And a great time was had by all ...
That pretty much sums up everything that transpired Saturday night at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City where NHL players gave it up for Hurricane Sandy victims.
Operation Hat Trick, they called it.
What a stirring moment at the end as players and fans saluted each other after Team New York's 10-6 win over Team Philly/Jersey.
Throughout the game, fans chanted, "We Want Hockey!"
“We heard it multiple times," Steven Stamkos said. "The sad part is that the fans are the ones who are really affected by this. It shows you the passion and knowledge they have, especially, here on the East Coast.
"It was amazing to play in a sold out building. You felt the emotion and juices during the national anthem. The end of the game I had chills out there on the ice, saluting the fans. This was for a great cause. To be part of this, I'm thankful to have been in the game."
Couple things. It occurred me that Stamkos might not have played in a sold out building in Tampa, yet. The last hockey game at Boardwalk Hall that sold out was in 1933 when the Seagulls played there. Honest.
Lotta credit goes to Scott Hartnell and Brad Richards for organizing this and for Todd Fedoruk for handling logistics behind the scenes.
“It was a great event," Hartnell said. "The people behind the scenes, they brought this thing together in two weeks. The people from Caesars were unbelievable. Getting guys in here on flights, putting us up in hotel rooms, getting everything set up.
"It was incredible. We were touched. You know it looks like we were heroes, but there were heroes behind the scenes. You look at the devastation from Hurricane Sandy and there were a lot of heroes, a lot of stories of devastation and people coming together in their communities. It makes your heart melt."
I was surprised at how relatively good the players looked given so many of them have not played competitively this year.
Henrik Lundqvist was nothing short of stellar, stoning Hartnell's group in the first period with 23 saves and no goals. King Henrik had 56 saves in the game!
This was no All-Star Game for him. It took very seriously. Some of the players mentioned afterward that guys competed much harder here than in All-Star Games even though there was no checking, just like those NHL affairs.
But the focus was on helping the coastline of New York and New Jersey rebuild.
Brad Richards, one Rangers' reporter pointed out, is trying to pick up the mantle as a guy who reached out in his community, much like Adam Graves did in his career on Broadway.
“So many guys get involve in their communities," Richards said, downplaying his role. "When you go to a new team, you want to try and get comfortable in all your surroundings.
"I’m living there right now and lived through the hurricane. We were affected and I knew people who were affected. The good thing about it all was we had time to do some things. My teammates came along with support.
"Henrik flying in from Sweden because he knew how important this was. It’s fun for us to do this stuff. We love doing it. It was a great feeling to get out there and give back and see the fans and for a cause we know is so important to the people in this area."
As things were winding down in the dressing room later that night, ex-Flyer Dan Carcillo had a big smile on his face.
“You get a good feeling at the end of the day, here," Car Bomb said. "You come here and all you have to do is play a game and realize it helps so many people. It’s a good feeling."
One of the very few times any of us felt good during this NHL Lockout.
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