Five Hole For Hood is rolling across Canada and on its way to Vancouver, where the cross-country food-raising street hockey tournament will make its final stop on July 20.
It's a month-long, uber-Canadian road trip and summer festival that aims to cure hunger and hockey madness, and the rules are simple: bring a can of food, and play some hockey.
This year's Five Hole blitz started on July 3 in St. John's, Newfoundland, and has worked its way West. It's holding one of its biggest events today, July 9, at Montreal's Place du Canada. The tour heads to Ottawa tomorrow, then to Toronto's YD Square (July 11), and makes two B.C. stops at the end of its run – July 19th at Victoria's Saanich Plaza, and the following day on Granville Street in Vancouver.
"We shut down (Granville) Street and we had three rinks set up," said Richard Loat, the founder of Five Hole For Food, last fall. "We just invite all of Vancouver to come out and play hockey."
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Loat, a North Vancouver kid and SFU graduate, started Five Hole For Food with his crew of friends and fans in March, 2010, just after the conclusion of Vancouver's Winter Olympics.
The first Five Hole event was held in L'Ile-Perrot, Quebec, in 2010, and the game raised over 200 pounds of food from 40 players. The first event lasted 11 days and ended in Vancouver, with a final game that raised 3,000 pounds of food on its own.
In 2013, Five Hole For Food raised a total of 133,000 pounds of food, including 43,000 pounds in Vancouver alone.
To date, FHFF has raised over 200,000 pounds of food in three years.
All donations go to local food banks around Canada.
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*Check out FHFF's videos below, starting with its 2013 preview video and then three action vids from the Maritimes: St. John's, Halifax, and Charlottetown...