During the Olympics, athletes made the news by saving the Sochi puppies. St. Louis Blues’ forward David Backes helped to facilitate their transfer and everyone fell in love with the efforts put forth to save our four legged friends. Hockey people are often dog people (yes, they’re cat, fish, turtle, horse, etc, people too.) Obviously not everyone is all about the animal rescue, but more often than not players are associated with pets. If I had to pick a favorite player in the NHL, it wouldn’t be based on goals on the ice, but how charitable they are off of it — especially when it comes to animals.
Something close to my heart is, has been, and will always be, animals. More specifically, animal cruelty and helping those less fortunate. I was taught to save everything, my mother is a kind woman. A little quirky at times, but aren’t we all. My mother has saved every animal you could possibly imagine that resides in the Northeast, earning her the nickname Nona, (a female take on Noah). Instead of having two of everything our family has had two to ten!
You name it and I probably had it as a pet growing up, it was also more likely than not named after a Disney character or something pertaining to hockey. I had Ariel and Winnie the sheep (which is remotely funny, as my good friends call me Winnie as a nickname for Winter), Flounder the turkey, Simba the cat, Belle the bunny, Byron and Dafoe the hermit crabs, Stanley the cat, Stanley, Bruin and Puck the fish and the list goes on and on. My family has never met an animal it wouldn’t rescue, rehab, foster, or love. The concept of helping animals in need was clearly programmed into me at a young age. Growing up it was a running joke that my Mom would probably choose an animal over her kids; in retrospect I’m not quite sure it was a joke and 78% of the time, I wouldn’t blame her if she had gone that route.
Regardless, I’ve been raised an animal lover through and through. While I’ve had all of the aforementioned pets plus a million more, none ever truly felt like mine. Until… Ryder. A little over two years ago, I went on a trip down to North Carolina with my brother to visit our sister. A hot sunny Carolina Sunday morning can be spent doing one of two things; going to church or perusing the flea market. Obviously, we chose the latter option.
This particular flea market was 500 tables of you don’t know what you’re going to find. Well around table 457, I found love. Of course you’re probably thinking that I’m crazy and that’s okay. But balanced on a piece of cardboard, on top of a wire chicken crate was by far the dirtiest, grimiest, matted, sunburned, bruised, skinniest, sick looking pup I’d ever seen. Yet when I looked at the pup, I knew that nothing else mattered in that moment than saving her. I charged the table, ensconced the pup in my arms and refused to let go. The man was asking $25 for her, honestly I would have paid $2500 just to get her out of his clutches. After a little bartering my brother whipped out a $10 bill and offered it up to the guy — not because we were being stingy on paying for the puppy, it was more on principal. Why should someone make a profit from abusing an animal? The man took the $10 and we booked it out of there, puppy still wrapped in my arms.
The road to a healthy puppy hasn’t been easy, she was both physically and mentally abused. Terrified of the sun, rain, people, etc etc. It’s safe to say that now a lot of those fears have been resolved, with lots of patience, learning and love on both our parts. Ryder is a little all over the place, but then again, so am I. She likes the cool winter air, far better than the hot summer sun. Long hikes and snow are her thing; and this past outdoor rink season, she became the best defensepup in the league, chasing and retrieving pucks for hours. Simply put, Ryder is a perfect fit to my outdoorsy, go with the flow personality.
If I had even questioned this for a second the following story sealed the deal.
A few days after flying her back to Boston, I left her in her travel duffel in the car to run a quick errand. Gone literally 5 minutes at most, when I returned back to the car, Ryder wasn’t in her crate. I panicked, honestly I would have probably sent out an amber alert if they had them for dogs. I left her for 5 minutes and she was gone, my world crumbling, previously mentioned panic setting in and so on. Until, I heard a tiny whimpering coming from the back of my SUV. The tiny whimpering was coming from my pup who had somehow managed to escape her travel bag and finagle her way into my hockey bag. Of all the joints …
The perfect dog.
The reason for my sharing this story, is that I read a pretty heartbreaking turned warming story in the local paper today about a small dog being found on the side of the road in a trash bag. The dog had multiple injuries, but was rehabbed over a few weeks at a local shelter and just adopted out to a loving family this past weekend. That coupled with the stories of players donating time, money and homes, simply makes me glad to hear that there are people in the world who share my mentality on saving animals.
I won’t lie and say that rescuing a puppy has been an easy road, it comes with challenges. It can be said that it was both the best and worst decision of my life, all rolled into one. It wasn’t planned, it wasn’t wanted, but the good has far outweighed the bad. I never would have been able to live with myself had I left her. I always would have wondered what had happened to “that puppy”, now I know that puppy will hopefully live a long, happy, loving, sometimes, hockey filled life.
Ryder is one puppy in a large pool of animals who have had a rough road. Sure, you can go out and spend hundreds of dollars on the perfect purebred, top notch, blue ribbon puppy. Or you can take the risk and create your own perfect pet by putting forth hundreds of pats, hugs and kisses and be a life changer for one a bit less fortunate than the rest. Perhaps you don’t want a dog, puppy, cat or kitten now or even ever. Perhaps you do. Either way, helping out an animal is certainly the way to go and I’ve outlined a few different ways to accomplish it.
1) Volunteer: Spend an hour each week, a day each month, a day every 3 months at your local shelter. They’re always looking for someone to help out. Granted it probably won’t be glamorous and might involve some cage cleaning, but chances are it’ll involve dog walking and cat snuggling also!
2) Donate: If you can’t donate your time, you can donate all different ways. Donations don’t have to be in a monetary form. Many shelters look for old sheets, blankets, towels, washcloths, newspapers, etc. Pick up the phone and ask.
3) Adopt: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and every pet is special. So give that cat, dog, puppy or kitten a home where they can be loved.
4) Foster: Adopting a pet is a big commitment in many ways. Fostering can be another option to help aid an animal in need until someone who can make that commitment comes into the picture.
Animal Shelter.Org: This site allows you to put in the kind of animal you’re looking to adopt, size of the pet and a zip code. It will then give you a list of all the local shelters in your area to check out. It also has the option to look up shelters by state.
Adopt an Animal: This site runs on the same principals as the site mentioned above, but it’s strictly for shelters in Canada.
The Pet Foster: This site outlines basic information on fostering a pet and how to locate pets in need of foster parents.
In hockey, teams at all levels participate in creative fundraising endeavors throughout not just the season, but the year. The Boston Bruins Foundation has been instrumental in the Boston community, with proceeds rolling in from events and rolling back out to benefit a variety of Boston area charities. Keeping with that tradition, the Boston Bruins participated in the seventh annual “Cuts for a Cause,” hosted annually by resident tough guy Shawn Thornton, and 98.5 The Sports Hub.
It also unceremoniously marks the nearing of regular season close and gives players a fresh buzz heading into a playoff run. While player participation is far from mandatory, this year put up staggering roster numbers with 21 participants, marking it the highest in the event’s seven-year history.
The line-up included; Matt Bartkowski, Patrice Bergeron, Johnny Boychuk, Gregory Campbell, Jordan Caron, Zdeno Chara, Dougie Hamilton, Jarome Iginla, Chad Johnson, Chris Kelly, Torey Krug, Milan Lucic, Andrej Meszaros, Kevan Miller, Adam McQuaid, Daniel Paille, Corey Potter, Dennis Seidenberg, Reilly Smith, and Carl Soderberg.
With team participation skating in at an all-time high, it seems only right that the amount of money raised would follow closely behind — a record $118,340, roughly $42,000 more than last year. All in good fun, and for a good cause, fans can hope that the only thing being swept will have been players hair as the team skates towards another run at bringing Lord Stanley back to Boston.
I’ve been asked a few times about outfits outside of game nights… Obviously outfits reflect your own style, and to each their own, but non-game events tend to air on the side of business casual to downright slob for some people. It’s an honest fact, so it depends on how you want to dress. Today, the Bruins hosted their 7th annual Cuts for a Cause and I went the straight comfortable route — it was blustery in Boston and cozy was my outfit of choice.
Breakdown:
White Tank Top, Forever 21, $1.80
Cream Sweater with gold flecks, TJMaxx, clearance, $9
Dark wash denim jeans, Macys, $27.99
Grey and tan wedge booties, Aldo, clearance, $12.99
Media Tip: For events outside the rink, make sure you have full charge on your recording devices and a backup in case you’re using your phone. You know, in the event that your phone freezes or decided to randomly reboot right before player availability.
As the Vancouver Canucks take on Minnesota Wild tonight in an effort to gain much-needed points, I couldn’t help but think about the actions that have led to today’s reality – a team who made it to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals on June 15, 2011 (a date forever etched into the minds of Canucks fans, for the wrong reasons), now left battling for a spot in the playoffs with nine games remaining in the 2013-14 regular season.
Let’s start with January. It started off with a January 7 visit from the Pittsburgh Penguins that also coincided with the Team Canada roster announcement for men’s hockey. Two Vancouver Canucks were named to the represent Team Canada on Russian ice – Dan Hamhuis and Roberto Luongo. This was an encouraging start to the Canucks’ 2014. Weeks later, a January 18 clash with the Calgary Flames erupted in a line brawl, thanks in part to Flames coach Bob Hartley starting his fourth line grinders to face the Canucks’ top line stars for the opening faceoff. This prompted head coach John Tortorella to storm down to the Flames dressing room with the intent of delivering a knuckle sandwich to Hartley. Two days later, the league announced Torts would face a 15-day suspension without pay, with Hartley receiving a $25,000 fine for his part in the scuffle.
Despite the 18-day break for Sochi 2014, February was littered with losing streaks and injuries – Henrik Sedin, Ryan Kesler and Alex Burrows all missed significant time with a smorgasbord of ailments – but the slump was deep and morale plummeted, permeating every level of the team.
On March 2, Vancouver welcomed in the 2014 Tim Hortons Heritage Classic. A 54,194-person spectacle held at a snow-covered BC Place was set to reignite the passion of Canucks fans as their team took on the Ottawa Senators. While the game was a marquee event for the franchise, Torts didn’t see it that way – he benched Roberto Luongo in favour of Eddie Lack, much to the displeasure of 50,000+ people chanting a ‘Loooooooou’ that echoed around the arena, in the hope of gaining much-needed points. The Canucks fell 4-2 to the Sens and the roof of BC Place remained closed despite the promise of an ‘outdoor game.’ The benching of Loungo served as a catalyst for his now-infamous trade to the Florida Panthers on March 4. Instantly, Eddie Lack became the official starting goaltender for the Vancouver Canucks. With a 0.915 save percentage, Lack made a good effort despite having been placed on a sinking ship. Or at least a ship that had sprung a couple leaks.
And this brings us to the present day. The reality of battling for a playoff spot with little over three weeks remaining in the regular season has Canucks fans frustrated at worst, and at best, despondent. A two-game winning streak aside, the Canucks currently find themselves six points behind the Phoenix Coyotes for the final wild card position.
The off-season will surely see substantial changes for the Canucks, and while speculation abounds surrounding what those changes will look like, one thing is for certain. It will be Wild.
Sunday’s game against the St. Louis Blues was unlucky for the Pittsburgh Penguins in more ways than one. Not only were the Pens shut out in a 1-0 victory by the Blues, but star forward Evgeni Malkin injured his foot on his first shift of the game, per Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma.
Malkin, who was riding a hot streak that cumulated in a two goal, four point game against Tampa Bay, will be out 2-3 weeks, though no further surgery is thought to be required. This timetable will mean Malkin is unlikely to return before the playoffs. This is the second injury of the season for Malkin, who missed 11 games after injuring his leg in mid-December. This also adds to the Penguins’ league-leading over 440 man-games lost to injury and counting.
Though Bylsma may rotate lines with the addition of called-up forward Jayson Megna, his current plan seems to be to move Brandon Sutter up to the second line with Jussi Jokinen and James Neal, hoping that the pair of them will up Sutter’s offensive production. Rookie defenseman Olli Maatta will take Malkin’s place on the powerplay. If the Penguins clinch a playoff spot – and they are extremely likely to – their hopes may ride on a strong effort by Sutter in the home stretch, and a quick return to top form by Malkin.
The St. Louis Blues left Toronto with another win in their pockets and yet another step closer to the President’s Trophy. The 5 to 3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs left the Leafs with their sixth loss in a row.
Despite the final result, the Leafs would get on the board first when Joffery Lupul scored on a power play to give Toronto a one goal lead. The Blues quickly responded with TJ Oshie netting one, and David Backes capitalizing on a power play opportunity with just 33 seconds left in the first period. The Blues sat on a 2 to 1 lead after one.
Backes registered his second goal of the night, this one on even strength, when he beat goaltender Johnathan Bernier five hole. Alexander Steen gave the Blues the 4 to 1 lead in the second period when his backhand beat Bernier up high.
The third period became very tense when the Leafs began to make a push for a comeback. Toronto scored two goals to cut the lead in the half with the help of goals scored by Carl Gunnarsson and James van Riemsdyk. The Blues then locked down defensively and would not give up anymore goals and would add one more of their own to solidify the win.
David Backes scored the empty net goal in the third period to give the Blues the win and his second hat trick of his career. The Blues are standing just two points ahead of the San Jose Sharks for the first seed in the Western Conference, and one point ahead of the Boston Bruins for the top seed in the NHL. Every point counts, and every game is a must win, in these games down the stretch and coming into the playoffs.
The Blues head back home to face-off against Minnesota on Thursday, March 27th, at 7PM (CST).
It has often been said that the Boston Bruins are at their best when they are emotionally invested in the game. This often comes from a few good checks, the occasional dropping of the gloves and a level of grinding play that can take a lot of out of any player, even those who do this throughout the season. However, there is a fine line between playing with emotion and playing with a lack of discipline. For the Bruins, that line was clearly crossed on Monday night when they played the Montreal Canadiens.
Let’s face it—there is no love lost between these two teams. The animosity, some would call it intense hate, spans decades. While the fans of most teams dislike other teams when they come to town, the rivalries between some teams border on defying logic and the rivalry between the Bruins and the Canadiens, along with that between their respective fans is the stuff of legends.
Mild-mannered, little old ladies, drinking their tea and eating their cake have been known to hurl the said cake at their television when the Bruins are playing the Habs. These sweet women who wouldn’t wish harm to a fly have wished that the great Maurice “Rocket” Richard would fall down a flight of stairs—never mind that when the epithet was hissed he had been retired for many, many years. And yes, a Habs-loving son of a Bruins-loving mother shared both of these stories. Not quite sure how she let him become a Habs fan.
So, if a sweet-tempered 90-something woman could get so riled up, imagine what happens to the players of both teams in the heat of battle. Games between these two teams have resulted in line brawls (including the goalies), fisticuffs at ever whistle, and maybe even a goal or two scored.
However, it would appear that the Canadiens have discovered that if they can goad the Bruins to cross that invisible line between emotion and anarchy, then they can beat the Bruins. At least that would appear to be the case Monday night. Canadien’s Alexei Emelin had a low, questionable hit, on Milan Lucic, which went uncalled. Bruins Zdeno Chara took exception and was immediately called for a roughing when he went and knocked Emelin down. This happened just 1:19 into the game.
Just 3:31 later Kevan Miller would cross-check Canadiens Dale Weise into the boards, and would find himself invited to dance in retribution by Travis Moen. And because of the additional cross-checking the Bruins would again be on the penalty kill. Unfortunately, Emelin would score on the power play.
The second period would likewise find the Bruins cooling their skates in the box four more times, the worst being the clearly undisciplined roughing call on Johnny Boychuk when he grabbed P.K. Subban and threw him down on the ice. Certainly not the best of decisions by Boychuk and clearly brought on by a mounting frustration born of his team spending a lot of time in the box and their inability to solve goaltender Peter Budaj. However, Subban was not exactly an innocent bystander in this particular incident.
Boychuk had come up on Subban with a clean hip check, and then gone down on his knees, at which point Subban took the opportunity to hit Boychuk in the head. Boychuck was not happy, dropped his gloves and wanted Subban to answer for his actions. Subban turned away, hands outstretched looking at the referee as if to say, “I’m innocent here – make him stop.” Unfortunately, Boychuk saw rouge at that point and grabbed Subban who went limp, and Boychuk threw him to the ice. Boychuk had two minutes in the box to reconsider his decision should the two meet in a future game.
The third period would see the Bruins rein in their emotion some and concentrate on trying to put the puck in the net. And the referees turned their attention to the Canadiens who received four penalties in that period.
Games such as this, where the whistle is always blowing for this infraction or that one, are not often enjoyable games to watch from a hockey standpoint. There are too many instances where the special teams are playing—so there is a lot of passing by the team on the power play and a lot of trying to ice the puck by the team on the penalty. The stopping and starting makes for a ragged game, rather than fans getting to appreciate the skill and flow of the teams passing the puck and skating north and south. Of course such subtleties are often overlooked in rivalries such as this.
However, in the end, while the Bruins would manage to tie the game with 5:26 remaining in the third period, they would fall in the fourth round of the shootout.
Head coach Claude Julien, when asked by The Pink Puck, postgame, about how the Bruins could keep from letting the Canadiens or other teams push them past that line into undisciplined play, responded matter-of-factly.
“Simple, you don’t let it happen,” he said. “It happened a little bit tonight. But I can tell you, like I said before, we could sweep a team in the regular season and we’re gonna get to the playoffs and play them and I’m not going to say it’s going to be easy. The same, just because they win tonight in the shootout, doesn’t mean we’re going to go to the playoffs and have the same kind of situation here.”
The Bruins often have difficult games, even when they haven’t been in three different time zones in the last few days—an excuse they would never use—but perhaps the hardest part is skating close to that emotional edge without going over. When they do skate close to the edge, they play Bruins hockey and they win games.
Kevin, Darrell, Jason and Guylaine Demers
(Photo: Courtesy of Kevin Demers)
We’ve all been a fan, a super fan, pledged undying allegiance to a player and the talents he or she exudes on the ice and the sense of community and team spirit shown off of it. But, at the end of the day, the chances are overwhelmingly good, that one fan will eclipse them all, reserving the title “#1 Fan”. Often, this person has spent countless hours as a cheerleader, chauffeur, coach, confidant and above all else, devoted their lives to be a loving parent. Many players come from all walks of life, but no matter how far they’ve come, chances are good that they all share a key ingredient in success. The father, mother, brother, sister, family member that supported them through the lowest of lows and highest of highs, all while asking for nothing in return. Fans are special, but it’s the select few that far surpass the masses and the #1 Fan video series showcases just that.
While many hockey fans, particularly of the San Jose Sharks variety, may be familiar with the name Jason Demers, it’s his older brother, Kevin, that reigns supreme outside of the arena, and inside the filming studio. A Montreal native, the former pro-hockey player, turned filmmaker, has successfully found a way to creatively combine a love for the game, with a love for film, giving fans of any ranking an inside look, through the eyes of those who know players the best.
Striving to bring the essence of the game and the select few who have remained in the number one fan spot since the beginning to light, Demers created the #1 Fan videos. So far showcasing both his brother, Jason, and teammate Logan Couture, the short videos star not the players themselves, but their parents.
The Pink Puck caught up with Kevin to discuss the videos, the importance of family and which player is bound to get the #1 Fan treatment next:
[tubepress video=”U5x2lFd_cs8″]
The Pink Puck: Where did the idea for the #1 Fan videos come from?
Kevin Demers: Like most of the things I come up with, I sit on the idea for weeks, months, even years. The #1 fan concept came up when the NHL Lockout was still going on. A lot of fans were upset, swearing they’d never watch the game again or support it. I realized then that fans were losing touch with the game, saying its only about money and nobody cared anymore about the game itself. So I used my family as guinea pigs to humanize the players and show that they do come from somewhere. No matter what, they always have their true original fans behind them. The people that brought them to the rink for early skates, their family.
TPP: You obviously have strong ties with the Sharks, will you branch the videos into other teams and who is the next player you’ll be featuring?
KD: I have been speaking to other teams about it and seeing where they want to go with it. I have a bunch of different guys that called me and asked me to create more videos. Right now for me, first in line is Brent Burns, he’s the one who’s pushed hard on it.
TPP: I got the sense that the videos are to show that everyone starts somewhere and no matter how far they go, their true fans remain the same. What do you ultimately want the fans to take from the videos?
KD: That these players are all just normal guys like you and me. They come from somewhere, and whether they were the best player on the ice or the worst growing up, they always had support to get them to where they are. You can’t forget where you come from, because where you came from, molded you into who you are today, and for some of these guys the players they are today.
TPP: You have a firm grasp on what it means to be someone’s fan; your brother Jason plays for the San Jose Sharks. What makes you different from a regular fan, besides sharing DNA?
KD: I’ve been there since day one, he’s not only my little brother, but in a sense my best friend. I know his strengths and his weaknesses. I watched him put his first pair of skates on. When you’re that close to someone, you don’t see them as a member of the NHL (which is nothing short of an honour), you see them for who they are, and that’s family.
Photo: kevindemers.com
TPP: You have strong ties within hockey yourself, as you played professionally. When did the desire to branch into a creative avenue off the ice come in?
KD: At the Demers house there are two things we watch, movies or hockey. When I was playing my first year of pro (don’t forget I was 23 and started playing competitively again after a 7 year hiatus from the game that I love very much), you’d get stuck with days of having nothing to do after 2 hours of practice and an hour in the gym. So you’d have to stay busy. I don’t like to read, but I always had a nack for coming up with an idea. That’s where I started to write, then it developed into writing a television show, then going to UCLA for writing and then producing, so I can see my projects come to life. Now, here we are.
TPP: Beyond the #1 Fan videos, what creative projects do you have in the works?
KD: Right this minute I’m working on a project for autism awareness month, also working with trainer Paul Gagne on his new training website. Then I’ll be focusing on my television shows that I am just about ready to get started. One actually being a hockey based show (kind of like Friday Night Lights, but with a Canadian touch).
TPP: What motivation do you hope people will take from the #1 Fan videos?
KD:My personal hope is to show how great the game is and how family and community is such a big part of the game. More importantly, to try and set up a foundation that can help kids around North America — ones who don’t have the opportunity to play the game, because of things like money or not having someone to drive them to practice.
TPP: How does your sense of accomplishment differ when you see a completed video project than say getting a goal or winning a game?
KD: If you asked me that when I was 16, before I quit hockey, I would have said to you, probably nothing because goals were easy to come by at that time — I was all skill. But asking me now, I’d still tell you nothing, because I work hard to get a goal and I work just as hard on anything I do; whether its my film stuff or my other business. My father always told me growing up and I never got that until I started play pro, ‘play like there is someone in the stands that has never seen you play before, show them who you are’, I take that quote into everything I do. I hope that people see me as a hard working person who gets those winning goals, or completes those video projects.
TPP:Do you believe that even the most talented of hockey players would struggle without the support of his family in reaching the elite professional level?
KD: Not at all, I think that you need to also be very strong mentally. I think a player like Bobby Ryan is a great example, he had it very rough in his childhood and he came out very strong, that’s a story I’d love to hear.
The 19-year-old Finnish phenom Teuvo Teravainen (TAY-voh tair-uh-VIGH-nehn) will likely make his NHL debut in Chicago tonight against the Dallas Stars. The countdown to his appearance has “Teuvo Time” hashtags abounding on Twitter and left sports writers and bloggers with ample material.
Patrick Kane’s recent injury made room for his arrival from Finland, and with time for practice with the team, Coach Joel Quenneville has found a spot for Teravainen in the lineup.
Photo; Chicago Tribune Sports
Teravainen, who will be the first Blackhawk to wear 86, his number for the Jokerit.
He centered a line with Brandon Saad and Ben Smith during today’s morning skate, but is experienced at center and wing, and Quenneville is known for shaking up lines on the fly.
Quenneville said Teravainen will be closely monitored until the team decides where he fits.
“Usually, you give him a chance to play the game and get to see how he handles it,” Quenneville said. “You might give him some different situations if you’re comfortable with the way things are going. You want to at least get him in there and give him a chance to play.”
Teravainen was selected in the first round of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. Teuvo Time has been the talk of the (Chi-)town since, with growing enthusiasm since he attended training camp last summer.
General Manager Stan Bowman and Quenneville wisely advised that Teravainen is just one player on the team.
“The thing we want to be cautious about is he’s a 19-year old kid — he’s not here to carry the team,” Bowman said. “We certainly have high hopes for him, but this is more just an experience for Teuvo to see what the NHL is all about.
“This year he showed that he could be a dominant player in the top league in Finland.”
During this 2013-14 season with Jokerit, Teravainen had 44 points (nine goals, 35 assists) in 49 games. In the World Junior Championship, he served as Finland’s captain, leading them to a Final 3-2 overtime victory against Sweden. Teravainen assisted all three goals and led the tournament in scoring.
“I don’t want to put … I don’t want to say pressure or expectations on him,” Quenneville said. “I just think he could be a special player in our league. Offensively, he has a great set of skills as far as puck possession and recognition of plays.”
The media and fan excitement is beyond palpable. It’s intense. Add to that the possibility of clinching a playoff berth tonight with a regulation win (or an OT win if the Coyotes lose), Teravainen’s premiere is filled with hope–and pressure.
His career statistics reveal obvious talent. But, he shouldn’t skate with the weight of the Windy City on his 19-year-old shoulders.
“I hope I can help,” Teravainen told media. “Of course, there are big expectations and pressure, but I don’t think of those too much. I’m just a player and a young kid coming here. I think everything I do here is a bonus. I’m just trying to have fun.”
Bryan Bickell is still out (upper body) but expected to make the next road trip. Kane is on the long-term injured reserve (minimum 24 days or 10 games–taking him out of the regular season), which allowed the salary cap space for Teuvo’s arrival.
The real keys to a victory tonight aren’t in Number 86’s jersey. They’re in playing hard, as a team, for a full game, avoiding sloppy penalties and turnovers, matching physicality with finesse, and getting the puck on net–shoot, shoot, shoot to score.
Something close to my heart is, has been, and will always be, animals. More specifically, animal cruelty and helping those less fortunate. I was taught to save everything, my mother is a kind woman. A little quirky at times, but aren’t we all. My mother has saved every animal you could possibly imagine that resides in the Northeast, earning her the nickname Nona, (a female take on Noah). Instead of having two of everything our family has had two to ten!
This particular flea market was 500 tables of you don’t know what you’re going to find. Well around table 457, I found love. Of course you’re probably thinking that I’m crazy and that’s okay. But balanced on a piece of cardboard, on top of a wire chicken crate was by far the dirtiest, grimiest, matted, sunburned, bruised, skinniest, sick looking pup I’d ever seen. Yet when I looked at the pup, I knew that nothing else mattered in that moment than saving her. I charged the table, ensconced the pup in my arms and refused to let go. The man was asking $25 for her, honestly I would have paid $2500 just to get her out of his clutches. After a little bartering my brother whipped out a $10 bill and offered it up to the guy — not because we were being stingy on paying for the puppy, it was more on principal. Why should someone make a profit from abusing an animal? The man took the $10 and we booked it out of there, puppy still wrapped in my arms.
A few days after flying her back to Boston, I left her in her travel duffel in the car to run a quick errand. Gone literally 5 minutes at most, when I returned back to the car, Ryder wasn’t in her crate. I panicked, honestly I would have probably sent out an amber alert if they had them for dogs. I left her for 5 minutes and she was gone, my world crumbling, previously mentioned panic setting in and so on. Until, I heard a tiny whimpering coming from the back of my SUV. The tiny whimpering was coming from my pup who had somehow managed to escape her travel bag and finagle her way into my hockey bag. Of all the joints …
Ryder is one puppy in a large pool of animals who have had a rough road. Sure, you can go out and spend hundreds of dollars on the perfect purebred, top notch, blue ribbon puppy. Or you can take the risk and create your own perfect pet by putting forth hundreds of pats, hugs and kisses and be a life changer for one a bit less fortunate than the rest. Perhaps you don’t want a dog, puppy, cat or kitten now or even ever. Perhaps you do. Either way, helping out an animal is certainly the way to go and I’ve outlined a few different ways to accomplish it.
4) Foster: Adopting a pet is a big commitment in many ways. Fostering can be another option to help aid an animal in need until someone who can make that commitment comes into the picture.
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