HOCKEY

Richardson re ects on what the organization has grown into. It is constantly planning, giving, helping families and communities, he said.

“We didn’t envision that we would be tied into [helping] handicapped children and adults and veterans and blind hockey players,” Richardson said. “No one, including myself, could have seen this, and last year alone we were able to hand out checks around $900,000 in one year.” e early-morning ice time Dawg Nation gets can be a bit daunting, but one person drives the rest to be there: Van Stone.

And, thanks to people like Donnelly, di erences are being made on the ice.

Stone su ered a traumatic brain injury in 2018. He now faces a slew of struggles, whether it is speech, motor skills, or navigating everyday life. He was told by doctors that he would never be able to play hockey again, but he wasn’t ready to give up. Stone, with the help of the Dawgs, proved those doctors wrong.

“ is is one of the only places he can go where he is just one of the guys,” Donnelly said.

While dealing with his own struggles, Donnelly will still go out of his way to help others. It’s bigger than one person, he explained.

“What we created was a place where you can go when you know you want to help,” Richardson said.

And Dawg Nation isn’t nished either. ere is a bigger goal still on the horizon: a $64 million arena with three sheets of ice that anyone — disabled or not — can access. It would be one of the only facilities like it in the country. is is still years in the making, but the group is determined to see it through.

A place where Dawg Nation can call home. Where players can go to escape the hard times and enjoy the game that brings them all together. Somewhere where people like Richardson and Donnelly can go to positively a ect the lives of hundreds who need to be uplifted.

As of February, Donnelly was moved up to number one on the heart transplants list.

For a month and a half, all he could do was wait with the Dawg Nation family behind him. In April, he got the call he was waiting for. e next morning he was in the hospital. Donnelly got his heart.

“I can’t wait to slide him the puck and watch that one-timer hit the back of the net for the rst time with his new heart,” Richardson said with a smile.

For more information about Dawg Nation and how you can help, visit https://www.dawgnation.org/ .