Bruins Ference Lends Support to You Can Play

You Can Play’s Burke, Bruins Ference

Nowadays, one tweet can start a flutter and that’s exactly what happened for You Can Play’s (@YouCanPlayTeam) co-founder Patrick Burke (@BurkieYCP) on Monday. Burke was invited to join Boston Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference (@Ferknuckle) for a brisk 7 mile bike ride, followed by a stair run at Harvard Stadium. The stair portion of the training regime is powered by the November Project (@Nov_Project); a grassroots campaign to support one another as athletes and train for a whopping $0.

While Burke declined to bike to the event, he did offer to participate pending his Twitter followers donate $500 to You Can Play. Pledges tweeted in at a rapid rate Monday evening; raising upwards of $2,500, with a donation from Ference himself.

A man of his word, Burke took to the stadium at 6:30 am with a mixed group of previous climbers and new additions such as himself. The premise of the November Project is to have fun, even when you’re faced with an NHL training partner. The morning was built around support and positivity, with a “pep talk” to calm nerves at the first step and a cheering squad of fellow participants at the last. It wasn’t a competition, but a moment of equality between athletes, no matter what level you compete at.

Ference is yet another NHL player lending a glove to a growing roster of supporters throughout the league. It’s safe to say, You Can Play has garnered the support of the NHL community, and neighboring sports in a big way.

In a continued effort to spread the message “If you can play, you can play”, Burke certainly rose to the challenge. Raising money and awareness, in this case a few thousand stairs at a time.