The fourth annual Lila Sigal Marathon Hockey Tournament in support of the McGill Cancer Nutrition – Rehabilitation Program (CNRP) at the Sir Mortimer B. Davis – Jewish General Hospital moved to Côte Saint-Luc this year and our very own Samuel Moskovitch Arena on Saturday, September 13, 2008. Forty-four players participated in this non-stop tournament, with each player raising a minimum of $1,000. More than $60,000 in total was raised.

This year’s tournament consisted of four teams of 12 players, with each team playing either four or five games during the day – a real marathon as all players were on the ice for over half the day.

All teams played one game against each of the other teams, with semi-final playoff games based on round robin seedings. A major highlight this year was the presence of the Montreal Juniors of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. They held a public practice at the arena, followed by a father/child skate with the players. Farrel Miller, who co-chairs the tournament with David Sigal, owns the Juniors. The duo  pictured here (David on the left and Farrel on the right)  came up with the idea for the event to honour the memory of David’s mother, the late Lila Sigal, who passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2004. What better way to celebrate her legacy than by raising funds and awareness for the McGill Cancer Nutrition – Rehabilitation Program, located at the Jewish General Hospital!

The McGill Cancer Nutrition – Rehabilitation Program (CNRP) is a key component of the JGH’s Segal Cancer Centre program. The CNRP provides patients experiencing cancer related nutrition problems with a coordinated approach that combines nutritional assessment, counselling, and exercise programs with therapies that directly attack the tumour and provide pain and symptom management. If left untreated, nutritional problems associated with cancer can lead to progressive wasting, weakness, debilitation, compromised immune function, potential therapy intolerance, and even death. Certain forms of cancer common to Quebec, most notably advanced lung and gastrointestinal cancer, are associated with weight loss that usually begins at the onset of disease and progresses throughout the course of illness, making this centre all the more important to Quebecers.

Since 1934, the Sir Mortimer B. Davis - Jewish General Hospital, a 637-bed McGill University teaching hospital, has provided "Care for All," serving patients of diverse religious, linguistic and cultural backgrounds from Montreal, throughout Quebec and beyond. As one of the province’s leading acute-care hospitals, the JGH has earned a reputation for excellence, continually expanding and upgrading its treatment and teaching programs as well as leading research programs underway at the hospital’s Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Quebec’s second largest biomedical research centre. For more, please visit

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