Sportsman's dinner raises money for Morell rink

Prominent hockey players and officials are heading to Morell, P.E.I. next month for the first Sportsman's dinner in almost 15 years.

The event is raising money to either rebuild or renovate Morell Rink.

Stanley Cup champion Adam McQuaid will be the guest speaker. McQuaid won the cup in 2011 with the Boston Bruins.

The first Sportsman's dinner in 1962 raised money to build a roof over Morell's open air rink.

Organizer Don MacAdam said there hasn't been much upkeep since.

"It has to be replaced or the rink is going to go away. There's a looming urgency here that the community's looking at, but I think the biggest reason is it's kind of taking care of itself," he said.

MacAdam said the rink now needs a complete overhaul.

The last Sportsman's dinner was in 1998.

"Now there's a need again and getting that community spirit back was almost instant as we put a group together," said MacAdam.

Over the years many hockey celebrities came out to support the event, including Bobby Orr, Maurice "The Rocket" Richard and CBCs Coachs Corner co-host Don Cherry.

Organizers want to raise enough moneyto fix the community rinkby the end of 2014.

The Sportsman'sdinner will be July 14 at the Morell Regional High School.