Roenick Speaks at Blues Annual Dinner

Oh what a night.

The Winnipeg Blues held their 29th Annual Fundraising Dinner last night with a packed house at the Canad Inns Polo Park.

And with the help of many volunteers, board members, and very generous silent auction winners the night was very much a success.

It didn't hurt that the guest speaker was one of the best and most popular NHLers of all time, someone who has never shyed away from a microphone, and someone who gave everything he had when he was on the ice.

That someone was Jeremy Roenick.

Roenick stole the show of course, with his interaction with the audience, to his message to the players, he was everything you'd expect from the future Hall of Famer.

He commented on everything from how distracting the giant picture of the Queen used to be at the old Winnipeg Arena, to his likeness of the Palomino Club, the Jets coming back, and how he feels Jonathan Toews is the best young captain in the NHL bar none. 

His message to the players about challenging one another, and having a committed heart, is something that any coach, at any level would love to have a person of Roenicks stature say to their club.  

Blues head coach and GM Don Macgillvray says "when players hear the message from someone else, especially someone who's played the game at such a high level and has had as much success as Roenick has had in his career, it will definitely have an impact".

Roenick may have been the guest speaker, but everyone who was at this fantastic event were the guests of honor, as the generosity from the people towards the organization showed during the Silent Auction draws, the 50/50 sales, and just the support from everyone in attendance

And a night like this couldn't go on without a ton of volunteers, and corporate sponsors who continue to support the hockey club.

Macgillvray adds "the dinner is the lifeblood of the organization, we can't survive without it, and there's so many people behind the scenes that made this event possible from selling tickets to getting auction prizes, and they're a big reason for the successful evening"

Former Winnipeg Jet Thomas Steen was in attendance, as was 3 time Stanley Cup Champion and former Manitoba Moose captain Mike Keane.

All in all the it was a fantastic evening.   Joe Aiello did a great job as the MC, the auctioneers were outstanding, the dinner was excellent,  Jeremy Roenick was Jeremy Roenick, the crowd was generous, and the Blues fundraising efforts were met and exceeded. 

The Blues will now turn their attention back to the ice, where they'll get set to host the Addison Division leading Selkirk Steelers tomorrow night at the MTS Ice Plex.

It's the 3rd meeting between the two clubs this year.

The last time these teams met were the first two games of the season.   The Steelers took both games, the first one 4-3 in a shootout, and the second in overtime by the same score.

Puck drop is set for 7:30.