Canton Hockey Team to Host 9/11 Commemorative Game at Compuware Arena

For Canton resident , the 10th anniversary of 9/11 is not merely a day that he will passingly recognize. For the better part of the last year, he has been pouring every ounce of his time and strength into an event that means much more to him than just recognition and remembrance.

Fowler is the captain of the , who will host its 10th annual 9/11 Remembrance Hockey Game at on Saturday. The event will honor those who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks, as well as their friends and family. The game also aims to recognize the heroic efforts of the nation’s police and firefighters, as well as its armed forces.

“It’s a great sport, and it’s a great event,” he said. “I am excited that I am able to use a vehicle I love — hockey — to give back to those who really need it.”

The game will begin at 5 p.m. with a ceremonial puck drop, and run for two 45-minute periods. In between the periods, the two teams will come together with various members of local fire and police departments for a center-ice, honorary ceremony. There also will be several special guest appearances at the game by local celebrities, including former Detroit Red Wing Joe Kocur, who will skate with the Detroit Moose as they take on the Ameriprise Financial Hockey Club. NHL veteran Wayne Presley, a Dearborn native, will join Ameriprise's squad.

In 2002, Fowler hosted a charity hockey game for the children of victims of 9/11 at the (the DISC), in which he raised over $37,000. His inspiration were two close friends he lost in the terrorist attacks, friends he had had since he was a kid growing up on Long Island. The losses had a tremendous effect on him, and rather than trying to make sense of it, he sprung to action.

“They never made it out,” he said of his two friends, Dennis Buckley and Glen Wall, who worked for a stock brokerage firm in the World Trade Center. “They worked on one of the top floors. Nobody knows what happened to them. The uncertainty of it all, the not knowing, is what makes it so tough. But I guess we’ll never know.”

He was so impressed with the turnout at his charity hockey game, and so surprised with the success of it, that he decided he needed to do more. Immediately following the game, he set out to create a hockey team of his own. Fowler organized the Detroit Moose shortly thereafter, with the intention of using it as a platform to carry on the good will he was able to produce with his 9/11 charity hockey game.

To this end, the team either participates in or hosts various charitable endeavors annually, such as , which took place Aug. 6, or the team’s annual game against the Detroit Red Wings alumni, set to take place this season on Jan. 11 at the in Canton (5–7 p.m.), which will aim to raise funds and awareness for juvenile diabetes.

He chooses the team’s members very carefully, as a result of his dedication. His motto “Don’t wait until tomorrow to make a difference today” is one that he expects every player to embrace 100 percent, on and off the ice. It’s a standard that he will not compromise, one his players have not only come to respect — but live themselves.

“If you think you’ve had a bad day, try missing one,” he said. “That’s the mindset I try and instill in my players, and also strive to live by myself.”

Editor’s note: Writer Sean Flynn’s brother, Brian Flynn, has recently joined the Detroit Moose Hockey Club. Both Flynns have several very close friends on the team, including Derek Fowler.