Ricci to wear No. 40 for Coyotes to honor Pat Tillman

Yahoo Sports ^ | 9/9/2004 | AP

[rinkrat]

Ricci to wear No. 40 for Coyotes to honor Pat Tillman

September 9, 2004

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- Phoenix Coyotes center Mike Ricci announced Wednesday that he will wear No. 40 next season to honor deceased NFL player Pat Tillman.

Tillman, 27, left the Arizona Cardinals and a multimillion-dollar contract in May 2002 to join the U.S. Army Rangers. He was killed last April 22 in Afghanistan, the first NFL player to die in combat since the Vietnam War.

...full article...

[rinkrat]

Classy move by Ricci. Thanks Mike.

[JRandomFreeper]

ping

[Betis70]

Mike is a stand-up guy. I was pretty sad when my Sharks decided not to resign him and let him go on free agency.

I might just have to get a 'Yotes #40.

[vollmond]

But will the Coyotes take the ice this year?

[SZonian]

I was thinking if there would be any skaters taking the ice this year?

However, a very classy and stand up move for Ricci.

Cheers!

[Betis70]

Part of the quote left out of the AP article (in bold):

"When I heard his story, it really touched me," said Ricci. "This is a way to pay tribute to what he's done and what all the(soldiers) that have gone over there have done."

[sinkspur]

Ricci's a great player.

In fact, he's the greatest hockey player in the world with five teeth.

[Dog]

Fyi...

[Argh]

Ping.

[rinkrat]

Thanks for the full quote Betis. Just saw it on the Coyotes page along with this:

[Betis70]

yeah I went to the Coyotes page to look for jerseys and saw the headline. :D

Any chance there is a NHL ping list someplace?

[goldfinch]

Ricci is one of my favorite former Avalanche players. He is a classy guy and I am not surprised to see him do this.

I am really going to miss watching hockey...

[CurlyBill]

Hockey ping!

[Hat-Trick]

Thanks for the ping, CB. Hadn't see this previously. Class move by a class guy. I have missed Ricci in an Avs sweater ever since he left Denver, and can't remember him ever take a shift off. Steady, gritty, willing to do the hard work in the corners, at both ends of the ice.

[Hat-Trick]

Send a freepmail to CurlyBill for hockey pings.

USA vs. Finland tomorrow night, 6:00pm CDT. We're gonna need much more than the Tkachuk/Guerin/Modano line contributing, and I'd be surprised if Brett Hull isn't a healthy scratch (again).

[CurlyBill]

I agree with you... He was one of the guys I was hoping the Caps would pick up.... along with Chris Drury. These are the guys who can win you the Cup, not the Jagrs and the Bures.

[CurlyBill]

Actually, I don't have a hockey ping list. I just recall corresponding with you on hockey before since I play and coach the game. Retrokitten is a big Blackhawks fan, so we will sometimes ping each other on hockey threads.

[Hat-Trick]

Sounds like we need to start a hockey ping list. I'll start one - so if you want on the hockey ping list, please send me freepmail.

Regards,

Hat-Trick

[retrokitten]

Thanks for the ping on this! What a great thing for him to do.

Mr. RetroKat and I were up in St. Paul last week and got to see USA v. Slovakia. The Slovakian fans were really vocal and got everyone pumped up. It was a great time! Rick DiPeitro was in goal and he is also a big patriot. His dad was a helicopter pilot in Viet Nam and his mask pays tribute to that and MIA-POWs.

[Coop]

Good stuff. When is someone in the NFL going to step forward and do something similar?