“There is no ‘I’ in team” is one of those famous quotes that every athlete has heard at least one, twice, or a billion times in their lifetime. Even though every athlete has this catchy phrase engraved in the back of their mind, everyone selfishly wants to do what will benefit them in the long run- score the most amount of goals, have the most running yards, get the most rebounds, etc. Do not get me wrong, every athlete wants their team to win and succeed, but who would not want themselves to earn the highest average number of goals for the season? However, on December 8th, 2014, New York Rangers defensemen Kevin Klein took on a new meaning of this famous quote during his game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Like any other day, the game for Klein started off to be a normal game, as the Penguins are a very good team, although they have recently been struggling to be victorious against the Rangers. During the first period with only 2:41 minutes to go and the Penguins leading the score by one, The Pittsburgh Penguins Zack Sill’s high stick recklessly tore off part of Klein’s ear as he was trying to block the shot. An immense amount of blood immediately started to gush out of Klein’s ear, as he skated off the ice and was then taken to the medical physicality where he received 13-14 stitches in order to reattach part of his ear. Zach Sill’s excessive temerity during that play resulted in him getting sent to the penalty box after getting charged with a double-minor penalty for high sticking. When a fan tweeted about the play and the penalty that Sill received, Sill remorselessly replied, “I also took part of his ear off”, which clearly was tweeted in a very boastful tone, proving that he had no penitence for his actions.

After getting part of your ear chopped off and getting a significant amount of stitches, I think it is safe to say, most people would just want to relax and take it slow for the next day or two to heal their wound, not jump right back into playing an intense NHL hockey game that just caused you to obtain the injury in the first place. Altruistically enough, Klein knew that his team needed him out there, and he was willing to do anything it took for his team to come out victorious. After getting his stitches, Klein jumped right back into this game and played just as fierce and as well as he would have (if not better) than without his injury. His dedication to his team, his inspiring momentum, and his great determination was extremely evident and showed to pay off when he went on to score the game-winning goal in over time with only 1:15 left in the game, bringing the Rangers to a 4-3 victory against the Penguins. As soon as the puck entered the goal, Klein’s teammates rushed to hug and congratulate him, and every fan jumped out of their seats cheering ebulliently. After the game, Klein modestly reported to the media, “When it went in, I was pretty happy”.

  The Rangers’ victory on December 8th, 2014 could definitely not have been won without the dedicated, passion, willpower, strength, and determination of Kevin Klein. After having to get a portion of his ear reattached after suffering a gruesome wound via a high-stick from Zach Sill, Klein jumped right back into the game forgetting about his injury, because he knew his team needed him in order to prevail against the Penguins. Many sports broadcasting companies like Fox Sports, SB Nation and ESPN say that Klein’s exceptional dedication to his team was responsible for his game- winning goal, which also helped Klein establish career-highs in goals and game-winning goals this season, and become only two points away from recording his 100th career NHL goal. A selfless act such as this one exemplifies the meaning of a true team player, which Klein clearly epitomized that night. Klein’s performance and actions will never be forgotten in all of Rangers’ history, and in my opinion establishes a new meaning of the famous idiom, “There is no ‘I’ in team”.