Charity hockey game scheduled to help find Brendan Santo

ROCHESTER, Mich. (WILX) - As part of the continuing effort to find missing teen Brendan Santo, his former hockey team is holding a charity game in his hometown of Rochester.

The 18-year-old Grand Valley State University student was last seen on Oct. 29 leaving MSU’s Yakeley Hall. He was on campus to visit friends ahead of the Michigan-Michigan State football game.

Brendan played defense for Rochester United, a team made up of players from both Rochester Adams and Rochester High Schools, when he attended Adams. Each winter break, alumni players from the team return to Rochester to play a friendly game with current United players.

This year, Brendan would have been on the alumni side of the faceoff circle.

Head coach Austin Grzenia and team captain Shane Arbour came up with the idea of making this year’s matchup a way to raise awareness for the search for Brendan.

The game is being held to raise money for the GoFundMe set up to help with the search. There will be “missing person” flyers with pre-stamped envelopes available for those in attendance to take and share across the country. Attendees can also participate in a 50-50 raffle.

Jack Meyers played both hockey and lacrosse with Brendan.

“He was kinda a funny guy,” Jack said. “He liked to joke around and have fun. He was a fun guy to be around.”

Jack was one of many friends and teammates that traveled to MSU to help search for Brendan after he was reported missing.

“The campus seemed kinda dead and there wasn’t a lot of people walking around when we were looking,” Jack said. “It was just very eerie.”

Throughout this season, the team has collected money at every home game. Those funds went to the GoFundMe created to help in the search for Santo.

Jack’s mother Terri said the community is helping Brendan’s family.

“As a parent, I cannot even imagine what the Santo family is feeling,” Terri said. “We, as a community, have some very active hockey moms that are constantly looking for clues and leads. In the Rochester community, a lot of parents have been leading initiatives whether assisting people searching, printing flyers. As a parent, we want Brendan home.”

“We miss him,” Jack said. “We just want him to come home. We really miss him a lot.”

Game details

Admission is free as donations are being encouraged. All money raised will go to the Gofundme. Those in attendance are encouraged to wear blue, one of the colors for the Rochester United team.

The game will be held Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. at Suburban Ice Rochester. Suburban Ice (formerly known as Onyx Ice Arena) is located at 52999 Dequindre Road, Rochester, MI 48307.

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