Mayor Gerald Aalbers helps LFD firefighter Maverick Hann and Const. Grant Kirzinger of the Lloydminster RCMP with the ceremonial puck drop on Saturday evening. Taylor Weaver Meridian Source
After a four-year hiatus, the Todd Gustavson ‘Battle of the Badges’ Memorial Hockey Game returned to the Centennial Civic Centre on Saturday to benefit a few local non-profits as members of the Lloydminster RCMP faced off against the Lloydminster Fire Department (LFD).
The Battle of the Badges first took place seven years ago to honour the memory of long-time Lloydminster Fire Chief, Todd Gustavson, who passed away in April 2015 at 53. Gustavson was born and raised in the Border City and dedicated his life to the Lloydminster Fire Department from age 16 and served the community until his passing.
This year’s charity game was in support of The Olive Tree and Salvation Army food banks, and monetary donations were being collected to support the Lloydminster Region Health Foundation’s (LRHF) mental health initiative, Project Sunrise.
The Lloydminster RCMP was supporting the Olive Tree and items in need included canned fruit, apple sauces, school snack packs, pasta sauce, pancake mix, syrup, jam, canned meat, nut-free granola bars and crackers.
The Lloydminster Fire Department was supporting the Salvation Army and items in need included canned meat, canned fruit, canned soup, instant oatmeal (individual packets), boxed potatoes and sidekicks.
“It’s good to be back, especially playing alongside our fire team, and regional partners are coming to help us out, too,” said the LFD’s Curtis Johnson. “We haven’t been able to do this kind of socializing outside of our jobs because of COVID and stuff, so it’s fun to get out and relax, and we’re not responding as a group, this is a fun little game.”
Aside from the obvious fun, Johnson noted the importance of supporting the organizations being helped out on Saturday, particularly Project Sunrise.
“The Lloydminster Fire Department is playing for the Salvation Army for our food donations as well as funding for Project Sunrise,” he said. “We’re doing a big push in our fire department when it comes to mental health, and Project Sunrise is an awesome program the LRHF brought in. That ties in with everything we’re doing in our department, as well as the bigger issues out there in the world today.”
Johnson also noted Saturday’s crowd made the game that much more exciting.
“The crowds today are awesome,” he said.
“When we put this all together we weren’t sure what the crowds would be like. Constable (Kelsey) Davidge from the Lloyd RCMP put in a lot of work to make this game a reality, but it also wouldn’t have been made possible without the support of the community and our families.
“We’re super proud and super happy with how everything went today.”
As a student resource officer and RCMP member in our community, Const. Davidge knows the immeasurable importance of non-profits such as the ones being supported on Saturday.
“All of these agencies in Lloydminster, we all need to support each other, so us hosting this event and working with all of those community partners is really the goal for us tonight,” she said. “We’re very happy with the turnout and we’d like to thank everybody who came out to this event to show their community support, as well as showing support to our first responders.
“We’re happy to be able to put this event on, and we’d like to thank the City of Lloydminster, the Centennial Civic Centre, as well as the Bobcats for helping us out with this.”
Stephanie Munro, LRHF CEO, said her heart was full as she was extremely grateful for the continued support the foundation receives from the community.
“Because of you, our loyal community and donors, we are able to provide necessary enhancements when needed to a vast array of areas, including acute care, community programming, long-term care and mental health resources,” she said.
“We will continue to raise awareness and advocate for each of you so that Lloydminster and the region may have the most accessible healthcare available. Healthcare is something we will all need at some point in our lives, for many at an unexpected time, and we appreciate healthcare remains top-of-mind for so many and commit to continue making the most efficient use of our donor’s dollars.”
