Statesmen Raises $4,800 for Injured Hockey Player

GENESEO – The Statesmen bar and nightclub on Court Street raised $4,800 late Saturday night to a fundraising page for Jason ‘Jay’ Stephanik, the SUNY Geneseo hockey player who was hospitalized with a traumatic head injury after a skateboarding accident.

According to Corinne Green, manager of the Statemen, a combination of the bar’s drink sales, raffle ticket sales and cover sales from 11 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. were given as a charitable donation to Stephanik’s GoFundMe page to support his medical bills. The GoFundMe page says that Stephanik is still working on improving his walking and talking at Strong Memorial Hospital.

“We do see the hockey team often and they are friends of the bar,” said Green. “We care about every single student that walks through our doors. The fundraiser was supposed to only be from 11 to 12 a.m., but we were so inspired by the showing that we extended the night by an extra half hour. Everyone was having such a good time.”

The Statesmen posted to their Facebook page that from midnight to 12:30 Sunday morning, they were able to nearly double their efforts.

The Statesmen fundraiser also included raffle prizes from Mama Mia’s, Pizza Paul’s, University Hots, Sweet Arts Bakery in Geneseo, the Village Tavern, the Village Cafe, Nothnagle Realty, Premium Mortgage, Max Ink Tattoos & Piercings, and the 3-Legged Pig.

The GoFundMe page has now raised $37,535, vastly surpassing its original goal of $25,000. The goal has since been raised to $35,000 and surpassed again.

“We have almost reached our goal in a little over 24 hours of fundraising,” posted an update to the GoFundMe page. “But why stop there? Jay and his family need all the support they can get so were raising the goal! Keep Jason in your thoughts and prayers!”

The hockey team also had t-shirts and bracelets made in support of Jay, which were worn at Friday night’s home game.

Stephanik was hospitalized with a head injury on Oct. 28, with no apparent cause. Geneseo Police found that Stephanik had been the subject of an ambulance call on Oct. 25, where he fell from a skateboard on Center Street and refused treatment.

Stephanik has a fractured skull and his frontal lobe was bleeding after the accident.