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Buddy Check Week

Hockey Manitoba is proud to once again bring an incredible and SIMPLE mental health initiative called Buddy Check for Jesse to all of our U11, U13, U15, and U18 teams from January 24th, 2025 to February 2nd, 2025.

Buddy Check for Jesse Week
January 24 - February 2, 2025 

Hockey Manitoba is proud to once again bring an incredible and SIMPLE mental health initiative called Buddy Check for Jesse to all of our U11, U13, U15, and U18 teams from January 24th, 2025 to February 2nd, 2025.

Our Buddy Check for Jesse event last year was very well received and we are looking forward to even more of our youth athletes receiving the Buddy Check message this year through their coach. 

Distribution of Buddy Check for Jesse Packages

This year, Hockey Manitoba will be sending out Buddy Check for Jesse packages to our Minor Hockey Associations throughout the province. All U11, U13, U15, and U18 teams in Manitoba will receive a package from their Minor Hockey Association that includes rolls of green tape (green is the colour of mental health), phone/laptop stickers, Buddy cards (Bag tags for U11 and U13) and sample coach chats. These packages will arrive at your Minor Hockey Association by early - mid January.

Please note: We will be sending a shipment of packages to each Minor Hockey Association to the primary mailing addresses that were supplied to Hockey Manitoba at the beginning of the 2024 - 2025 season. Packages should then be distributed to each U11, U13, U15, and U18 team in early January 2025 to mid January 2025. Each team’s coaches should review the material within each package. In addition to the Buddy Check for Jesse swag for your athletes, there are Coaches Notes that provide a bit of a guideline of what to say and what to talk about during your Buddy Check talk.

Coaches: You do NOT need to be mental health experts to give this talk, you simply need to provide a safe space for your players and open up the conversation around mental health and what it means to support one another both on and of the ice. You have resources to help you and please feel free to review the website!

Please consider this email as a starting point in organizing our Buddy Check for Jesse Events, taking place from January 24 - February 2, 2025.

Each Minor Hockey Association will help:

  • Ensure information about Buddy Check and all that is involved is disseminated to the correct team managers/coaches;
  • Connect with the Managers of each team involved in the Buddy Check event to ensure the coaches and parents are aware of their Buddy Check Event (further emails coming…)
  • Help with Buddy Check package distribution,
  • Remind the teams to upload photos highlighting green tape and unity, tagging @buddycheckforjesse, using our hashtag #BuddyCheckForJesse, and/or send images via email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.


Additional swag, including lanyards, accessory bags, t-shirts and hoodies are available for purchase through the Buddy Check website. All proceeds go right back into Buddy Check so your donations truly are of the “Pay it Forward” sense.

Green is the color for mental health, so we want to encourage the players of the teams receiving the Buddy Check Talk to tape their sticks green in support of mental health.

Coaches: The coach message is quite easy to deliver. You can read the chat, and/or add in whatever you want. As a Youth leader, almost anything you say can make a difference to your player. You are not expected to be a mental health professional. Please review the material and website. It is pretty simple to deliver a chat to your players.

Again, Hockey Manitoba will be hosting all Buddy Check for Jesse Events between January 24 - February 2, 2025. Coaches and Managers can decide to have their Buddy Check talk with their team prior to, or after a game, or during any practice during those weeks.

REMEMBER, this email is a preliminary email letting you know that the Buddy Check Event will be happening in January and February of 2025. Please share this information with your entire Minor Hockey Association (best done through the team managers) and all U 11, U13, U15 and U18 teams.

About Buddy Check for Jesse

Buddy Check for Jesse was created by Dr. Stu Gershman, a BC Hockey parent, who tragically lost his son, Jesse, to suicide on October 29, 2014.

The Buddy Check for Jesse program was developed for hockey coaches to deliver an important message (www.buddycheckforjesse.com/coaches-notes) about mental health and compassion to their teams. It began with Jesse's dad, Stu Gershman, wanting to help his other two boys feel supported by their teammates, take action to create awareness of mental health challenges, and to be aware that a "team" can be more than just a group on the ice.

Stu believes that coaches are in a unique position to share this positive message to help raise awareness that mental health issues can affect anyone. The goal of Buddy Check for Jesse is to destigmatize mental health challenges and to empower and encourage youth and young adults to support a teammate, friend or family member who is struggling.

Helping our youth realize that mental health challenges are often invisible, should never be judged, and that kindness and compassion are extremely helpful is a valuable message to receive at their age.

Jesse’s family hopes that through creating this program in Jesse's honour, it will help other youth and families.

For more info on the Buddy Check program, please go to www.BuddyCheckForJesse.com.