The National Hockey League Alumni will be in Owen Sound Friday night for a charity hockey game against the Law Enforcement All Stars.
Proceeds from the game will support Special Olympics, which has benefited from this contest through the years.
Among the NHL Alumni participating Friday will be Mark ” Trees ” Laforest, an ex-NHL netminder who had stops in Detroit, Philadelphia, Toronto and finally in Ottawa.
Laforest played in the OHL with the original North Bay Centennials in the early 80’s and based on that experience, now more than 30 years ago, he has no doubt the shift of the Brampton Battalion to North Bay will be highly successful.
After Junior, the first pro stop for Laforest was the Red Wings who were closer to the ” Dead Wings ” than the existing model now in Motown. Still with Steve Yzerman and Gerard Gallant and Bob Probert, the potential of future victories was in place.
Later, playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Laforest illustrated a textbook case of what is known as ” Blue & White ” Disease; that is, every moment, good or bad, is multiplied to the nth degree.
One Saturday night in the late 80’s, Laforest made 46 saves in a Leaf victory and in his words, for one glorious day he was the toast of the town.
Mark Laforest played in the Alumni game last year in Owen Sound and relates the post game meet & greet was about the best on the circuit.
If you speak to him on Friday, I’m sure he’ll have a great story to share.
Game time Friday is 7 pm