OHL goaltender using every save to give back

Kitchener Rangers goaltender Jacob Ingham is making every save this season count in more ways than one.

The veteran Ontario Hockey League netminder, whose mother Rhonda is a Sault native, is giving back as he and his family are donating $5 from every save he makes to Canadian Blood Services.

The donation is being matched as the Rangers are donating $5 per save as well.

“We’ve already surpassed $10,000, which is pretty incredible,” Ingham said.

The campaign, which began last season while Ingham was with the Mississauga Steelheads, came after his grandparents were in a car accident in 2018.

As a part of their recovery, a number of blood transfusions were necessary.

"It was kind of a long process after (the crash)," Ingham said in an interview with KitchenerToday about the campaign. "We really focused on getting them help, and kind of getting them the recovery and the rehab that they needed. Credit to my dad and my aunt, they did a lot and helping get them back where they needed to be and getting them stable."

"And (also) credit to (my grandparents), just kind of finding a routine and getting back to normal life after that accident, which was pretty severe for them."

The Los Angeles Kings prospect, who still has family in Sault Ste. Marie, has joined forces with Hockey Gives Blood prior to last season and in the first year of the campaign, Ingham raised just over $5,500 for Canadian Blood Services.

“It’s been amazing,” Ingham said of the second year of the campaign in which they also teamed up on a 68-day blood drive in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. “It’s incredible to see how many lives they’ve saved.”

The blood drive is well underway and is running until the end of March.