MONROE — A youth-led charity event returns to SLICE on March 12. The Move It Forward organization is holding its third annual charity hockey tournament, with all proceeds going to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Green County.

“We kind of know what we’re doing now,” said Ethan Rosenstiel, Monroe sophomore and event organizer. “With our summer event, we’ll see how much it will grow. We’re getting more people interested.”

The event began two years ago, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rosenstiel and his fellow organizers made multiple changes in format last year. This time around, Rosenstiel said organizers are planning to bring back some of the popular items and events of the day, as well as adjust the format of the hockey played on the ice.

Instead of one game on the big sheet, the rink will be split in two, with multiple games of 3-on-3 going at once. Rosenstiel said that instead of two sizable teams playing one 5-on-5 game, dropping to 3-on-3 can allow for five or six teams to participate. Players are all teenagers and play either Bantams or high school level — which is generally grades 8-12, though a few seventh grades will be participating, Rosenstiel said.

The pregame party begins at 10:30 a.m. with a tailgate in the parking lot — weather permitting. The opening ceremony will take place at noon, with several games taking place on the ice. Side features between games include raffle baskets and a 50/50 raffle, a Lady’s Longshot contest, Chuck-A-Puck, Little Man Relay, a bake sale and more. Rosenstiel expects the festivities to be over by 5 p.m. 

Donations are still being collected for the bake sale (March 10 deadline) and gift baskets (March 8). Sponsorship donations ended March 4, though donations will still be accepted through the event.

Move It Forward has been raising money all year for the project and has found great success gathering donations throughout the community. In past years, the event had about two or three individual donations of about $500. This year, that number was already to five before the end of February.

“Our community is awesome with their support,” Rosenstiel said. “Even complete strangers, for them to give money to a high school kid and trust me to give it to Big Brothers Big Sisters, it means a lot.”

This year, he and his fellow organizers — who are also his classmates — decided to go about reaching out to businesses for donations different. Rosenstiel said they opened up Google Maps, zoomed into Monroe, and contacted any business that was listed.

“We got a lot of new ones this year,” Rosenstiel said.

The committee for the event includes all Monroe High School sophomores — Rosenstiel, Taylor Herbst, Ryan Mathiason, Kate Kundert, Abby Grossen, Katrina Sathoff and Lizzy Boll.

“Some parents help us at the event, but the planning is all done by us,” Rosenstiel said.