These guys are true champs.

I signed into the blog to post this story and it told me that this is my 300th post. What great stuff I have to honor the milestone.

I went into the radio station today and Peak Sales Representative Diane Redlin said to me

"Oh boy do I have a Bulldogs story for you"

and I said

"uh oh"

Just because Diane and I don't really talk about the Bulldogs too often. Or ever. However, I should've known that with the group of players here and with the direction of the organization here that this would be a GOOD story. I still wouldn't have imagined who cool the story would end up being though.

First and foremost- I know I've talked about this countless times but here we go again- Huge credit should go to the organization for taking such a big role in the community. Win, lose or draw, from September to yesterday the team management and staff has had this guys out all over the community taking part in everything. Credit also has to go to the players. Yes, they are told to be there. It's up to them however to put on a happy face and try their darndest to interact with whoever they are visiting and get engaged with whatever they are taking part in. And from what I've seen, they have done just that.

It is a TOTALLY different thing when the guys take it upon themselves to get out and make a difference and give their time. Which brings me to the story Diane told me today. I got her to email it to me to put on here-

Hi Evan,

Here's the "Way to go Bulldogs" story I told you about. Yesterday the Novice hockey team held a bottle drive. While the parents were counting and sorting all the bottles, the kids decided to get a game of street hockey going. After a bit a car with a couple of Bulldogs in it drove by. They stopped and asked the kids if they could get in on the game. Of course ALL the kids were thrilled that the 'Dogs' wanted to play with them. They must have played with the kids for a good 2-3 hours. They even had their jerseys which they put on, they didn't have sticks but the kids managed to find them a couple (one even had fluorescent pink tape on it) to play with. It was awesome to see the Bulldogs interact with the kids and I think a great time was had all around. I know one of the players was Moriarty because one of the kids kept yelling "Moriarity.. over here, Moriarty pass I'm open, Moriarity!"

Diane
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Now THAT is great stuff. Turns out the two guys were Adam Baldassarre and Daniel Moriarty. I went down to the rink today and said "ok, who played road hockey" The guys were surprised that I knew already. I said "fellas, it's Port Alberni, word travels fast" So to both guys- Great job, and kudos for having some fun with the kids. They are the Bulldogs of tomorrow. To Moriarty- It takes a true man to use a pink stick, major props for that, HAHA.

ONE MORE- On the making a difference in the "above and beyond" category. The Bulldogs as a team attended the Angel Magnussen Variety Show yesterday. When their committment was done, the team left. Except for one guy. It seems that Angel has taking a bigtime liking to Adam Hout. I was surprised to see Adam still there after all the guys had left, but after I heard why I understood. Good man Houter, good man, was all I could say to him yesterday.
In closing- Don't take this as me taking something away from all of the players and all of the events that they attend. They are champs for doing what they do- which I've said all year. This is about giving some extra credit where it's due.

Hammer