Stick tap to Steve Ott and his brothers of the NHLPA for organizing a special event called:
"Rock Out The Lockout" at Windsor's WFCU Centre on Saturday December 8th.
All proceeds will benefit SPARKLES From Above, a non-profit organization which works with ‘In Honour of the Ones We Love’. Sparkles was originally created after the passing of a young child due to cancer.
In addition to seeing some of North America's greatest hockey stars, you will also have the chance to win the shirt off their backs right after the game. Anyone who purchases a ticket has the opportunity to win one of the game worn jerseys by any of the "Rock Out For Lockout" NHL players. Random seat numbers will be selected at the end of the game - and those seats will win the jersey following the end of game whistle.
The tournament is spearheaded by Sabres tough guy Steve Ott, Red Wings vet Dan Cleary and Oilers captain Shawn Horcoff.
NHLers scheduled to play include:
Justin Abdelkader
Todd Bertuzzi
Adam Burish
Daniel Cleary Matt Ellis
Cory Emmerton
Vern Fiddler
Johan Franzen
Darren Helm
Shawn Horcoff Jordan Leopold
Matt Martin
Jamal Mayers
Brenden Morrow
James Neal Steve Ott
Sergei Samsonov Thomas Vanek
Kevin Westgarth
Jonathan Ericsson
Tom Gilbert
Kronwall, Niklas
Nick Schultz
Ian White
Ryan Wilson
James Wisniewski
Keith Yandle
Jonas Gustafsson
Jimmy Howard
Michael Leighton Drew Stafford
Trevor Daley
John Michael Liles
Mike Komisarek
Matthew Lombardi
Kyle Wellwood
Additional players to be announced this week. Roster subject to change.
The game will be standard hockey play with three twenty minute stop play periods. Please note game subject to cancellation if NHL and NHLPA reach an agreement with players prior to Thursday December 6th, 2012 at 5:00pm EST.
The NHLPA Charity Game in Atlantic City last weekend has already raised $500,000 for Super Storm Sandy relief.
Ott and his gang would love to raise the same amount, if not more for the pediatric cancer charity.
I think it would be great if the Atlantic City charity game would play the Windsor charity game in a makeshift Stanley Cup final of NHLPA events.
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets on sale Thursday November 22nd at 10:00am. Tickets can be purchased at the TekSavvy.com Box Office inside the WFCU Centre, charge by phone at 1-866-969-WFCU or click GET TICKETS.
TICKET PRICES (Includes HST and facility fees)
$41.75 reserved seating Seating layout:
$137.00 family four pack
Convenience fee applies to all telephone and internet orders
His team is middling in its division standings at 9-9-8, having just lost three games in a row. They've now lost four of their last six games. They are down-trending. Two losses to division rivals Toronto and an embarrassing loss on home ice to the lowly San Antonio Rampage earlier this week has Marcus Foligno in a bad mood. Abbottsford, the top team in the league is on their dance card in recent days. Things will get tougher before hey get better for the Amerks.
Though Marcus leads his team with 19 points in 20 games, he's getting frustrated by the losing. Rather than sulk about it, Foligno is channeling his aggression in other areas, as a means to kick-start his injury-riddled Rochester Amerks squad. Hodgson, Girgensens, Sundher, Rankin, MacKenzie are a few of the Amerks injury problems of late. Lines are presently being scrambled and continuity is lost. Hockey is a war of attrition. Sabres fans know all too well what effect injuries can have on a team's goals and aspirations to play high-level, winning hockey. Hodgson's absence (broken hand, may return this week) has really crippled the Amerks in that they don't have a dynamic centre who can create, and thrive on the PP.
Girgensons has surprised everyone in his rookie season with his scud missile style of play. He plays hard hockey and he loves to bang bodies. His upper body ailment is preventing him from playing (may return possibly this week). No other player has stepped up to deliver the thunder like Girgo.
Mark Mancari and Luke Adam are mired in miserable scoring slumps right now.
Mancari has gone 11 games without a goal, the second-longest stretch of his eight-year career. Adam has gone seven games without a point.
In Saturday night's loss in Toronto, Foligno absolutely destroyed Marlies tough guy, Will Acton, with five of the stiffest bombs you'll see anywhere. As evidenced by this punch in the face contest, Foligno's right hand is like Nyquil. It puts people into a deep sleep.
In case you missed it, I posted this at 9:09am on Saturday 12/1.
Hours after the news had permeated Pegulaville that Sabres Captain, Jason Pominville, is leaving Monday to play for DEL Adler Mannheim, comes news that Sabres centre, Tyler Ennis, has been injured, for a second time while playing for the SCL Tigers in Switzerland.
According to Szymon Szemberg of the IIHF, Ennis' European playing days are done, for now.
Ennis will require further evaluation and he is en route back to North America for treatment of the unknown injury. Ennis missed SCL's past two games (Davos, Lugano) after suffering his most recent injury on 11/24 vs. EV Zug.
Ennis injured his shoulder in October, which forced him to sit out several games.
He's only played in ten games in the months in his time in Austria, scoring three goals and adding five assists. Was it worth his while to play overseas during the 77 day old NHL lockout?
Its not known right now if Ennis suffered another injury to his previously dinged-up shoulder. According to two newspaper reports in Switzerland, Ennis has suffered an injured shoulder and he has requested his release so that he can have his injury attended to by his physician. Whether his doctor is in Buffalo, or in his offseason home of Edmonton, is not known at this time. One thing is for certain: Ennis cannot be cared for by the Buffalo Sabres team doctors during the NHL lockout. All players are locked out from their teams trainers, physicians, physical therapists, chiropractors, dentists, etc.
However, the Sabres should be concerned about their veteran pivot, who ended last season as the team's #1 centre. Stafford, Ennis and Foligno took charge of the Sabres offense in the final 12 games of last season and created a metric ton of offense in the final month of the season. In the end, all of their production was not enough to catapult the Sabres into a playoff spot. He ws sideline twice with serious ankle injuries in 2012. When healthy, Ennis was a lethal weapon.
Organizationally, the Sabres are very thin at centre right now with Ennis and Hodgson (broken right hand) injured. CoHo skated this week in the red "no contact" vest. The suddenly struggling Amerks are hoping that he may be cleared to return this week. Luke Adam returned to the Amerks lineup Friday night vs. Toronto, after missing three games with a lower body deal. Phil Varone has been nursing an injury himself of late as well. Evan Rankin is also injured.
With every passing day of this lockout, and every new and nagging injury that occurs to their centre corps, the Sabres are looking at Mikhail Grigorenko with an eye towards their present, rather than their future. Grigo has been machine-gunning down opponents in the Q, scoring 24 goals and 20 assists in 26 games in Quebec already this season.
Were the lockout to end Monday 12/3, its very possible that Grigo would be Buffalo's #1 centre on the depth chart in the brief, yet important training camp.
Ennis chose to play for SCL because he was given the opportunity to play with his boyhood friend, and fellow Edmontonian, Jared Spurgeon of teh Minnesota Wild. Spurgeon is reportedly injured, and is heading home from the Swiss Alps as along with Ennis so that he too can seek further medical treatment.
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