that a Goals & Dreams advisory board will
include CBC announcers Ron McLean and John Davidson, along
with hockey legend Paul Henderson. Gartner, who noted that
the program hopes to "begin sending out funds" in January:
"We hope to run out of money. And if we do, we'll contact
the applicants and tell them they can be under consideration
for the following year" (TORONTO STAR, 11/20).
