The part of my job which brings me the most joy is covering college hockey. I love the sport and more importantly I love the people. So when I came across this blog post from Runnin’ With The Dogs, written by a fan of the Minnesota-Duluth hockey team, I was inspired.

The post explains her From Top Shelf To Food Shelf pledge drive. Basically, fans get to make up their own pledge standards for their favorite team for games Dec. 4-6 the donate the money directly to a food bank/pantry/community kitchen in that team’s town.

I love the idea of acting locally so I decided to participate focusing on the two main teams I cover: Canisius in Buffalo and Niagara in Niagara Falls. (OK, technically Lewiston but let’s not split hairs.)

For each goal Canisius scores in its weekend series at Air Force I will donate $5 to Response to Love Center. For each goal Niagara scores in its weekend series against Bentley I will donate $5 to Heart, Love and Soul. In addition, I will donate $1 for every mile I run or hike this weekend.

As a sportswriter I am paid to not care about who wins, but the teams can feel free to score as many goals in a win, loss or tie this weekend.