The Humboldt Broncos and Hockey Gives Blood will be joining forces once again and calling on citizens to register for Stem Cell swabbings.  

Hockey Gives Blood is coming to town for Game 4 of the Broncos playoff series with the Estevan Bruins on March 19th in support of former Humboldt Bronco player Jamie Ficko and other patients who are currently searching for a match. They are asking all males between the age of 17 and 35 to come out and get swabbed and join the Canadian Blood Services Stem Cell Registry.

"The Humboldt Broncos and Hockey Gives Blood are setting up a swabbing station in support of Jamie Ficko and also others that are dealing with a similar fight. We want to raise awareness and get as many folks as we can into the international registry with the hopes of finding matches for people. Its an initiative that hits close to home for us in the Broncos family, " said Humboldt Broncos Vice President Maury Simoneau.

Jamie Ficko is a Humboldt resident, a former Humboldt Bronco, and a father of three who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Jamie is one of over 1000 patients in Canada who currently can't find a 100% match in the International Stem Cell Registry. 

"As many people know, Jamie is Humboldt Bronco alumni, he's a resident of Humboldt, and for anyone who does know him, just a terrific person. As part of the Broncos having a relationship with Jamie from the past, we thought it was important to do our part to raise awareness and get as many people on the registry as we could." 

They are currently searching for males aged 17-35 to register in the non-intrusive swabbing, which takes around 10 minutes to complete. 

"It's just a quick swab of the four quadrants of the cheek using much like a q-tip. It only takes a few minutes to do it, fill out the paperwork, and you're on your way to joining the stem cell registry," said Stu Middleton of Hockey Gives Blood. 

Hockey Gives Blood will be set up inside the EPA from 5 - 10 PM. Anyone, even if not attending the game, can head down to register, swab, and potentially down the road, save a life.