You, Too, Can Vote For Rory

As is made plain and obvious around here every day, we don't have the most fundamental understanding of hockey. We love hockey, particularly in person, but with everything that has went on the last few years, it's difficult to keep up. We know, we apologize and we're trying.

So when we find a hockey cause that makes us want to jump and dance around a bit, we embrace it with open pads and kiss it with our six teeth. Therefore, we proudly introduce you to Rory Fitzpatrick, the current cause celebre of the online hockey set. Fitzpatrick, a little-used player for Vancouver, is, according to HFBoards (one of the top hockey message boards around and the ones who started this whole mess), "Fitzpatrick is pretty much the antithesis of a typical all-star. A Rochester, NY native, Fitzpatrick has spent the last decade bouncing back and forth from the minors to the NHL. Up to this season, he had played 210 games in the NHL in the last decade (approximately 24 each season). He's really just a hard working guy that gets by more on desire than pure skill. The kind of guy that doesn't get noticed when he's doing his job right. The kind of guy a team needs to win, rather than relying on superstars who are more concerned with the paycheck. Rory is a fan's man."

So what's this whole fuss about? Well, the fans — who, after all, are who the All-Star Game is for — are trying to get Rory voted into the All-Star Game at VoteForRory.com. It's a grassroots movement that has had so much success so far that there's a rumor the NHL is going to invalidate all his votes, which, of course, is exactly the opposite of what the All-Star Game is supposed to be about.

We love this cause — the NHL is probably the only league for which this could work — and we encourage everyone to visit VoteForRory and then get out there and write in Rory's name. It'll make the world a better place.

VoteForRory NHL All-Star Voting [NHL.com]