Our 4th Quarter 2025 Newsletter is here!

Greetings!

Follow us on the ice and on the fairways, meet a family that won't quit against all odds and see how you can pay it forward to help the Dawgs.

Swinging With the Dawgs

The 15^th annual Tee It Up for Dawg Nation golf tournament will not soon be forgotten. In September, a sold-out field of 144 let ‘em rip at the fabulous University of Denver Golf Club. We demolished the record raised for the tournament with $234,000.

“Pars, birdies and eagles were in abundance,” said Dawg Nation Ambassador and official photographer Kelli Packard. “But a beautiful family from Wyoming was on everyone’s mind. Over the last 18 months, the Costas have endured more than any family should.”

Sawyer Costa helped her family with her own lemonade stand. In May of this year, she died when a truck struck her. It was in memory of Sawyer that the Dawgs hosted a lemonade stand and will do so at future tournaments. Thank you to all our players who bought lemonade. We raised over $4,000! Earlier in 2025, the Dawgs presented the Costa family with a check for $10,000 in Sawyer’s memory. An emotional Cap said, “We can’t help but think that Sawyer is looking down and smiling.”

Her father, Brett Costa, was a skilled hockey player who earned a scholarship at the University of Denver. A knee injury ended his competitive playing career, but Brett played in rec leagues and coaches kids in Laramie, Wyoming. In 2024, an accident left him paralyzed. A long road to recovery lies ahead, but Brett says he wants back on the ice both to coach and play sled hockey.

With the help of the entire field and Colorado Avalanche coach Jared Bednar, the Dawgs presented a handicapped accessible van to Brett and the Costa Family. Bednar (with Brett in photo above right) drove the van to the tournament and handed them the keys.

In October, the Colorado Eagles hockey team hosted the Costas at Blue Arena. Owner Martin Lind donated his suite and Eagles star defenseman Jacob MacDonald joined the group and signed pucks for all the kids. Brett’s wife and Sawyer’s mom Kim, said “Our family hasn’t smiled and laughed like this for months!”

A huge thank you to all sponsors, participants and volunteers who made our 15^th golf tournament the best ever.

Thank you to the Colorado Eagles and all those that continue to go the extra mile to lift those up when they need it most.

Your Turn

Colorado Gives Day is Tuesday December 9. The day is the state’s largest one day giving event. This is your opportunity to help the Dawgs. Your contribution to Dawg Nation lets us continue to provide much needed aid to families in the hockey community.

It’s easy! Click the link below and you’re on the way to providing a big assist to the Dawgs. Early giving has already started. Your record for giving is $120,000. We know you can beat that this year!

Donate HERE

The Dawgs Reach Out

Martin Richardson

A very special thanks to Larry Martinson and Martinson Services for years of incredible support! In October, the Dawgs hosted Larry and his generous crew for our annual Milan “Hedgie” Hejduk game. As he always does, the Colorado Avs legend and Dawg Nation Ambassador took the keys and drove the Martinson boys to the game in the Dawg van. Once at the arena we made our way to Avs President of Hockey Operations Joe Sakic’s personal suite where we were met by NHL hall of famer Michel Goulet!

Lots of smiles, lots of laughs, lots of pictures and even a few autographs, but the highlight was when Hilary McNeish joined us. Hilary is a massive Avs fan, a renowned artist (that’s her portrait of Patrick Roy) and is also in the fight for her life. Hopefully hanging out with a couple of her hockey heroes allowed her to forget about the “C” word for a few moments and just be a fan surrounded by legends. And the Avs victory didn’t hurt either!

Hilary (in photo at left) is with Michel Goulet and Milan Hejduk.

Pay It Forward

The Keep Driving Foundation was started by the Gillett family. The idea is to keep pushing forward to make a difference. In October they presented us with a check for $10,000. Thank you to Dawn Skeen and Alex Gillett for leading the Keep Driving Foundation and sharing the Dawgs vision of helping where help is needed most.

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A chance meeting led to support for Dawg Nation. Riley Alire is a Dawg Nation Ambassador. In September, while working his shift at the Golden Diner, he had the pleasure of serving Laura and Richard Fredricks.

The couple was visiting from Massachusetts. Riley told them about Dawg Nation. The Fredricks told about the foundation they had created in memory of their daughter who had died in a cycling accident. On their way out, the Fredrick’s handed Riley a check for $1,000 in support of the Dawgs and our mission that mirrors theirs.

Never Too Old to Lace em' Up!

Iron Men of Hockey

On October 4, 2025 the Sports Stable ice was filled with gentlemen that are true iron men of hockey. This exhibition game was part of the inaugural USA Over 80 Hall of Fame weekend, a concept brought to life by Colorado’s own Fred Merchant. The rosters at this first class event were made up almost exclusively of skaters over 80! Our Martin “Cappy” Richardson was one of a handful of “youngsters” invited to participate and try and keep up with these legends! However, the star of the night was none other than Fred himself, tallying a couple of goals before becoming the first person ever to enter USA Over 80 Hall of Fame!

Please take a moment to check out their site and please consider supporting Fred and his amazing crew:

A Helping Paw

Everett Jeske is a remarkable ten-year-old that doesn’t let Cerebral Palsy slow him down. He’s now able to play with Colorado Sled Hockey. The Jeske family’s new home needs extensive and expensive upgrades including making it wheelchair accessible for Everett as he continues to grow bigger and stronger.

Enter Dawg Nation ambassador Josh Thall, a Project Director at Spyder Construction. With the Dawg Father, Josh is working on renovations that will make the home perfect for Everett and the family. “Our goal is to complete the entire renovation at no cost to this deserving, special hockey family!” Cap said. “Thank you to Josh and Spyder Construction.”

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Connor Schaff has been fighting epilepsy since grade school. He’s a hockey fan and skater, but the seizures make it difficult to play the game he loves. In August the Dawgs presented Connor with a check for $10,000.

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Kayla Stewart is a hockey mom. She was recently attacked at gunpoint. She fought back, but the assailant took her car and struck her while getting away. Kayla has recovered from her injuries. In August, the Dawgs surprised her with a check for $5,000 to cover medical expenses.

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Ethan Graber is a 19-year-old hockey player who began suffering serious headaches in 2024. An MRI revealed the bad news – a brain tumor. Ethan had surgery in December and is now on a long road to recovery, including trips across the country for radiation treatments in Boston. Medical and travel costs are substantial.

In August, the Dawgs joined the Colorado Springs hockey community to help the Graber family with a check for $11,000.

FFFFun in Fraser

The third annual Fraser Freeze out was held on Saturday, November 15^th. Sold out once again, the tournament included 18 teams and over 100 players! A fast paced 3 vs 3 pond style format was new to some of the players but a blast for everyone! The event was a rousing success across the board with a day filled with smiles, hugs and even a few tears. This year’s event was focused on helping two very deserving families, the Mintken’s and McGuan’s. Jody Mintken is battling rectal cancer and Kristen McGuan is hopefully on the tail end of her fight against breast cancer.

Conroy Excavating once again stepped up as the tourney sponsor and was joined by several other generous companies to set a new sponsorship record! When the dust settled the entire event raised an eye popping $35,000! The long day was capped off with post tourney party at Hernando’s Pizza in Winter Park where the recipient families were honored.

Special thanks to the Icebox Ice Rink for the generous donation of ice and to all the volunteers that made this our best Fraser Freeze Out ever! And congrats to the all the winning teams!

Hockey is for Everyone

We always say that hockey is for everyone. Certainly for Craig Fitzpatrick (in the USAFA sweater) and his new friends. Craig was a cadet at the Air Force Academy and avid Falcons hockey fan. A disease robbed Craig of his sight, but it never stopped him in any aspect of a very successful life.

In October, Craig returned to the AFA to help the Dawgs introduce students from the Colorado School of the Blind to hockey. Craig himself never played hockey until after losing his sight and then became one of the first on the U.S. National Blind team. Most of the students had never skated. Few knew that hockey was something they could play.

Craig shared his story and told the students that blindness was not a handicap or a roadblock. It was a day the students won’t forget. They had a blast thanks to Craig, Doris Donnelly and our volunteers.

Craig's new book is Finding the Puck and he shared a preview version with many in the Colorado Avalanche organization. Joe Sakic read the book, was very moved, and wrote one of the endorsements for the back cover. It reads, "Brave, strong, committed, unselfish and humble. Facing daunting odds, Craig never wavered and never gave up. His perseverance was rewarded with success in all aspects of his life. Craig is a true American hero."

Last Shot!

The NHL, and the Avs in particular, do a fantastic job on their annual Hockey Fights Cancer night. This year was extra special as the Avalanche honored an original Dawg! Back in February of 2009, Danny Packard was a free-spirited college student and terrific teammate that we all loved. That’s when we were collectively rocked to the core when Danny shared, he had thyroid cancer. That diagnosis predicated the very first “passing of the hat” that a couple years later became DAWG Nation Hockey Foundation.

Danny is now a husband, a father of four, a CEO and cancer free!! Last night Danny was appropriately honored in front of sellout crowd at Ball Arena!

Here’s to Danny and all of those that have taken on cancer. You are an inspiration to us all.