MEDIA/PHOTO ADVISORY

DON CHERRY BECOMES FIRST CANADIAN TO TOUCH THE LUCKY LOONIE FOR LUCK IN

ƒ Don Cherry will remove the protective casing from the Lucky Loonie, giving all Canadians a chance to touch the talisman and generate good luck prior to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games

ƒ Cherry will be the first Canadian to offer support to the Canadian Men’s and Women’s 2010 Olympic Ice Hockey teams by touching the Lucky Loonie, and will be available to media

The Lucky Loonie was buried surreptitiously by Canadian ice-maker Trent Evans at centre ice before the men and women’s 2002 Olympic Ice Hockey tournaments in Salt Lake City. After Team ’s second hockey Gold Medal victory, the Lucky Loonie was dug up and presented to Team Canada General Manager . Gretzky then donated the Lucky Loonie to the in , where it is currently on display in the Hockey Hall of Fame’s World of Hockey Zone. It sits beside the new “Complete Olympic Medals Collection” exhibit which features every medal from every winter and summer Olympic Games since 1896. This collection is on exclusive loan from the IOC Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland and is the first time the collection has left Europe.

For the month of February only, visitors to the Hall will be allowed to directly touch the Loonie for luck and to help bring hockey gold back to Canada.

WHO: ƒ Don Cherry, Coach’s Corner, Hockey Night in Canada ƒ Phil Pritchard, Curator, Hockey Hall of Fame

WHEN: 10:00 a.m., Monday, February 1, 2010

WHERE: Hockey Hall of Fame – World of Hockey Zone Brookfield Place, 30 Yonge Street, Toronto

For further information: Kelly Masse Hockey Hall of Fame (416) 933-8212 [email protected]