Chris is Coming Out of Retirement!

Sort of.

As many of you know, my husband, Chris, played hockey for the Huntsville Channelcats from 1996-2001. In fact, that's how we met! Once he retired, the Channelcats also retired his jersey and it hangs in the VBC Arena today.

This Saturday night, Chris is coming out of retirement - briefly.

Let me explain. This Saturday is Melissa George Night at the Huntsville Havoc game. The Havoc have done this the past two years. In 2007, the players wore pink jerseys and raised $54,000 for the Melissa George Neonatal Memorial Fund. In fact, here's a picture of Chris and Lily from the first auction. I loved those pink jerseys! Lily was just two months old when we had this auction. My how time flies!



Last year, they wore baby blue jerseys and raised $65,000. Ann Catherine got to drop the puck with Chris and could not have been happier! As you can imagine, it's such a special night for our family.




This year, they are wearing pink and blue striped jerseys (they look fabulous!!) and will, once again, auction those jerseys off after the game to raise money for Melissa's Fund.

Now, back to Chris skating. The Havoc owner, Keith Jeffries, came up with the idea for Chris to skate a shift at the beginning of the game. Then, they'll be able to also retire his jersey as a Havoc player.

Keith told me first and asked me to talk to Chris about it. When I told Chris, he said "What?" and just looked at me like I was crazy. After he thought about it for a while, he said, "I would never do this if it weren't for Melissa's Fund."

So, he agreed to do it. He has been practicing skating. We joke that we wish we had learned about this last year so he could have started working out :) It's only one shift, but still, it's been a while!

So, if you can, come out to the Havoc game at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. To learn more about the game or to purchase tickets, click here.

If you don't have hundreds of dollars to spend bidding on a jersey, there's another way you can help. The first 1,000 fans who bring a NEW item for the NICU (blankets, premature clothing, socks, hats, disposable camera) will get a bobblehead of Chris. Here's a picture.



It's pretty funny, but strangely enough, it does kind of look like him. Ann Catherine saw it for the first time and immediately said, "Daddy, that's you!"

If you have kids, bring them to the game, too! My girls absolutely LOVE going to the Havoc games. So, come out and have a great time with your family. More than all of the fun, you'll know you are helping God's tiniest miracles.