Support a Good Cause

Time for my gameday preview!

Wait...what's that you say? They're playing the Panthers?

Pffft. Never mind. Three games left and then we get to focus on real hockey for a few months - even if it doesn't involve the Caps.

The Caps have two home games left on the slate, both of which are likely to be tough for different reasons. It's quite possible the season could end without another win. So why pay good money to see the slaughter? Because you can help support a fantastic cause. The Caps and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society are teaming up for the last two home games of the season, with discounted ticket prices and $8 per ticket going to the NMSS.

So what exactly is multiple sclerosis? Per the NMSS:

Multiple Sclerosis interrupts the flow of information from the brain to the body and stops people from moving. It is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system. Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are moving us closer to a world free of MS. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with more than twice as many women as men contracting the disease. MS is neither fatal, nor contagious, nor inherited; the cause is not yet known.

Not only are you getting to bid the Caps adieu for another year, but you also get to help a very worthy cause in their search for causes and cures of MS. If you can get to the game, please do so. If you're like me and won't be able to go to tonight's game, consider making a donation. The Caps are donating $8 per ticket - why not make it $10? $20? Every little bit helps - Join the Movement.

For more on Multiple Sclerosis and the good work done by the NMSS, visit their website: www.jointhemovement.org.

To purchase tickets in support of this cause, go to http://www.capstickets.com/nmss.html.

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Alert readers Chris and Sarah sent me this article from CBC.ca that I thought I should pass along -

Ottawa Senators owner gives $50,000 worth of hockey gear to troops in Kandahar

Just a wonderful gesture by Melnyk to bring the troops a little happiness in what must be an incredibly bleak and frightening setting. Regardless of your thoughts on war in general or this war in particular, it's important to remember the soldiers who often get lost in the shuffle of politics and spin. Providing them with a little normalcy, a sense of home, is one of the best ways for all of us back here in North America to thank them for doing a job most of us couldn't imagine doing.

By the way, you'll notice that the Canadian team beat the Americans 9-0 (worse than any Caps loss this year, incidentally), and I think I've pinpointed the problem - Melnyk was nice enough to bring the Americans jerseys as well...Caps and Rangers gear. Poor guys, like they don't have enough problems.

I just hope he didn't bring them a Jagr jersey. That would just be cruel.

Update: Here's a picture (thanks C&S!)

photo courtesy of the Canadian Press