U11 Lakeshore Lightning win Good Deeds Cup

The U11 Lakeshore Lightning won the Chevrolet Good Deeds Cup after working hard to give back to their community.

A local hockey team has won a national competition that’s going to benefit local cancer research.

Since January, the U11 girls Lakeshore Lightning White team had been competing in Chevrolet Canada’s Good Deeds Cup, which challenged minor league hockey teams across the country to give back to their communities by posting their good deeds on social media.

The winner was announced Saturday night during the second intermission of Hockey Night in Canada.

During the campaign, 1,288 good deeds were performed by the Lightning, including volunteering at a local food bank, visiting a seniors' home to hand out flowers to residents, shoveling snowy driveways, and collecting donations for the Windsor-Essex County Humane Society.

Finley Kovac, 10, said this was a great opportunity for her teammates to work together to do good in the community.

“We got over 1,000 good deeds, and it’s just been really good with all my teammates having fun and being kind at the same time,” Kovac said.

Ten-year-old Joni Siddall said her favourite good deed was shoveling her neighbour’s driveway.

“We all came together during this and we are all just best friends now,” said Siddall.

Ten-year-old Lauren Meadows said she felt like Taylor Swift when they were announced the winners.

“I’m a huge Swifty myself, and I know the whole team basically is, and it felt so good because it felt like we were important and that we mattered,” Meadows said. “Just knowing that we made all that kindness in the community really brings us joy.”

Lakeshore has secured $100,000 for a local charity of their choice, and the Lightning have said their winnings would support the Cancer Research Collaboration Fund and Play for A Cure.

Second and third-place teams will receive $20,000 and $10,000, respectively.

— Dustin Coffman, Rusty Thomson, AM800 News