Our Story

The Conacher Story

When Dave and I first started this campaign, we chose SickKids because Dave's friend and partner for over 40 years has two boys that are like his sons named Cory and Kelin Conacher who are 5th generation descendants of Charlie and Lionel Conacher who played for the Maple Leafs.

Kelin had open heart surgery and Cory has had many surgeries since his birth on his bladder and is now a type 1 diabetic. When he was a baby, Cory was also in traction for six weeks in SickKids hospital because his legs were not connected to his hips and was told by many of the doctors that he would not walk normally ever again. Needless to say, Cory is now playing professional hockey for the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL and will have the opportunity to play in the NHL one day. If not for the amazing efforts of SickKids this would not have been possible. Cory scored 6 goals and 2 assists in his first four games as a professional.

Here is an exerpt from an article by Brandon Cottrill for Amerks.com:

Just over a year ago Cory Conacher skated Blue Cross Arena’s ice as a member of the Canisius College Griffs hockey team during the Atlantic Hockey playoffs.  On Friday, March 25th, the 5-foot-8, 175-pounder returned to The Blue Cross Arena and made his professional hockey debut in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Lake Erie Monsters.

On March 24th, the collegiate standout joined the Rochester Americans on an Amateur Tryout Agreement. The 21-year-old finance major at Canisius College received the call a few days before from his agent, informing Conacher of the ATO. 

He first touched the ice four minutes into the first period of a scoreless game against Lake Erie. He finished the game with one shot on goal, playing on a line with another player in his rookie season, AJ Jenks, whom Conacher watched while he was in the OHL.

Conacher felt comfortable playing in front of Friday night’s crowd.  He remembered back to last year when the crowd was cheering for his opponents at the time, RIT.

Conacher joins the Amerks as the shortest on the team. He is listed at 5-foot-8, with Tim Kennedy and Michael Duco next on the height scale, two of them listed at 5-foot-10.

Conacher capped off his first weekend in the American Hockey League by scoring his first professional career goal in Rochester’s 6-4 loss to the Syracuse Crunch on Saturday, March 26th at the War Memorial at Oncenter.

It was just his second game as a pro, but what an incredible journey it’s been.

Highlights

Conacher Earns All-Conference Honors
http://www.gogriffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=97816&SPID=12001&DB_OEM_ID=20500&ATCLID=205118241

Conacher Leads Cyclones Past Walleye
http://www.cycloneshockey.com/news/304/rookie-conacher-leads-cyclones-past-walleye-4-3/