We all know that Don Cameron is “the voice” of the Kitchener Rangers. But there’s another voice that’s been associated with the hockey team for 16 years now. PA announcer Dave Schneider’s voice is unmistakable at The Aud as he lets us know who scored the latest Rangers goal. While he’s relatively low key, there are a few signature calls that have defined Dave over the years. This year, without a doubt, it’s MARCANTU-OOOOO-NI!

Outside the rink, Dave is heavily involved in the community. Last fall, for the 14th year, Dave was the MC of Manulife Financial’s annual “Celebrate and Educate Italian Dinner.” The fundraiser is in memory of former Manulife Vice-President Dan Blasutti, who lost a battle to cancer in 1995. It was always Dan’s dream that cancer patients have somewhere to go for support during a very difficult time in their lives. The HopeSpring Cancer Support Centre (http://www.hopespring.ca/), on Allen Street in Waterloo, is the realization of that dream. The yearly dinner at Manulife supports HopeSpring and, in turn, keeps Dan’s dream alive.

So how do Dave Schneider and the Kitchener Rangers tie into this? Well, a few years ago Manulife executive (and Rangers season ticket holder) Mike Doughty had an idea. He thought the “auction” part of the evening could be enhanced by having Dave “announce” a Rangers goal. Mike passed the hat, so to speak, to twist Dave’s arm into making a Rangers goal announcement in exchange for the donation. The cool part about it was that the donors could ask Dave to call out any Rangers goal they could think of, so if they wanted to hear “Richards from Landeskog and Roy,” they could. That first year, Dave’s announcement raised an extra $100 for the fundraiser. And like any good idea, it grew. Attendees to this fundraiser — staged almost entirely by Manulife employees, by the way — have come to expect a “Rangers goal call” from Dave as part of the evening’s events.

Fast forward to last October’s fundraiser and Dave’s now expected goal call. Anyone who has attended a Rangers game in the past few years knows that one of Dave’s signature calls was Mike DUUUUUU-CO (his best ever?). Dave got to make that call an awful lot in 2007-08 when Duco scored 32 goals for the Rangers. And it should come as no surprise that he got to make it again during the fundraiser. Dave announced a “Rangers goal scored by #53 Jeff Skinner, assisted by #92 Gabriel Landeskog and…..#14 Mike DUUUUUUU-CO!” If you got excited about that sound at The Aud, you obviously weren’t alone. Those three names, announced by Dave at the fundraiser, brought in more than $8000! That’s not a typo. From $100 in its first year to EIGHT THOUSAND the last time around. In a word, incredible.

That’s not the only noteworthy part of the annual dinner. Manulife also auctions off its private box at The Aud. This year it went for $2500. The fundraiser this past year raised a whopping $80,000, taking the 15-year total to more than $760,000 for HopeSpring. Every year, Manulife uses the event to award three scholarships to high school students who have been personally touched by cancer. Plans are already in the works for the 16th annual “Celebrate and Educate Italian Dinner.” It’s scheduled for November of this year and it’s safe to say Dave will be back at the microphone. What combination of names will the donors come up with this time and how much will the announcement raise? No matter the outcome, it’s amazing to see this reach beyond the hockey rink and how it can help put a silver lining on an otherwise dark cloud.

So the next time you’re sitting at The Aud and you cheer wildly at Dave Schneider’s announcement of another Rangers goal, smile at the team’s success. And then smile again for HopeSpring.