Saturday, September 11, 2010

HEY NOW, YOU'RE AN ALL-STAR, GET YOUR GAME ON... Paulie Kosta & keanu reeves battle it out on the ice for charity





NHL vs. Hollywood
SCORE's 3rd Annual Celebrity Hockey Game 
Sunday, August 17, 2003


So, I was lucky enough to attend the game on Sunday and got to check off "see Keanu and Paulie play hockey" from my list, where it was nestled between "kiss a kiwi guitarist" (checked) and "learn to make pistachio soufflé" (unchecked).
We got to the Health South Center fairly early, which was good because we got to be in the shade while we stood in line and got to see people arrive. I watched Keanu from afar, but did manage to dork out, hop a rail and scream tobecky's guitarist, Paulie Kosta that he should "kick some ass out there today". Of course, at that time I didn't realize that he was the enemy and I should have wished him a leg cramp or something.
We eventually got in and got seated not too far from where becky members Robert and Rebecca were, figuring they would sit closest to the end where Keanu would be goaltending. This was a good call and minutes after we sat down, the players were on the ice doing their warm-up. Keanu did some stretches (sigh) and then positioned himself in front of the net and proceeded to block a good many of the practice shots on him. 





nothin' but net?....nooooooo!


Meanwhile, poor Wendy was freaking out because the fancy laser beam autofocus took a liking to the netting that was stretched between the fans and the ice from rail to ceiling. It was a tense time and I really would have risked a puck in the face for clearer shots at that point.





FOR THE RECORD: the girl behind him is JUST SOMEONE ON EVENT STAFF, but she probably did score a sweaty towel or two...


Naturally, once warm-up is over and she figures out how to trick the autofocus, Keanu is mopping off.





he was the only one that sat on the rail like this


Ahh, that's better.
We then all stood up for a minute of silence and then for a somewhat strange accoustic version of the national anthem sung by Luc Robitaille's wife.
They should have had Rebecca do it.
The teams were announced and I then realized that it wasn't really NHL vs. Hollywood because both teams had a few of each type of player, which was good and made for a more balanced game. It was then I noticed that the green jersey'ed "Visitors" team had Paulie for goalie. Scandalous!





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OK, first period?
Keanu and Paulie kicked ass.
Nothing got past him.
The puck bounced off his shins, his skates, his chest. He was snatching them out of the air. He denied them entry to the net as though they were midwestern tourists made of black rubber and he was a bouncer at Skybar with a big stick for a velvet rope.
It was glorious.
I was so proud and impressed and my inner thighs were tingling.
The white-jersey'ed Home team scored 2 goals in the first period. I wonder if Keanu razzed Paulie in the locker room.





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I should mention that throughout the game, while Keanu stood there in front of the net, he would repeatedly bring up his gloved left hand hand to hit himself in the chest. Wendy thought he may have been moving his chest pad, but I think it was something more. I think he was psyching himself up. He would pound his chest and sometimes shake his head a little and tap his stick to the ice. The effect was not unlike a giant silverback ape posturing and being all Alpha. I could imagine him ggrrrrr-ing and growling behind the mask and pondered him scentmarking the crease before doing a little headshake of my own to snap out of it.


Second period
The teams switched sides on the ice so Keanu was down at the far end and Paulie was close to us.





Paulie Kosta, puckstopper


Paulie struck a pretty big and intimidating posture of his own in front of the net. 





I'm sure he's doing his 'metal face' here


He's also pretty quick with the stick and had no hesitation about throwing himself down to block a point, or even doing some splits.





Keanu holds his own in the cross-rink staring contest with Paulie


Keanu played really well in the first half of the second period, too.
Then I don't know what happened.
I never saw the first goal scored against him. I heard a commotion and looked down to his end and couldn't see him because he was so far out of the crease. I then saw a goal scored and looked up at the board and there were TWO points registered, so either they popped him one after another or there were some special points awarded on general goalie dumbassery.





Keanu watches the travels of the with intent


With about eight minutes to go in the second period, the Visitors team cranked it up. Those first two points either made Keanu lose a little focus or revealed a weakness in his game and they ran with it. A lot of action on that end during this period. At one point, Keanu pounced on the puck like a cat to stop a goal.





Give us a little wave, chuckles


Paulie seemed a little too amused watching the action on the other end of the ice at times. I think the villainous D.B. Sweeney had been influencing him.
A couple more points were scored. Everyone looked a little more tired.

Third Period
I should have taken pictures of the scoreboard throughout the game, because I'm not totally sure what the score was going into the third period. I think the home team was still ahead at 4-2, but I'm not 100% sure.





a rare shot without his mask, which is fine because The Face must be protected all all times


Sigh, I had hoped that at some point Keanu would skate over to where his beckyband mates and their group were (since that was near where we were) so I could have offered (re:shouted) some words of wisdom, "Stay in the crease, creampuff! - Don't let Alan Thicke fool you, he's like 70 years old but he's fast! - D.B. Sweeney is the DEVIL!"....but he didn't skate by.





our action hero, ready for another shot on goal


Anyway, this last period was even more action packed. They worked The Wall over pretty good. They had him diving and on his knees to protect the goal.
He's still pretty damn limber, by the way...rwowrrrr.
I wish I had gotten more shots when there was action but I was just so busy watching!





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Keanu blocked a lot of shots on goal but let a few in as well. He was typically contrite after the more egregious mistakes.
As the seconds ticked away, both teams played more agressively and roughly.
D.B. Sweeney even knocked Keanu off his feet and into the net! Evil! So yes, I now dub Sweeney to be a "mean baddie" and will be fast-forwarding through all his scenes in Hardball.
I looked at the clock with 3:11 left to go and got a little sad because I knew the game was almost over. The score was tied, and then the Visitors scored again. Keanu was pretty worn out.





Awww, someone's ready for a nap


It was up to the offense to turn it around now. I hoped that the Home team would pull it out in the final minute. They pulled Keanu from the net so they could put another man on offense but to no avail.
The good news is, that no points were scored on the empty net.





nine seconds to go....I was SO SAD it was over!


Nothing changed in the last nine seconds of the game and Keanu's team lost, 5 to 6. Paulie won the game and he was AWESOME! He held off over 17 shots in the last 3 minutes with a 6 on 4 advantage with all NHL super stars winding up an trying to score! He sealed the victory with a HUGE save from a blast from Rob Blake of the LA Kings! It was a fun game to watch and I think it was very good for SCORE, which really was the whole point. (By the way, I believe it was announced in the middle of the first break that Keanu generously donated his jersey to the silent auction which ended between the 2nd and 3rd periods. I have no idea how much it went for, but I bet it reeked - in a good way)




SWOON


And even this smiley boy knows that winning isn't everything, it's the fun of playing a good game with good friends and players to an enthusiastic crowd.
And these smiles from him were worth the trip and price of admission in themselves.





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I had the best time.
Thank you to all the players and organizers for a great game.
I plan on being there next year. Thanks Paulie Kosta! Thanks Keanu Reeves!
becky , it wahs | from inside the mind of krix at August 19, 2003 02:14 PM . 

Keanu Reeves and Paulie Kosta supports "revolution" in paralysis treatment

Keanu Reeves and Paulie Kosta supports "revolution" in paralysis treatment
By John Morgan, Spotlight Health, with medical adviser Stephen A. Shoop, M.D.
As Neo in The Matrix, Keanu Reeves realizes he is 'the one.' In real life, Reeves hopes to start a revolution in the treatment and care of people suffering from spinal cord injuries. Reeves and Kosta joined fellow celebrities and National Hockey League stars last Sunday for a celebrity hockey game to benefit the Spinal Cord Opportunities for Rehabilitation Endowment foundation.


Kosta and Reeves played goaltender during the benefit hockey game. By Mike Guastella, WireImage.com

"SCORE provides support for people who have experienced spinal cord injuries," says Reeves who tended goal during the game. "It helps them with what can be extremely expensive medical costs. So we're hoping to raise money for a great cause. And we get to get out on the ice with the NHL guys."
"And hopefully I'll be able to stop a few pucks," Reeves adds, joking.
Firing away at The Matrix: Reloaded star were such Hollywood hockey fans as Cuba Gooding Jr., Brendan Fehr from Roswell, Jay Harrington of Couples, D.B. Sweeney, Alan Thicke, and Rachel Blanchard ofClueless. Some of the NHL's top stars filled out the team rosters, among them were Luc Robitaille, Glenn Murray, Marty McSorely, and Rob Blake.
"A lot of the people that SCORE helps are all athletes – people who were injured while playing their sport," says Paulie Kosta, who plays with Reeves in a new band called becky. "So I think that makes this game more important, especially because of what happened to Sean [Gjos]."
SCORE was founded in 1999 after UCLA graduate student Sean Gjos suffered a paralyzing hockey accident.
"I was chasing a puck into the corner and the other team's player body checked me – it was a clean body check – and I went into the boards in an awkward back-first manner," Gjos recalls. "I dislocated one vertebra and fractured another. The net result was I squeezed my spinal canal to 10% of normal size."
The tragedy of Gjos' injury was apparent to him immediately.
"I was conscious throughout the entire accident, so I felt the numbness sweeping up – I knew immediately something was very wrong," states Gjos, who is SCORE's honorary chairman. "When they straightened out my legs, I still felt like they were bent and that's when I really knew how serious it was."
Now paraplegic, Gjos' accident illustrates the frailty of human health. His story was not far from the minds of the stars and pro players participating in the charity event.
"It's very scary that you could be doing a sport you love and one quick accident could change your life," says Blanchard, who was the lone female on the ice. "And it can happen to anybody at any time."
SCI score sheet
According to the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, approximately 250,000 Americans are now living with spinal cord injuries. Of these, 52% are paraplegic like Gjos and 47% are quadriplegic like the famous actor. Additionally, about 11,000 people suffer SCIs every year. Fifty-six percent of these are between the ages of 16 and 30 and 82% of all cases are male.
Only about 7% of spinal cord injuries occur from sports related activities, like the ones suffered by Gjos and Reeve. According to University of Alabama National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center (NSCISC), other causes include:
• Vehicular accident – 38%
• Violence – 24%
• Falls – 22%
• Other – 8%
"You could be playing any sport, not just hockey, and a freak accident happens; and we want to make sure that they are not forgotten," Luc Robitaille says. "They need help and financial support because their care is very expensive."
In fact, the medical costs are daunting.
Only about 52% of SCI victims are covered by insurance. And the NSCISC reports that first year medical costs for a paraplegic SCI can run as much as $209,000 or more. Lifetime costs for a 25-year-old paraplegic like Gjos can exceed $730,000.
"One of the things that is great is not only does SCORE provide research funding but it also provides funds to transform a house – by providing wheel chair access — so they can move around in their own home," notes Reeves, who will again play Neo inThe Matrix: Revolutions due out this November. "They also do mentoring and help people finish their education."
"SCORE gives financial grants because the costs are substantial to retrofit homes, cars, and get adequate rehabilitation and we'd rather people focus on rehab issues not financial ones," Gjos says.
Cuba Gooding Jr. stressed that research funding is equally critical right now.
"Christopher Reeve has regained some abilities that weren't there so that obviously tells us we don't know enough yet, and we need to get more funds for research because the cure is out there," Gooding Jr. says. "Stem cell research and other new innovative ways may be what help heal people who are paralyzed. But we have to get more money."
And knowledge.
The 'Matrix'
Research scientist and doctors have been struggling with how to regenerate nerves for many decades. But now there is budding hope that breakthroughs will be within future reach.
"Spinal cord injury is a process that primarily destroys connections between the brain and the spinal cord," says Mark H. Tuszynski, professor of neurosciences at UCSD and director of Center of Neural Repair. "The problem isn't so much that cells die but that these wires that connect the two are disconnected. The real challenge of regeneration research is to reconnect the wires."
Tuszynski says that a "great deal of progress" has been made in the last 15 years in understanding why these 'wires' don't reconnect themselves and how doctors can augment that recovery. For people who have an established injury, research is directed at nerve regeneration.
While peripheral nerves do regenerate, the spinal cord does not. Scientists now know a lot more about these previously mysterious mechanisms.
"A peripheral nerve regenerates for three reasons," Tuszynski explains. "First, the structure of the tube surrounding the nerve remains pretty intact, which helps align nerves into the correct orientation for regeneration. Second the injury site fills in with cells that help with the attachment of the injured nerves so they can move along — almost like a bridge that supports axon growth. And third, cells along the injured nerve secrete growth factors at the injury site to stimulate growth of new connections."
But in the spinal cord these things don't happen.
Tuszynski says that following a SCI there is no matrix of cells or proteins that the nerves can attach to as they grow along. Additionally, the spinal cord not only doesn't make growth factors, but it and the brain actually produce inhibitors that actively block the new growth of nerves throughout life. Another final obstacle to regeneration is no guidance mechanism exists to get the nerves growing to the right location.
"So research for regeneration centers on providing growth factors, providing a matrix to the injury site and neutralizing the inhibitors," the expert says. "In my opinion a multi-faceted approach, rather than one single approach, is most likely going to be an effective therapy for the complicated problem of spinal cord injury."
The good news for the injury community is there have been definitive successes in coaxing injured nerves to grow again and to grow into a site of spinal cord injury.
"The challenge remains to convincingly show that those growing nerves hook up to the right targets in order to allow functional recovery," Tuszynski states. "We have come a long way and we still have a long way to go but there is more hope than ever."
"I'm playing because the money and awareness raised can make a real difference in people's lives right now," says Reeves. "This is a great cause and it deserves attention."

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