Hockey is the greatest sport ever.

Most of you who know me know that I am a big hockey fan.  My teams are pretty much set in stone, The Tulsa Oilers and the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Last night, if only temporarily, I was a Dallas Stars fan.

Monday night during the Dallas Stars and Columbus Blue Jackets game in the American Airlines Center, Stars forward Rich Peverley, who has bad irregular heartbeat issues in the past had what was called a "cardiac incident" on the Stars bench and collapsed.  The game was halted and medical assistance sprang into action and he was whisked away to a local hospital.  Reports indicate that he had to have his heart restarted with a defibrillator and he was brought back to consciousness.  The legend that is growing from the whole incident that once Peverley was feeling better he was chomping at the bit to return to the game. 

All kidding aside the whole incident, and the outpouring of support from the professional hockey community was inspiring.  Every team in the NHL tweeted or posted something in support of Peverley.  The medical staff at the American Airlines Center was universally praised for their quick action in responding to the emergency and...though it hasn't been immediately acknowledged...were key in saving Peverley's life.  With professional athletes coming under fire for their attitudes, and their interests in money over play or loyalty to a team, it was a great "feel good" story to know that the league had the good sense to put the concern for the player over profiting from a fully played game and called it shortly after the incident.

People who are unfamiliar with hockey ask me why did the league decided to call the game and postpone it to a later date.  The best way I can explain it is that the players did not want to continue so they could support the fallen player, and that included players from the opposing team.  It's a rarity, considering that players have had broken legs, like Joe Theismann in 1985 on Monday Night Football, and they have been hit in thye throat like Steve Yeager of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 70s and nearly killed and the games have continued.  To that I say that things have changed.

I'm not saying that hockey players are more human than the players in the other major sports, I'm just saying that there are times when the game stops being important and concern for your fellow player takes precedence.  There has been very little disagreement over the decision to call the game in any case.

Here's hoping that Rich Peverley can bounce back from this and lace up the skates again.  Kudos to the NHL, for making the decision to put players over profit on Monday night.  Well done.