Our History
In 2011, a group of volunteers created an adult hockey tournament that started with 4 local teams and approximately 60 participants. The organizers and team captains agreed that the tournament should be a charity event to support the Ronald McDonald House of the Capital Region. In its first year, the Capital Cup for Kids family raised over $7,000.
In 2012 the event was moved to Troy’s Knickerbocker Arena and expanded to eight teams and 120 players. A lofty goal of $20,000 was set. Event organizers dedicated the event to the expansion project that was just underway at the House. Thanks to a challenge grant, each dollar raised by Capital Cup participants was matched by Cohoes, NY based charity Building on Love. All told over $27,000 was raised. With the match funds included, the event raised over $54,000 towards the expansion project.
In 2013, organizers added another four teams, bringing the total number of teams to 12 and participant total to 180. The 2013 Capital Cup for Kids benefited RMHC’s Families First Fund. This fund is dedicated to providing direct support to the children/families that utilize the Ronald McDonald House of Albany, Ronald McDonald Family Room in the Children’s Hospital at Albany Medical Center and the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile program operated in partnership with St. Peter’s Health Care Services. Each team was assigned a past or current Ronald McDonald House child to serve as their honorary captain.
In 2014, two additional teams were added, and we divided the teams into a Master’s Flight of four teams (age 50+) and an Adult B Flight consisting of eight teams. Once again, the event benefited our Families First and Share A Night Fund and each team played for an honorary captain.
2015 once again brought an expanded event, with two additional teams added. Dozens of RMH kids and their families visited the participants and our community rallied once again, raising over $80,000.
2016 once again featured 16 teams and raised nearly $100,000! In what is considered the best moment in Cap Cup history, the captains got together and made it possible for a bone marrow donor from Florida to meet the 5-year-old boy he helped save at the event!
2017 set a new fundraising record of $124,000 and saw an expanded Family Day on Saturday with on-site catering, fun and games for kids and a record number of Honorary Captain visits! Incredibly, one of our Honorary Captains was able to text with Pittsburgh Penguins Captain and NHL legend Sidney Crosby during a game!
Our 2018 event was moved back to our original home - Albany County Hockey Facility and featured 20 teams and raised an incredible $164,000! 19 out of 20 Honorary Captains were able to visit their teams. The Lewis Family made a generous donation to the Ronald McDonald House in Saskatchewan, Canada who was supporting victims of the Humboldt Broncos tragic bus accident in honor of their son Tommy and the Cap Cup Family. Additional fundraising also took place in support of the Broncos.
2019 brought even more excitement and success on and off the ice. 23 teams took the ice and raised and incredible $222,000 bringing the total amount raises since inception to $840,000. Family Fun Day featured a synthetic rink for our guests to enjoy courtesy of CanIce and a huge sand sculpture in honor of our 10th Anniversary.
2020 was to be the best yet! We moved to a bigger facility with two sheets of ice and expanded to 26 teams. The teams set a goal of cracking the $1,000,000 total raised amount. And then - Covid-19 hit! With no hockey allowed, the teams agreed to press on with their fundraising efforts and will continue their work to support great local organizations. Ultimately, the players donated enough funds to fund a Make-A-Wish for a local child and to fund two Building on Love Family Grants (and cover all of the expenses incurred prior to cancelation) bringing their total funds raised to $875,000.
Though the covid-19 pandemic put the tourney on ice in 2020 and 2021, we picked up where we left off in 2022 raising over $165,000 in support of Building on Love, Inc., Make-A-Wish Northeast NY, and Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Capital Region. Highlights of the tourney included 4 very special people being entered into The Capital Cup for Kids Hall of Fame. Billy Hollister and Kevin Kennedy were enshrined as founding members/supporters while legendary honorary captains Eva Scotto and Zach Lamont also had their names etched on the Cup.
In 2023 Capital Cup for Kids became a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to connecting athletes of all ages to community service and the spirit of giving in the greater Capital Region of New York.
A new record fundraising total of $233,951 was raised by the 436 hockey players who made up our 26 teams. They had help from over 40 mites who took part in our first annual Mites Mania event. These future Cap Cuppers raised over $3,000 in support of a local child battling leukemia!
2023 also welcomed our Lexus as our presenting national sponsor; a first for this event!
The world's premiere hockey podcast - Spittin' Chiclets featured the event on a broadcast and donated a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be interviewed on the podcast to the auction.
Perhaps the biggest highlight of 2023 was the inclusion of Stride’s Capital District Sled Hockey Warriors program. Not only did the event raise funds to help them grow their youth sled hockey program, it allowed one of our legendary Honorary Captain, Lyle Joiner and longtime players, participants and captains Pat Valiquette and Andy Rosen were elected into our Hall of Fame. Later in 2023, The ZamboniKids raised additional funds to ensure Lyle had all of the gear he would need to play sled hockey.
Incredibly, 25 of our 26 honorary captains were able to attend and meet their teams – a new record! The teams also rallied around Anna’s Sunflower Warriors and donated thousands of dollars in wish list items and gift cards to be shared with kids in the hospital across upstate New York.
Once again, Make-A-Wish of Northeast NY and our friends at Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Capital Region also benefited from the event.
2024 was a year to remember! We launched our first ever Capital Cup for Kids Pickleball Winter Classic at True Pickleball in Latham, NY. The January event featured four open divisions including an 18+ mixed division, 50+ mixed division, 18+ women’s division and an 18+ men’s division. We registered a 192 players, had a silent auction, raffle and raised 12,000 dollars for local kids and their families. It was a blast!
The 2024 Capital Cup for Kids hockey tournament was once again a tremendous success! The 24 teams and 400+ hockey players raised $226,071! We kicked off the tournament with the 2nd Annual Mites Mania tournament who raised $2585 for the cause. Our family day included visits from all 24 honorary captains, video game truck, face painting and a day full of great hockey across our A, B, C, and Masters divisions. Honorary Captain, Lyle Joiner and longtime player, participant and captain Pat Valiquette were elected into our Hall of Fame.
We also welcomed back Lexus as our presenting national sponsor and once again, we partnered with the incredible people at Building On Love to help support our friends at Make-A-Wish of Northeast NY and our friends at the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Capital Region.