The New York Rangers will distribute the Steven McDonald extra effort award tonight. This comes with a charitable donation of $25,000 in the name of the winner to the Steven McDonald Foundation, and it helps serve as a reminder that the Rangers enduring a tough season is never the end of the world. There will always be another NHL season, but the story of this award is always worth recapping. It's a story that needs to be remembered.
McDonald was serving in the New York Police Department when he was shot in 1986. The shooting left him quadriplegic, paralyzed in all four limbs. His shooter was a teenager. Officer McDonald was questioned in Central Park and spent nine years in prison for shooting McDonald three times. However, so many would feel all that anger and vengeance if they ended up in a situation where this officer did not and instead opted to forgive.
McDonald sighted breaking the cycle of violence and trying to replace it with kindness. It was a message that never reached his shooter, as he was killed four days after his release from prison in a crash, but it inspired so many to move on from their grudges and release all of the unhealthy tension that had developed in so many situations. He tried to make a difference despite no longer doing that traditionally.
In 1987-88, the Rangers honored McDonald by creating the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award, which has been given out almost every year since. Many great Rangers have won the award and had the pleasure of meeting McDonald. Jan Erixson won the first, but many Blueshirts greats like Adam Graves, Mark Messier, Brian Leetch, Wayne Gretzky, Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan Callahan, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, and Adam Fox have won the award. Today, it will be given out again.
Before McDonald's passing in 2017, the Rangers would ask him and his wife to join the organization for a ceremony before the game it was awarded. However, in his physical absence, his wife and son present the award to the Ranger, who goes above and beyond for his team and community. We will wait for official confirmation, but the suspected winner is a man truly deserving of an award dedicated to such heroism.