Advertisement

Andrew Ference will plant 50 trees every time Tyler Seguin scores a goal this season

Harrison Mooney

Like many NHLers, Andrew Ference took to Twitter shortly after the end of the NHL lockout was announced to express his excitement. He also took the opportunity to riff on his reputation as one of the league's most ardent environmental advocates.

"For every NHL pass, a tree will be planted. Every NHL goal, a solar panel will be installed," Ference joked, before adding, "Wait… what? Those proposals didn’t get in?!?"

No they didn't. But anyone who knows the Boston blueliner knows that he was only sort of joking. If there actually was a way to help the environment with every goal, he'd be on board in a second.

And that gave the folks over at Bruins blog Stanley Cup of Chowder an idea. With that, #TreesForGoals was born.

They reached out to Ference:

The Plant a Billion Trees Campaign is exactly the sort of thing that was going to get Ference going. From their site:

The Plant a Billion Trees campaign is an unprecedented major restoration initiative launched by The Nature Conservancy in 2008 to restore Brazil's Atlantic Forest. On the brink of extinction due to pressures of urban expansion, agriculture, ranching and illegal logging, much of what remains of the forest is found in isolated fragments, which are often too small to support a full array of its extraordinary biodiversity. Through Plant a Billion Trees, we will reforest 2.5 million acres and connect more than 12 million acres in new forest corridors.

No doubt that was going to get the eco-warrior's attention, and it did. Ference responded, willing to match the pledge of fifty trees per goal. But, of course, he's not known for his goal-scoring prowess. In five full seasons as a Boston Bruins, Ference has 11 goals. So he decided to hitch his own wagon to someone that might reforest a little more terrain: Tyler Seguin.

You heard him, Seguin. You're not just scoring to win. You're scoring to save Brazil's Atlantic Forest. Now get out there and score us some trees.

You can read more about Trees For Goals and even contribute to the cause over at Stanley Cup of Chowder.

Follow Harrison Mooney on Twitter at @HarrisonMooney