A Hopewell Valley Central High School hockey player has organized "Salute to Service," scheduled for Saturday – weather permitting.
HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP - A Hopewell Valley Central High School senior has organized a charity hockey game to raise money for veterans in honor of his older brother, a U.S. Marine recruit currently training in South Carolina.
The "Salute to Service" match will be held Saturday at 3:15 p.m. - weather permitting. The Hopewell varsity hockey team will face off against West Morris Mendham High School for a friendly competition to benefit the Hopewell Valley Veterans Association.
Michael Cowhey (left) and Jeffrey Cowhey, Jr. (Right). Hopewell senior defenseman and alternate captain Michael Cowhey said he and fellow teammates thought up the idea for the fundraiser with his brother Jeffrey Cowhey, Jr. in mind. His brother is scheduled to graduate Marine basic training in March.
"Since it's our last year of high school, the senior varsity hockey players wanted to do something as a team for the community," Michael Cowhey said. "My older brother, also a hockey player, is about to begin military service in the Marines. To honor him and the other servicemen and women of Hopewell Valley, we came up with this idea."
The boys' mother Mary Ellen Cowhey said aside from helping with ticket sales and donating camouflage hockey uniforms for Saturday's game, her son Michael Cowhey basically did it all.
"Michael is really the one who took control of this event along with some guidance from his dad (Jeffrey Cowhey)," Mary Ellen Cowhey said.
Michael Cowhey's father Jeffrey Cowhey said his son sparked the idea for the fundraiser after a team challenge by the high school's hockey coach Bob Gialanella - a retired U.S. Navy officer.
"Gialanella challenged the team to consider ways to 'give back' to the community," Jeffrey Cowhey said. "Michael has always looked up to his athletic older brother. With Jeffrey very recently embarked to Parris Island (the South Carolina Marine Corps station), Michael suggested to his coach that a Salute to Service would be a worthy objective for the team."
He said both his sons began playing hockey at 4 years old with the Princeton Youth Hockey Association. Jeffrey Cowhey, Jr. played for the The Hun School of Princeton's varsity ice hockey team until he transferred to a private high school in Florida, where he graduated.
When Jeffrey Cowhey, Jr., graduated he originally attended Florida Atlantic University. After two years he decided to enlist in the Marines, his father said.
A young version of Michael Cowhey (left) and Jeffrey Cowhey, Jr. (Right). Michael Cowhey plans to attend the College of Charleston in South Carolina in the fall and pursue a degree in accounting.
Special guests at Saturday's will include Capt. Thomas Dickinson, a commanding officer for the U.S. Navy and winner of the Admiral Stockdale Award for the Atlantic Fleet.
Gialanella - who was in the Navy from 1999 to 2005 - served alongside Dickinson and helped get him to the event.
"The Bulldog hockey family is proud to honor our veterans and active duty military personnel," Gialanella said. "We are excited to turn this into an annual event."
"Salute to Service" will be held at Loucks Ice Center at The Lawrenceville School in Lawrence. Tickets can be purchased for $10 at the door or by emailing Mary Ellen Cowhey at jcowhey201@aol.com. A t-shirt comes with the ticket. Donations will be accepted.
Lindsay Rittenhouse may be reached at lrittenhouse@njadvancemedia.com. Find NJ.com on Facebook.