TORONTO (November 13, 2009) – The National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) Goals & Dreams team arrived in Ornskoldsvik, Sweden today to kick off its “10 countries in 10 days” world tour. Travelling to 10 countries over the next 10 days, the NHLPA Goals & Dreams tour will donate over 360 full sets of brand-new hockey equipment worth approximately $180,000 to local grassroots hockey programs along the way, in celebration of the program’s 10th anniversary.

Visit www.nhlpa.com/10in10 for daily blog postings, photos, and videos from the team, while on tour.

WHAT:  NHLPA representatives,including several former NHL players, will visit “10 countries in 10 days” to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the NHLPA Goals & Dreams fund. During the world tour,
NHLPA Goals & Dreams will donate several sets of brand-new hockey equipment to a local grassroots hockey program in each country visited, for a total of 360 complete sets, worth approximately $180,000.

In most locations, a retired NHL player from each of the 10 destination countries will also participate in the festivities taking place in his native country, including: Pavel Bure, Zdeno Ciger, Adam Graves, Arturs Irbe, Jyrki Lumme, Jaroslav Modry, Markus Naslund, Martin Rucinsky, Martin Straka, Esa Tikkanen, John Vanbiesbrouck, Kevin Weekes and more.

WHO:   Team members for the entire 10-day tour include:

• Rob Zamuner, former NHL player and NHLPA Goals & Dreams Ambassador
• P.J. Stock, former NHL player and NHLPA Goals & Dreams Ambassador
• Devin Smith, NHLPA Goals & Dreams Chairman
• Matt Langen, NHLPA Goals & Dreams Manager

WHEN & WHERE:  The “10 countries in 10 days” tour schedule is as follows:

• Day 1: November 13 – Ornskoldsvik, Sweden
• Day 2: November 14 – Helsinki, Finland
• Day 3: November 15 – Moscow, Russia
• Day 4: November 16 – Riga, Latvia
• Day 5: November 17 – Prague, Czech Republic
• Day 6: November 18 – Trnava, Slovakia
• Day 7: November 19 – Sarajevo, Bosnia
• Day 8: November 20 – Frankfurt, Germany
• Day 9: November 21 – New York, U.S.A.
• Day 10: November 22 – Toronto, Canada (celebration at the Hockey Hall of Fame)

The NHLPA Goals & Dreams fund is funded solely by the members of the NHLPA and is the largest grassroots hockey program in the world. Since November 1999, the players’ program has donated more than $17 million to grassroots hockey programs in 22 different countries. More than 40,000 children have benefited from the hockey equipment donations through NHLPA Goals & Dreams.

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For more details on the “10 countries in 10 days” world tour, or to set up an interview with an NHLPA Goals & Dreams Ambassador, please contact:

Andrew Wolfe,
National Hockey League Players’ Association
(416) 313-2376, awolfe@nhlpa.com

Debra Douglass,
Pilot PMR for NHLPA
(416) 462-0199 x24, debra@pilotpmr.com