When it comes to hockey in New York City, it’s not easy to upstage the great Mark Messier. Ask any loyal Rangers fan who fondly remembers the captain bringing home the City’s first Stanley Cup in 54 years back in 1994 and they’d say it’s virtually impossible.

But that’s exactly what happened when 16-year-old Alejandro Jimenez-Halperin stepped onto the dais at the Pier 60 event center and recounted his own personal hockey journey.

Speaking in front of a packed room of 400 guests, including hockey dignitaries such as Messier’s former teammate Mike Richter, the teen from East Harlem put a face and personal story to the evening’s mission, which was to raise scholarship money for local youngsters to skate in a Chelsea Piers program.

Jimenez-Halperin started playing hockey as a 5-year-old on a non-competitive team. By the time he turned 10 he was ready for something more and enrolled in a spring league at Chelsea Piers, where his coaches quickly took a liking to his personality and passion for the game. He and his younger brother would eventually earn scholarships and roster spots with the Cyclones, which is the rink’s house program.

“Hockey is such an important part of my life. I still get the same sense of exhilaration every time I step on the ice,” he told the crowd. “I want to bring that sense of exhilaration with me all the way until I can’t skate anymore … until my knees are too achy and my back is too sore.”

Before that day comes he plans to take hockey as far as he can, including all the way to college where he hopes to become a surgeon.

“It’s so funny that with the star power that was in the room, like Messier, who everyone was fawning over. And then after Alejandro got up there and delivered his speech, the rest of the night, every single person who got up to speak after him was scared because they had to follow a 16-year-old,” said Alexander McKhann, the executive director of the Chelsea Piers Foundation.

That included the former N.Y. Rangers captain and six-time Stanley Cup champion, who received the Chelsea Piers Foundation Leadership Award for his contributions to the sport of hockey in New York City in addition to his outreach work through his own foundation. 

There’s no shortage of stories like Alejandro’s, thanks to the Chelsea Piers Foundation. Between hockey and other sports, the foundation awards around $900,000 a year in scholarships to more than 600 kids. Each table at this year’s event was adorned with a hand-written note from one of the hundreds of youngsters who have benefitted from the foundation and the generosity and support of so many. 

The money raised at this year’s event topped $800,000, with the majority coming from ticket sales and sponsorships, including platinum sponsors VICI Properties and JP Morgan Chase. Among those who helped support this year’s event was the NHL and the NHL Foundation. The Rangers joined with other N.Y. sports teams to donate signed merchandise for a silent auction. 

As it celebrates its 30th anniversary, Chelsea Piers has become a cultural institution in the Big Apple. As McKhann pointed out, almost every family in the City, whether they played on a team, took part in a camp or just attended a birthday party, has a memory of Chelsea Piers in some regard. And the goal for the Chelsea Piers Foundation is to make sure that it is as accessible as possible. 

“We want to make sure that while we are excelling to the highest limits that these sports can offer, we are also making sure that it’s not just the wealthiest kids in the city that can afford that because it makes everybody a better player having people from different backgrounds and diverse origins,” McKhann said.

“That’s what the funds are doing. These scholarship funds are meant to break down those barriers and provide opportunities that might not otherwise be available, and the results speak for themselves. These kids are going on to higher education when they might not have otherwise.”

And while many in the room came to listen to one of the giants in the game, they each left with a newfound appreciation for what their support can mean for the next generation of hockey players. 

“To have an evening like this where you see someone who is just starting out on their journey, like Alejandro and his fire is burning for it and then have that directly juxtaposed to Messier and see someone who’s hit the highest levels of the sport and still has that same vigor and passion for it is what really made the night so special,” McKhann said. 

“For a lot of folks getting the opportunity to see that full circle moment from the very beginning to the very end is what made it so powerful, and I think is what made people raise their paddles to pledge $90,000 in the last 10 minutes of the night.”

To learn more about the program or to donate go to chelseapiersfoundation.org.