We are thrilled to be entering our 15th season of Battle of the Badges Hockey to raise crucial funds for the kids and families of Dartmouth Health Children’s.
Olive Isaacs, director of Community Fundraising Events at Dartmouth Health Children’s and CHaDThe team at Dartmouth Health Children’s and Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (CHaD) is thrilled to announce that the Battle of the Badges Hockey Championship will be held on Saturday, March 18, 2023. The annual game, featuring police officers, detectives, marshals, state troopers, sheriffs, department of corrections officers, firefighters, dispatch workers, EMTs, and more, will take place at Manchester’s SNHU Arena at 1 pm.
“We are thrilled to be entering our 15th season of Battle of the Badges Hockey to raise crucial funds for the kids and families of Dartmouth Health Children’s,” said Olive Isaacs, director of Community Fundraising Events at Dartmouth Health Children’s and CHaD. “To play the game at the SNHU Arena again is a fantastic opportunity for our players and community.”
This year’s tryouts concluded in late October, and coaches are now hard at work finalizing their rosters. Once players have accepted their positions on their respective teams, they will undertake a mission to each raise at least $1,500 to support critical programs and services at Dartmouth Health Children’s – programs that kids and families rely on every day, such as the Child Life Program, the Pediatric Mental Health Access Initiative, Social Work, and the Child Advocacy and Protection Program (CAPP).
Each player will also be paired with one or more of the Dartmouth Health Children’s Ambassadors as a “Buddy.” Each Buddy and his or her family is a former or current patient of Dartmouth Health Children’s and CHaD and has benefitted from the programs and services directly supported by the game and other fundraising efforts. Learning their Buddies’ stories helps players connect more deeply to the game, its mission, and their role as a player.
“The Buddy aspect of this game is unique,” said Isaacs. “The connections made between the players and their Buddies showcase the incredible value and mission of this program. We see players and buddies forming lifelong friendships and creating bonds with Dartmouth Health Children’s and CHaD. It is a special thing for all involved.”
2022 was the first game back in full form since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. The game welcomed more than 4,000 fans and raised over $213,000. Since its inception in 2008, the Battle of the Badges Hockey Championship has raised just shy of $2.9 million and featured the talents of over 200 first responders.
Heading into the 2023 Battle of the Badges Hockey Championship, Team Police leads the series with eight wins over Team Fire’s five, with 2013’s game featuring East and West teams that each contained players from both police and fire departments.
Official ticket availability and options will be announced in the coming weeks. For that information, visit us on Facebook and Instagram at @chadkids and www.CHaDHockey.org.
About Dartmouth Health Children's
Dartmouth Health Children's is the only comprehensive pediatric healthcare system in the region. Fully integrated in Dartmouth Health and anchored for more than 30 years by Children's Hospital at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (CHaD)—in Lebanon, NH—Dartmouth Health Children's promotes health, advances knowledge, and delivers the best patient and family-centered care for infants, children, and adolescents across New Hampshire and Vermont. Dartmouth Health Children's conducts groundbreaking research and educates the next generations of health professionals as the primary pediatric partner of the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. Highly skilled and collaborative child health professionals provide care in multiple settings across the region. Outpatient specialty visits and same-day surgery services are available at Children's Hospital at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (CHaD) and Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinics Manchester. Primary care appointments in general pediatrics are available at Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinics in Bedford, Concord, Lebanon, Manchester and Nashua, NH and Bennington, VT; as well as at Dartmouth Health members: Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital, Cheshire Medical Center, New London Hospital and Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center.