NY Lawyers To Play Hockey For Charity At UBS Arena

ELMONT, NY — New York lawyers are set to play an ice hockey match at UBS Arena on Sunday night to benefit Tunnels To Towers Foundation, according to a news release.

Plaintiff lawyers will compete against their defendant counterparts after the New York Islanders host the New Jersey Devils. The Islanders game is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. The lawyers will take the ice after.

Tickets, now sold out, were $75 and include a donation to Tunnels To Towers Foundation, a charity that helps provide mortgage-free homes to Gold Star and fallen first responder families with young children.

"As lawyers who represent victims of negligence and abuse such as the elderly and construction workers who are injured on the job, we wanted to find a way to give back to the community while having some fun and playing a sport we all love," attorney John Dalli told Patch in a statement.

The group of lawyers looked at several charities but felt Tunnel to Towers has positively impacted so many families of 9/11 victims, Dalli said.

"We wanted to honor our first responders as many of them are our clients."

The game on Sunday is the attorneys' second game. The first was held in 2019 and was paused by the coronavirus, but the group intends to resume it as an annual event, Dalli said.

"We are grateful and thankful to our sponsors and support of the New York Islanders, Lexitas (a court reporting service), and Dalli & Marino firm," he said. "We sold out our tickets this year and hope to do so next year. The response and support from the Long Island community at large has been overwhelming."

Tunnels to Towers builds specially-adapted smart homes for catastrophically injured veterans and first responders.

"We are also committed to eradicating veteran homelessness and helping America to Never Forget September 11, 2001," the foundation wrote on its website.

UBS Arena is at 2400 Hempstead Turnpike, Elmont.