Hockey Fights Cancer Campaign has special meaning for Ducks’ Koivu

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Every NHL team will stage an evening of fundraising and education this month to raise awareness about Hockey Fights Cancer, an initiative jointly backed by the league and the NHL Players’ Assn.

The Ducks will do their part Saturday when they face Columbus at the Honda Center. For Ducks center Saku Koivu the occasion will be especially significant.

Koivu is a cancer survivor, having been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in September 2001 while he played for the Montreal Canadiens. He required chemotherapy that kept him off the ice until April 2002 and he has since been cancer-free. He undergoes periodic checkups for his own peace of mind.

‘We do an annual thing,’ he told The Times in September. ‘It’s more that I want to do it that way. I don’t have to go through this anymore. In Montreal we did once or twice a year bloodwork and once a year a bigger test, a checkup, but everything’s been as well as possible. So it’s good.’

The Ducks’ broadcast of the game will feature an interview with Koivu and will outline the Ducks’ efforts for Hockey Fights Cancer and the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The Ducks’ team store will sell merchandise related to the Hockey Fights Canacer campaign, autographed gear will be sold during a silent auction, and players’ wives will sell player-autographed lavender mini-sticks for $20. The sale of the hockey sticks will benefit the Michael O’Donnell Memorial Fund at the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. O’Donnell was a 14-year employee of the Honda Center who fought cancer for three years before his death in August 2007.

Also, the Ducks will recognize fans who have battled cancer and the first 2,000 fans will receive a lavender ribbon, lavender being a symbol representing all types of cancers.

-- Helene Elliott