Canadiens Alumni form partnerships with STEP and TC Energy

The St. Paul Canadiens Alumni Foundation continues to strengthen its presence in the region and has come together with more partners to help give back to the community, and put on large scale events.

On Tuesday, members of the Alumni Foundation along with St. Paul/Elk Point Economic Development Alliance (STEP), and TC Energy spoke at the The Landing Hotel & Conference Centre.

TC Energy presented the Canadiens Alumni with a $30,000 cheque towards their upcoming initiatives, while STEP and the Canadiens confirmed their strategic alignment.

“We have meaningful dollars, we have a meaningful partner, not only in this short term arrangement, but we have an arrangement with TC Energy that this is a long term arrangement. So this is step one, this is an opportunity for us to reinvest in the community,” said Alumni Foundation president Pat Lamoureux.

“The partnership at hand is not necessarily just around the hockey club and doing things around the alumni, but it’s for the greater purpose of the greater region in the community. One of those staples is education and reinvesting in the area.” 

Since its inception in 2020, the Alumni Foundation has worked toward establishing scholarships for current members of the Canadiens roster, the first of two were being handed out in January.

A key emphasis of the announcements last week centered around reconciliation.

This upcoming season, two key nights are planned, including on October 29 with an alumni game between Montreal and St. Paul players. Then on January 14, 2023, the plan is to have an NHL Indigenous alumni game against Canadiens Indigenous alumni.

Canadiens president with the Alumni Foundation, TC Energy, STEP, and members from St. Paul, Elk Point, and County of St. Paul councils.

Both events were planned and postponed last season due to COVID.

“We’re very proud to be part of this organization and help support the alumni group. We’ve been working with them since back in 2020… this year, it came together. We’re excited about being part of it. And like Arman stressed earlier, we’re excited about being here as TC Energy and part of the reconciliation and we want to support that in our communities,” said a representative from TC Energy. 

With numerous achievements already accomplished, including the recognition of the Canadiens partnership with the flagship franchise in Montreal, championship acknowledgments within the Clancy Richard Arena, scholarship programs, and a Canadiens Hall of Fame, STEP is happy to be involved with this group.

“We’ve just seen alignment. Alignment with the great work that they’re doing, the momentum that they have, and part of the work in leveraging that work in the economic development side of it,” said Linda Sallstrom, economic development officer for STEP. 

“One of the huge things is to be collaborative and start to remove those silos in our communities to work together. Like Patrick has indicated, this is not just about hockey, but it’s about community and about the investment opportunities that come around that as well. So we’re really excited to be a part of it.”