One of the things that make hockey one of the most beautiful sports on Earth is the genuineness of its players. They spend their off-seasons helping the community or parading around with the Stanley Cup instead of getting arrested or in legal trouble. According to the website Arrest Nation, the last NHL player to be arrested was Dustin Byfuglien in September and the last college player arrested was Boston University’s Max Nicastro in February. As a comparison, there have been seven arrests by the Detroit Lions alone in 2012 while 25 NFL players have been arrested since the Super Bowl in February.
While NHL players don’t make many headlines for the positive they do, here is one of them. Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard spent last week in his hometown of Ogdensburg, NY where he agreed to purchase uniforms for every youth hockey player. He got his start there, where people in his hometown has seen rise through the college ranks at Maine and onto the NHL with the Red Wings. He met with the youth last week at the Richard Lockwood Community Arena which houses the Jimmy Howard Rink. Howard spends his summer in Minnesota where he has been preparing for the upcoming season and took a weekend trip home. He said it didn’t take much for him to get on board, where it was a phone call from long time friend Jon Shaver.
“It is very important to give back to the community and to people who have supported me,” Howard said. “I really didn’t have to do much. Just one make one phone call. The jerseys look great.”
Howard is supposed to report to training camp in September, provided the NHL owners and the NHL Players Association can agree on a new collective bargaining agreement before the season begins. Howard and backup Joey MacDonald are entering the final season of their contract.
