'Team Bruce': Sask. man honoured by hockey team with special jersey

A Prince Albert hockey team wore a special jersey at their opening game to raise money for cancer and honour a prominent member of the local sports community.

The Mann-Northway Northern Bears played as “Team Bruce” to honour their former team manager Bruce Vance.

“For them to recognize me and wear my name on a jersey is very special,” Vance said in an interview.

The jerseys were auctioned online and sold to the highest bidder after the team’s game on Saturday night. The proceeds will support two local cancer charities.

“It’s a huge role. You get to go around town and spread awareness for cancer, which is huge to lots of people and lots of families,” Bree Purcell, a forward with the team told CTV News.

The third jersey features a blue ribbon for colon cancer. Vance was diagnosed with stage three colon cancer in late 2013. The following summer he went into remission, but it came back in 2020.

His cancer is now considered terminal.

“I’ve had 20 radiation and 53 chemotherapy treatments, and I decided to stop my chemotherapy in June, it’s just very, very hard on a person’s body,” he told CTV News on Friday.

The money from the jerseys will go to the Victoria Hospital Foundation and the Cancer Foundation of Saskatchewan, which have supported Vance through his cancer journey.

“It’s going to be nice to see the money raised on Saturday night stay in our community and affect people like me that have cancer,” he said.

On Friday, “Team Bruce” was looking forward to hitting the ice.

“We’re really excited, we know that wearing the jerseys puts a little more (pressure) on us,” Tristyn Endicott, an assistant captain with the team said.

“It means a lot to represent something so big in the community,” said Annika Neufeldt, a goalie with the team.