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By Elliot Olshansky Stormin' back How The Hockey Community Has Stepped In To Help Those Affected By Hurricane Sandy ne of the few bright spots for NHL players during the lockout that wiped out the first half of the 2012-13 season was the opportunity for some of the game's top stars to jump in and lend a hand after Hurricane Sandy ravaged the Northeast. New York Rangers center Brad Richards, for example, rounded up 10 of his Broadway Blueshirts teammates for a hockey clinic on Staten Island, an event that raised more than $10,000 for Sandy relief. "Hockey was a way to rally some people together," said Richards, who also teamed up with Philadelphia Flyers winger Scott Hartnell to organize a charity game in Atlantic City that raised more than $500,000. "I don't think it was about hockey. Hockey was a nice device to get the kids out, families out, parents that otherwise were thinking about a lot more important things, to maybe O 16 april/May. 2013 get a couple of hours with us, put some smiles on their faces, get their mind off that, and obviously raising money for some local areas that needed it." Members of the Long Beach Apple Core survey a damaged pier near their home on Long Beach, N.Y., after Hurricane Sandy. All For One, One For All However, while a hockey clinic on Staten Island was a fine distraction, and both the clinic and the charity game succeeded in raising much-needed funds, hockey life in the New York metropolitan area – like just about everything else – was severely disrupted by the destructive storm. And, as New York's vibrant grassroots hockey community looked to restore some semblance of normalcy, parents, coaches and league officials banded together to keep their players on the ice. Even when there wasn't ice to keep them on. "We've had to play a lot of road games, let's put it that way," said Joe Brand, presi- dent of the Long Beach Apple Core, whose home rink, the Long Beach Arena, was in the crosshairs of Sandy's devastating path. "We probably had a foot and a half of sand and salt water in the rink the night of the storm," Brand said. "We got everything cleaned out, and then the rink became a FEMA site, where they handled donations to give out to families in need. Once all that got cleaned up, then you get to what's broken, what's not broken, what's ruined, what wasn't ruined." Despite the lack of a rink to play in, the Apple Core has forged on, aided by other members of the hockey community. "Everybody bent over backwards to try to accommodate and help us out," Brand USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM Photos By Mike Stobe