Blades & Shaves a Resounding Success

HAMDEN, Conn. -– The Rand Pecknold Blades & Shaves event, a head-shaving fundraiser held on Saturday at the TD Banknorth Sports Center, raised a total of $27,218 to date in donations to benefit the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. All proceeds from the Oct. 4 event go to support medical research in the fight against children’s cancer. Quinnipiac University Men’s Ice Hockey Head Coach Pecknold, along with most of the team’s student-athletes and staff, were among 47 people who had their heads shaved following the team’s annual Blue & Gold game.

Click here to access Photo Album of Event

Donations are still being accepted online, so please visit www.stbaldricks.org or CLICK HERE for the Blades & Shaves event page.

The intrasquad scrimmage, which started at noon, was free and open to the public. Blue defeated Gold, 4-2, with junior forward Brandon Wong scoring the game winner. There was also a free autograph session with the Bobcats following Blades & Shaves, with team photos given away to youth players and fans.

“Blades & Shaves exceeded our wildest expectations,” said Pecknold. “We far eclipsed our fundraising goal in support of medical research for children’s cancer and also helped spread awareness about the disease and the damaging effect it has on kids. I want to personally thank everyone – including my student-athletes and staff – who so generously donated their money, time or hair to help make this event so successful.”

Blades & Shaves is an officially sanctioned event of the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. St. Baldrick's is the world's largest volunteer-driven fundraising event for childhood cancer research. To date, thousands of volunteers have shaved their heads in solidarity of children with cancer, while requesting donations of support from friends and family. St. Baldrick’s Foundation Manager of Special Events Corrine Jones, based in Pasadena, Calif., was also on hand to present a grant check for $110,000 to Dr. Nina Kadan-Lottick of Yale-New Haven Hospital for cooperative research.

Six-year-old Brent McCreesh, a neighbor and Pecknold family friend in Southport, Conn., is a cancer survivor and the inspiration behind the event. After their son was diagnosed at age two with neuroblastoma, parents Michael and Dana McCreesh co-founded Team Brent in association with St. Baldrick’s. Over the past three years Team Brent has raised more than $1 million and shaved more than a 1,000 heads. For more information, please visit TeamBrent.com.

Deb Placey, a television sports reporter who has covered the New York Islanders and New York Rangers for Fox Sports Net New York (FSNY) and the Madison Square Garden (MSG), served as the emcee.

Former longtime National Hockey League referee and current ECAC Hockey Director of Officiating Paul Stewart was also on hand during the first intermission of the Blue & Gold Game to sign free photo cards for fans. Stewart, a cancer survivor, is an official spokesperson for the NHL’s “Hockey Fights Cancer” campaign.