Prudential Center to Host WFAN/Boomer & Carton Mikey Strong Charity Game

On April 21, the Prudential Center will play host to the third annual WFAN/Boomer & Carton Mikey Strong “23” Charity Hockey Game. The game will be raising funds for the Nichols Family Trust and the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. Proceeds from the game will go to these funds.

The game is named for Mike Nichols, a Monroe High School hockey player “who sustained a spinal cord injury” on January 4, 2014.

According to NewJerseyDevils.com/MikeyStrong, from where you can purchase tickets, the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is “dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research, and improving the quality of life for individuals living with paralysis through grants, information and advocacy.”

Involved will be WFAN personality and former New York Jets quarterback Boomer Esiason and his radio partner Craig Carton as well as former NHL stars. From the Rangers will be ex-players Tom Laidlaw, Tie Domi and Brad Richards; from the Islanders will be goaltender Rick DiPietro and from the Devils will be Ken Daneyko.

According to the site, general admission tickets are $20 and are on sale right now. Doors will open for the 7:30 PM game at 6:30 PM. In addition to a great evening of hockey for a good cause, all fans in attendance will receive a ticket voucher from the Devils good for two free tickets to a game during the upcoming 2017-18 season and the first 5,000 fans to arrive will receive a ticket voucher from the New York Yankees good for two tickets to a 2017 game. Restrictions on the vouchers do apply, so I would advise checking the Devils’ site for information on that.

If you want to give but cannot attend the game, or if you wish to give more than the face value of the tickets, you can do so at NewJerseyDevils.com/MikeyStrong. They have a link on the site to Mike Nichols’ page at the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation’s website. All donations made there will go to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and the Nichols Family Trust.

This should be a great event to benefit a pair of great charities. Mike Nichols was a New Jersey high school hockey player who was given a terrible blow in life, but he has been working hard to overcome his injuries and is giving back while doing so. Good luck to all involved and I hope they raise a lot of funds for the charities.

Tom Kostopoulos Nets 500th AHL Point

Before I begin the meat of this post, I would like to apologize as I missed mentioning Wayne Simmonds finishing the hat trick in yesterday’s NHL All-Star Game. The All-Star MVP had the game winning goal for the Metropolitan Division with an assist from Taylor Hall (which makes me feel even dumber for not mentioning it). This is not the first time I have made a mistake here and will not be the last time, but I sure felt stupid for missing it.

Anyway, on to a neat little news bit as former Devil Tom Kostopoulos currently of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins scored his 500th AHL point with a goal at the Binghamton Senators on Saturday. He became the 91st player in American Hockey League history to enter that club (500 points in the regular season) and the second oldest – he turned 38 on January 24.

Kostopoulos played 15 games for the New Jersey Devils in his last stint in the NHL in 2012-13 after he was claimed off of waivers from Pittsburgh on March 6, 2013. He then signed with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton the following September.

His NHL career has seen him play 630 games for Pittsburgh, Carolina, Calgary, Los Angeles, Montreal and the Devils spread out over about 12 seasons. He has 61 NHL goals and 96 assists for 157 total points in the big leagues. In the Stanley Cup playoffs, he has played 16 games, has 3 goals, 2 assists for 5 points in 16 games played all in 2007-08 and 2008-09 for the Canadiens. One of those playoff goals was an overtime winner 48 seconds in against the Flyers on April 24, 2008 as the Habs won 4-3.

In the AHL, the Baby Pens captain has a total of 197 goals, 303 assists for his 500 points in 662 games played. This season he has 15 goals and 18 helpers for 33 points in 45 games.

Congratulations to a hard working pro and former Devil whose dedication paid off. I will have coverage here tonight of the AHL All-Star Game, which is being played in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania this evening.