As the Rangers take the ice tonight against the Winnipeg Jets, the team will have some big assists from children associated with MSG’s non-profit charity Garden of Dreams Foundation.
Ten children from city organizations including the Children’s Aid Society, Make-A-Wish Foundation and more will be taking on duties at the Garden tonight, ranging from singing the national anthem to dropping the puck.
The children will dress the part, whether that means wearing a suit, hockey gear or others, and those whom amNewYork spoke with said thechance to be a part of a Rangers game is a once-in-a-lifetime highlight.
Oscar Saltalamacchia, 8, had a cancerous tumor removed from his kidney about five years ago after going through chemotherapy, and he will drop the puck for tonight’s game.
"I’m very excited ’cause I’ve never done that," said Oscar, who representing GDF partner NYU Medical Center. "I’m pretty much looking forward to dropping the puck because I’m a really big fan."
Brittany DeLuca, 15, spent two weeks in Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital in October for severe pneumonia, and will be an honorary musician at the game, playing an instrumental version on her guitar of "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons.
"I do musicals and short performances with school, but I’ve never done anything like this," DeLuca said.
"It’s a really amazing experience I wouldn’t have ever been able to otherwise," she said.
MSG announcer Al Trautwig will also be helping out tonight with the children, and he said having the chance to meet the families and lend a hand is something he always looks forward.
"Some of these people are in such desperate straights that I think the average person is out of touch with," Trautwig said. "Every time I walk into MSG ? I say to myself there’s a homeless child for every seat in this building. And that’s why I love doing these events."
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