The Anaheim Ducks will conduct Military Appreciation Night at tonight’s game against the Edmonton Oilers at Honda Center, paying tribute to area military members and their families and assisting two military- related nonprofit organizations.
Ducks players will wear camouflage jerseys during pregame warmups. The jerseys will be autographed after the game and made available in an online auction at AnaheimDucks.com/auction.
Four members of the U.S. Army will rappel from the rafters to join a bomb-detecting robot from the National Guard’s 9th Civil Support Team that will participate in the honorary first puck drop.
U.S. Army Master Sgt. Elisha Hubbard will be honored in a pregame ceremony as a community hero. Hubbard has served multiple deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq as a member of the 670th Military Police Company.
During the game, former U.S. Army Sgt. Kenn Miller will receive the Salute to Those Who Served Award. Miller served in Vietnam from 1967-69 with all three of the Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol and Ranger units attached to the 101st Airborne.
A puck-shooting contest involving all the military branches — Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and National Guard — will be held during the first intermission. All fans in attendance will receive an American flag.
Nonperishable food items will be collected for Veterans First, an Orange County-based organization that provides services to the region’s homeless and at-risk veterans. The Ducks are encouraging fans to bring canned and nonperishable food items to the Ducks in the Community booth at the southwest and northeast entrances beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Military Appreciation Night will also seek to raise awareness for Defending the Blue Line, which provides free hockey equipment to children of military members, hockey camps, special events and financial assistance for registration fees and other costs associated with hockey.
