Vancouver Canucks goaltending legend Richard Brodeur will be in Chilliwack this weekend for the second annual Dark Horse Riders Charity Golf Tournament.
Brodeur will lead a full field onto the links at the Cultus Lake Golf Course, with proceeds from the event going to the BC Cancer Foundation.
Action starts with a shotgun tee-off at 1 p.m. on Saturday, carrying on until 9 p.m.
One hundred dollars gets a golfer 18 holes, dinner and a shot at several trophies and prizes. There will be a silent auction as well, with a number of notable items up for bids.
The most notable might be a day of golf and dinner for you and two of your friends with King Richard. Brodeur, who has become an artist in his post-playing days, has also suggested he might provide a limited edition print for golfers to bid on.
Last year’s event raised $17,000 and the Dark Horse Riders as a group raised $23,000 for the fight against cancer.
So far this year, the team has raked in $42,000, helped by a $10,000 donation by lead sponsor Langley Concrete.
A successful golf tournament could nudge them over $55,000 which would make original Dark Horse rider Paul King very, very happy.
“We’re hoping it’s like last year, a beautiful day where people are ready to come out and spend some money,” King said.
It’s been an up and down year for King’s crew, all of whom will be riding or otherwise involved in the Ride to Conquer Cancer on June 16 and 17.
On the plus side, the team quadrupled in size from this time last year, ballooning from three to 12 members. King rode in 2011 with Blair Peake and Paul Ackah-Sanzah.
To that list they’ve added Val Anderson, Edward Boudreau, Greg Cowan, Dan Desai, David Ford, Andrew Matheson, John McLean and Jeret Unger.
But there was a sadness as well with the Dark Horse Riders losing Adam Cardinal.
“He was diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer, and they gave him 18 months to live,” King said. “He was very determined that he was going to beat this thing. Every day, up until a week before he passed, he was dead-set determined that he was going to be out here for the ride. Then he went, just like that.”
Cardinal had just turned 30.
“He never seemed to give up and inspired everyone, including myself,” King said. “Losing him was a kick in the nuts.”
Cardinal had an ambigram tattooed on his calf that read faith and (flipped upside down) hope. In his memory, the Dark Horse Riders will have that ambigram on their jerseys when they make the Ride to Conquer Cancer trip from Vancouver to Seattle.
In the meantime, King continues a furious battle of his own against cancer. He has spent more than five years battling lung cancer, and spent the last few months on chemotherapy.
The chemo appeared to have successfully knocked out the problem in the lungs, but King’s cancer doubled back and found its way into his brain.
Now, the 37-year-old faces a round of radiation treatments and won’t be riding in the Ride to Conquer Cancer.
“In my last training ride, I had a fall where I just kind of zoned out, and deep in my mind I think I knew something wasn’t right for a while,” King said. “Once they found the cancer in the brain, I was told not to drive a car or ride a bike or anything like that. It’s a kick in the ass because it’s something I wanted to do, but the experience and the money we’ll be raising is more important that the ride anyhow.”
King may not be riding, but he will be involved.
“I’m already looking forward to riding in 2013, but for this one I’m going to be the pit-crew, cheerleader, tent setter-upper, doing whatever I have to do,” he said.
“We may try to sneak him across the finish line,” his wife, Meagan, added with a laugh.
l Get info at darkhorseriders.ca or check the Facebook events page at facebook.com/events/355453191165787/ Ride to Conquer Cancer info can be found at conquercancer.ca.