rugbys power-brokers must be able to make that happen.I hav

When Dominic Moore took a year away from the NHL, he did so with little to no fanfare. Moores wife Katie was diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer in April 2012 and died Jan. 7, 2013, at the age of 32. The lockout had just ended, and his mind wasnt on hockey. There was no formal announcement, just the eventual realization that the free-agent centre wouldnt be playing. "It was a very difficult decision to decide to take some time away from the game," he said in an interview last week. "At the same time it was the right decision. I didnt want to do anything where I wasnt going to be able to give it my full attention or focus." Fast-forward six months and Moore is ready to resume his career after signing a one-year, US$1-million deal with the New York Rangers. Moore hopes he can re-establish himself as an NHL regular and also use that stage to promote the Katie Moore Foundation and other charitable efforts. "I think Dom is a 100-per-center. If he does something, hes a 100-per-cent committed. I dont think he wouldve been a 100 per cent committed to playing hockey at that time," former Tampa Bay Lightning teammate and friend Marty St. Louis said in an interview Monday. "Im so glad that hes back playing next year." Moore, who has been able to work out and train aggressively in recent months, could fill a third- or fourth-line role with the Rangers, but he could have greater impact off the ice. And thats before the 2013-14 season even begins. Moore is hosting the second "Smashfest Charity Ping-Pong Challenge" July 25 in Toronto to raise money for the Katie Moore Foundation and some brain-injury and concussion-research groups. St. Louis, Logan Couture of the San Jose Sharks, Joel Ward of the Washington Capitals, George Parros of the Montreal Canadiens and David Clarkson of the Toronto Maple Leafs are among the current players set to take part, in addition to former players like Eric Lindros, Mathieu Schneider and Kevin Weekes. Its a ping-pong event because, Moore said, theres a table in every NHL locker-room and its a major part of NHL players culture. Several players from the Toronto area and beyond will be there because thats what a fraternity like this does. "The support through the hockey world is great," Moore said. "Situations like this come up, you see how people come together to support each other, and Im grateful for that." When Moore first got involved in charitable endeavours, it was with the hope of raising money and awareness for concussion research. His brother Steves career ended after he suffered a concussion and neck injury when Todd Bertuzzi violently attacked him from behind in 2004. "The concussion stuff is obvious -- were hockey players," Moore said. "Obviously thats an important issue for the hockey world." Over the past five months, the Thornhill native has tried to jump-start the Katie Moore Foundation for a very specific cause. Katie died of fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma after a nine-month battle. "Its geared towards rare cancers," Moore said. "Obviously theres a lot of money thats been thrown around for cancer research and whatnot, but most of it goes to the big ones: breast cancer and lung cancer and things like that. There are a lot of people out there that are suffering from another rare disease. There a ton of these different less-common diseases that are not getting the attention or funding that maybe they could or should. Thats the intention behind what were doing." The focus of the Katie Moore Foundation is funding primarily non-traditional cancer-research projects in the Boston area, where Dominic and Katie met while at Harvard University. Itll be roughly nine months from the time Moore decided to take the lockout-shortened season off until he plays another game for the Rangers, the team that drafted him and gave him his NHL start. "The Rangers for a variety of reasons were my first choice. Im glad that came to fruition," Moore said. "It feels like coming home for me given thats where I started my career, and I always felt New York had a special place for me." That hes playing anywhere in the NHL next season is special for those in hockey who know Moore and tried to help however possible in the past year or so. "I love the way he plays the game, and I love what hes done away from the game," St. Louis said. "What hes gone through, to come back from that, playing hockey at the highest level again, Im looking forward to watching him play again." Authentic Custom Stars Jersey .C. at the helm of the top team in the Eastern Conference. His tenure as the GM in Vancouver was all too brief. Though he led the Canucks to what was then a franchise record-shattering campaign in just his second season, Nonis was gone and replaced one year later. Cheap Custom Stars Jersey . 10 VCU 85-67 on Thursday night at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. The Seminoles (4-0) have scored at least 80 points in each of their games. http://www.customstarsjersey.com/custom-gump-worsley-jersey-large-89j.html . Vancouver Whitecaps and Toronto FC failed to make the postseason while Montreal Impact fell at the first hurdle losing heavily to Houston Dynamo in the Eastern Conference Knockout Round. Custom Stars Jersey China . Down by seven with 90 seconds left in regulation, thats where they looked comfortable. Custom Stars Jerseys . Already owning gold from competition in Vancouver in 2010, Loch posted a combined four-run time of 3:27.526. That included a track-record third run of 51. Warren Gatland fears the British and Irish Lions would lose their mystique if global administrators cut the length of future tours in half.Head coach Gatland warned rugbys governing bodies not to shorten future Lions tours, amid the battle to ease the global fixture pile-up.World Rugby and top unions are still fighting to plot a future course, with no international calendar in place post the 2019 World Cup.Next summers Lions tour opens just one week after the Guinness PRO12 and Aviva Premiership finals -- Gatland has long since accepted the 2017 schedule, but insists future trips need extra preparation time.I dont have an input but it will be interesting to see how the next deal is structured, said Gatland, worried about the idea of cutting future Lions tours from 10 to five matches.Potentially they talked about reducing the number of matches -- I dont know. I would hate to see the Lions going [on tour] for five matches; 10 matches is about right.You would lose the mystique of what the Lions is all about. Even for the people who are planning to go on the tour but are only going for the last three weeks. You can get excited watching the first games on TV and seeing the crowds.The Lions is unique in terms of a team touring the southern hemisphere because they never get to experience what we get to experience in the Six Nations and potentially going forward -- on some of the Lions occasions 40 per cent of the crowd being away fans.I have been watching the All Black games and 95 per cent of the crowd are All Black supporters.They have started looking forward to going to a ground where all of a sudden there is red everywhere, 40 per cent of away supporters and that just creates a completely different atmossphere in a ground.dddddddddddd.We are lucky enough to experience that on a number of occasions in the Six Nations. That is special about the Lions. I would like to think between the four home unions and the clubs we could protect it.Gatland led the Lions to a series victory over Australia in 2013, then promptly called for extra preparation time in his post-tour report.Lions coaches have been calling for more tour preparation time since at least the early nineties, and Gatland believes rugbys power-brokers must be able to make that happen.I have known all along for the last six months that this is the schedule -- it is what it is and I am not complaining, said Gatland of the Lions quick departure after the end of English and Celtic club commitments.But I am talking here about the future. I wrote a report [after 2013] and the last thing I said was I am wasting my time. I could have written the report in three words: preparation, preparation, preparation.I think every Lions report has said exactly the same thing. I understand the pressures that the Lions and the board are under and there is a lot of external stuff from the clubs, the unions and the different competitions about release of players and how long they are going to be off.That is all part of the next negotiations. Clubs do get compensated for the players coming away. Hopefully when the next deal is done the stake holders will sit around the table and thrash out what will be the best thing. Having been involved in this, I would hate to see the Lions die as an entity and not have the opportunity to prepare properly. ' ' '