GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — While the football teams for Michigan and Michigan State played at Spartan Stadium Saturday night, Michigan State Police (MSP) again faced off against the Grand Rapids Police Department (GRPD) in a charity hockey game.
"It's not a rivalry because we’ve never won," GRPD Officer Richie Lee said. "I wanted to close game, a good battle."
To that extent, Lee got what he wanted, with his team losing 3-2 in back-and-forth game where it never trailed by more than one score.
“That's the one thing I always tell the guys in the locker room," MSP Trooper Joe Bozek said. "Grand Rapids is not going to give up. They're going to fight till the end."
The defenseman from MSP's Grand Rapids post plays a key part in organizing the friendly game, annually picking a new charitable cause.
This year, the dollars raised from donations and a multi-item raffle will pay for the medical bills of a state sergeant’s 14-year-old daughter diagnosed with cancer.
"Her response was, 'If there's someone else who needs it more, donate it to them," Bozek said, recalling the time he approached the daughter about the holding the fundraiser in her name. "That right there solidified it to me, 'No, it's coming to you.'"
For another year, the teams also took the ice in honor of Trooper Tim O’Neill. The 28-year-old died in 2017 when he was hit by a car while on patrol.
"It hurts for me knowing we lost him all those years ago," said Lee, who grew up in the same hometown as O'Neill.
The fallen trooper's former roommate still skates with MSP, and his fiancée "sends donations and stuff" to the department.
“It's about keeping his memory alive and supporting a good cause in his name,” Bozek said..
"This is more of a big team, yellow versus blue," Lee said. "We're all together."
