Soon, Ben Chiarot will be entering his second season on the defense for the Detroit Red Wings. Recently, he was completing his second year as co-chair of the Scotland’s Yard road hockey classic.
The event was launched in July of 2022 with an objective of raising funds for pediatric care in the Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario region. It draws its name from Scottie, the young daughter of organizers Brian Santos and Joy Stewart, who is a cancer survivor. The objective is to raise $50 million over the next 10 years to support Grand River Hospital and its pediatric cancer programs via the tournament and other fundraising initiatives.
Chiarot and his wife Jacqueline are both driving forces behind the event. The Chiarots are close friends with Scottie’s family. Over $300,000 was raised during the tournament’s first year. Chiarot played his junior hockey nearby with the OHL’s Guelph Storm.
“Currently there are 200 kids that live in Waterloo Region that are traveling elsewhere for treatments, specifically because it’s not a type of chemo that they can receive here,” Jacqueline Chiarot told Hockey Canada. “The end goal is to have a center in K-W so that the families don’t have to travel to get their children treatment. They can stay at home.”
Other NHLers who’ve participated in the event include Nathan Bastian, Mike Hoffman, Steven Lorentz, Logan Stanley and Boris Katchouk. Sami Jo Small, gold medal-winning goalie for Canada’s women’s Olympic team, also took part.
Cause Hitting Close To Home For Chiarot
Every family’s life will be impacted at some point by cancer and the Chiarots are no different. Ben’s father Matt Chiarot is also currently battling cancer. A high school teacher in Hamilton, Ontario and a former OUA football player with the Western Mustangs, has been diagnosed with metastatic melanoma. It’s a form of cancer which spreads from an original tumor and starts new tumors in other areas of the body.
“I’m still going through treatments right now,” Matt Chiarot told the Hamilton Spectator. “They can never cure it, but hopefully they can extend me.”
Recently, Chiarot’s younger brother Austin, also a defenseman, made a commitment to play OUA hockey in 2023-24 across the Canada-USA border from Detroit with the Windsor Lancers.
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