New Jersey
NHL’s cowardly decision to ban cause-themed jerseys sends wrong message
The NHL took the path of least resistance in banning cause-themed jerseys from warmups and in doing so turning Hockey Fights Cancer into collateral damage from Pride Night.
We’re told that the decision rendered by the Board of Governors on Gary Bettman’s recommendation was reached without input from or consultation with the NHLPA.
The players should have had a voice.
Intellectually, I get it. The NHL’s efforts were boomeranging. The only league to provide players with Pride-themed jerseys for pregame activities was being bashed by activists and across much of the media landscape for providing safe harbor to bigots when a tiny minority of athletes opted out of wearing them.
The focus had been trained on the handful of guys who did not wear the jersey rather than the hundreds who did. Teams and the league were being attacked for not suspending or discipling the holdouts, who were exercising their own personal rights. All publicity is most certainly not good publicity.
I get it. I get that the league is trying to extricate itself from the culture wars that permeate our society, but this response is cowardly.
When the going got tough, the NHL high-tailed it. The league waved the white flag. Minority ruled. This surely represents a step back even if Pride Nights will continue around the league. It sends a horrible message to those in the LGBTQ+ community who play the game at any level and have an emotional investment in the sport.
“Hockey Is for Everyone” sounds like an empty slogan.
If the Devils believe that Rangers-killer Akira Schmid is the real thing, then by all means the club should save the multi-millions it would take to acquire Connor Hellebuyck from Winnipeg then sign the elite 30-year-old goaltender to a long-term extension.
There may be no greater luxury than having a No. 1 goaltender operating under an $850,833 salary-cap hit as the 23-year-old Schmid will this year. But that’s if the Devils are sure about the Swiss. That’s if executive VP of hockey operations Martin Brodeur is sure.
Yes, Adin Hill.
Counterpoint: Sergei Bobrovsky rescuing the Panthers after starting the playoffs with Alex Lyon.
So Trevor Zegras, Mason McTavish and prospective second-overall Adam Fantilli, and you tell me which of these natural centers is going to be a fit on Anaheim’s third line.
If the selection committee has adopted a policy, unwritten or otherwise, not to induct Russians into the Hockey Hall of Fame until further notice, then perhaps one of the 18 persons who comprise the panel might want to clue the rest of us in on it.
In the alternative, those who are conducting a vendetta against Alexander Mogilny should do the decent thing and identify himself/herself/themselves.
The ongoing snub of the great and historically significant Mogilny seems personal. It is unaccountable. Of course there is no accountability on the selection committee that does its work in the dark. This is not unique in recent history, the committee having cruelly withheld election of Pat Burns until the coach had passed away.
Precedent, however, cannot camouflage the stink.
I came across a clip from 2020 in which selection committee member Brian Burke, one of those old guard NHL guys who seems to have his fingers in everything, talked about Mogilny in an interview with SportsNet. Burke was careful to say that, under rules of confidentiality, he could not talk specifically about Mogilny while of course talking specifically about Mogilny.
Burke’s take was that — though there are other factors taking into consideration such as team performance, Stanley Cup, major awards and an international résumé, there were 14 players ahead of Mogilny in career points who were not in the Hall. He mentioned that twice.
So when do Vincent Damphousse, Ray Whitney and Bobby Smith — three of those who accumulated more points than No. 89 — get in?
I first wrote about the under-representation of goaltenders in the Hall of Fame in November 2015. At that time, just four goaltenders who’d played the bulk of their careers following the 1979 NHL-WHA merger had been selected for induction.
There has, however, been a course correction in the interim with six such goaltenders elected. That includes the Class of ’23 that features Henrik Lundqvist, Mike Vernon and Tom Barrasso.
Barrasso has the numbers and he has the back-to-back Cups with the Penguins in 1991 and 1992, but his out-of-left-field selection might open the door a crack for fellow American, Mike Richter, who doesn’t quite match his career counting stats but surely is at least his equal in stature.
Richter is one of the greatest money goalies of the post-Original Six Era, turning in legendary performances in the 1994 Stanley Cup run that represents the Rangers’ only title in 83 years and the 1996 World Cup championship that marks Team USA’s only title ever in an international best-on-best tournament.
He is in a group featuring Patrick Roy, Billy Smith, Ken Dryden, Bernie Parent, Grant Fuhr and Dominik Hasek. These half-dozen are all in the Hall of Fame. Richter is a long-shot, properly so with just 301 career victories that ranks 38th on the all-time list, but Eddie Giacomin is in with 290.
Barrasso’s ability to handle and pass the puck was considered revolutionary back in the day. Until, of course, Rick DiPietro came along. Isn’t that right, Mike Milbury?
New Jersey
Live N.J. power outage tracker: Strong thunderstorms, fierce winds cut power to thousands of homes
Strong thunderstorms that have pelted parts of New Jersey with heavy rain and strong winds have knocked out power to thousands of homes and businesses across the state, with forecasters calling for a threat of additional thunderstorms popping up through late Sunday night.
NJ.com’s Power Outage Tracker, which monitors outage numbers from utility companies in the region, showed about 12,000 homes and businesses in New Jersey without power as of 6 p.m. Sunday.
Forecasters from the National Weather Service had predicted a cold front would move across New Jersey on Sunday, interacting with hot and humid air, which could trigger intense thunderstorms with damaging winds as strong as 60 mph.
Eighteen of the state’s 21 counties are under a severe thunderstorm watch until 7 p.m. Sunday, and three counties — Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland — are under a severe thunderstorm watch through 11 p.m. Sunday. Several thunderstorm warnings and flash flood warnings have also been posted.
Forecasters say they can’t rule out the possibility of an isolated tornado forming during the intense thunderstorms because of the high humidity and wind shear in the atmosphere.
On Wednesday night, New Jersey was rocked by strong thunderstorms that toppled trees and snapped power lines in numerous towns and cities, knocking out power to more than 100,000 homes and businesses across the state.
Those storms turned out to be deadly, with a large tree falling on a 30-year-old man in East Orange, killing him, according to local police.
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Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com or on X at @LensReality.
New Jersey
After poor debate performance, Biden appeals to donors at N.J. Gov. Murphy's home
In the aftermath of that debate, Biden flashed more vigor in speeches in North Carolina and New York on Friday, saying he believes with “all my heart and soul” that he can do the job of the presidency.
The Biden campaign said it has raised more than $27 million on Thursday and Friday, including $3 million at a New York City fundraiser focused on the LGBTQ+ community.
Jill Biden told supporters Friday that he said to her after the debate, “You know, Jill, I don’t know what happened. I didn’t feel that great.” The first lady then said she responded to him, “Look, Joe, we are not going to let 90 minutes define the four years that you’ve been president.”
The Democratic president still needs to allay the fears stirred by the debate as it seeped into the public conscience with clips and memes spreading on the internet and public pressure for him to bow out of the race.
Democratic donors across New York, Southern California and Silicon Valley privately expressed deep concerns about the viability of Biden’s campaign in the wake of his debate performance.
In a series of text message chains and private conversations, they discussed the short list of possible replacements, a group that included Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Vice President Kamala Harris.
But on Friday, there was no formal push to pressure Biden to step aside and some suspected there never would be given the logistical challenges associated with replacing the presumptive nominee just four months before Election Day.
Some donors noted they were going to pause their personal giving. They said receipts from Biden’s weekend fundraiser would almost certainly be strong because the tickets were sold and paid for before the debate.
New Jersey
New Jersey woman was warned about 'strange' ex-boyfriend before murder, dad says
When Stephanie Parze’s father learned his daughter was missing, he immediately had one suspect in mind — her ex-boyfriend.
“I didn’t like this person from the day I met him,” Ed Parze told Fox News Digital. “There wasn’t ever any eye contact with this guy. He was in and out. I even said to my daughter, ‘I’m not liking this. You’ve got to be careful with him.’ He was strange. I had a gut feeling from day one. … I just said, ‘It’s him.’”
The case of the New Jersey-based makeup artist is being explored in Investigation Discovery’s (ID) true-crime series, “Deadly Influence.” It delves into the underbelly of social media, exploring the dark reality of toxic online communities.
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“I’m speaking out because we need to get the awareness out so that this doesn’t happen to anybody else,” Ed said. “It also keeps Stephanie alive.”
Ed described his daughter as a 4-foot-11 “firecracker” who had a passion for artistry. She quickly developed a following on social media.
“I didn’t realize that she had an influence on social media like she did until after the incident,” Ed admitted. “I knew she was doing things on social media and putting some art out there. She would always send me stuff, and I thought it was amazing. But I didn’t realize how fast it took for her to build a following.”
It was on an online dating site where Parze met John Ozbilgen, a stockbroker from New Jersey who worked on Staten Island, said Ed. The pair interacted on social media before hitting it off in person.
“It was very quick,” Ed recalled.
But the union was tumultuous. According to the series, Parze accused Ozbilgen of assault. She wanted to end the relationship.
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Ed said he initially tried to warn his daughter about getting involved with Ozbilgen, 29.
“She would say, ‘Give him a chance, he’s shy. Once you get to know him, you’ll like him,’” said Ed. “What do you say to that? You have my 25-year-old independent, strong daughter. She knows what she’s doing. You would hope that you’re proven wrong. But I still had that gut feeling. And then my gut feeling was right.”
Parze was last seen Oct. 30, 2019. She left her parents’ home after a night out with relatives. She then drove back to her late grandmother’s nearby home but then failed to show up for a nanny job the next day. Her car and phone were discovered at the property, but there was no sign of forced entry.
“Stephanie only lived about six minutes from here,” said Ed. “She always called and texted whenever she got home. But when 25 minutes went by, and we didn’t hear anything, we immediately knew something was wrong.”
Parze’s mother called her daughter frantically but got no answer. Ed had hoped that his daughter, likely tired from the evening’s festivities, put her phone on silent and went to bed. But still, he felt uneasy.
“If you blew her phone up, she would call you immediately,” said Ed. “We went to bed that night not knowing what happened. The next morning, we still didn’t get that phone call. We then went over to the house. … We couldn’t find her at all. Nobody had seen her. And that started the search.”
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Parze’s family organized a search party to find the influencer. More than 100 volunteers, many of them online followers, stepped in to help.
“I used to go on Facebook every night and just start putting posts out there,” said Ed. “More and more people came forward wanting to help. It pulled at my heartstrings. … I didn’t realize how far these posts had reached out to people. … Many people just recognized Stephanie from her face and being online all the time.”
Ozbilgen was eyed by investigators as a person of interest. According to the series, they discovered he sent Parze 10 angry, unanswered text messages the night before she vanished.
On Nov. 8, 2019, Ozbilgen was arrested and charged with one count of third-degree endangering the welfare of a child — possession of child pornography, the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office said in a statement. Images were found on his phone as authorities investigated Parze’s disappearance. He remained in custody until Nov. 19, when he was released.
On Nov. 22, 2019, Ozbilgen died by suicide. While he was never charged in Parze’s disappearance, he left behind a note indicating he was responsible for killing her.
Ed said he received an anonymous phone call that day. All he heard was, “He’s dead. He hung himself.” The mysterious caller hung up.
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“I went nuts,” said Ed. “I lost myself. I was punching walls. I was throwing stuff. I was screaming. I was going crazy because, in my mind, he’s the only one who knows where she is. I got in my car. I went to his house, which was only about three minutes away.
“I was met there by a detective who took me out of there. … But I put up a fight. I said, ‘I gotta know. Is this true? Is there anything left behind? Are there any notes? … Somebody has to know something.’ [The detective] said, ‘Yes, it’s true. He’s gone. He did hang himself, but we can’t tell you anything else.’”
“There were two notes,” Ed said. “But nobody still didn’t know where she was. We were going to continue the search until we found her.”
In the note to his parents, Ozbilgen “said he had enough and that he could not do life in prison” and that what his parents would hear in the news “was true except for the charges of child pornography,” said Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni. Ozbilgen also wrote that he had “dug himself a deep hole” and that “this was the only choice.”
In January 2020, human remains were discovered in Old Bridge by two teenagers walking south along Route 9. Authorities confirmed it was Stephanie. Due to the state of decomposition, authorities were unable to determine how Parze was killed, according to reports.
Ed’s work wasn’t over even after Stephanie was laid to rest. On his daughter’s birthday that year, he founded The Stephanie Nicole Parze Foundation. It aims to “provide education, intervention and support to families and individuals dealing with domestic violence, sexual abuse and missing loved ones.”
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“We want to save lives and prevent this from happening to other people,” said Ed. “We’ve gone from six members to 128. Right now, we cover the whole state of New Jersey. … We have about 13 different programs that we offer to the public … from self-defense classes to alarm systems. We’re trying to get legislation passed for Stephanie’s Law, which would establish a publicly accessible domestic violence registry.”
Today, Ed hopes Parze’s story will encourage other parents to be as vigilant as possible with their children.
“I always tell students, ‘Love is blind,’” said Ed. “It’s an old cliché, but there’s truth to it. You don’t know what’s happening to you because you’re blind to it. You don’t realize you’re being manipulated. You don’t realize that the person’s controlling you, and they’re isolating you from your friends and family. But your friends will see it. Your siblings will see it. Your parents will know it.
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“If you’re going through something, don’t hide from your loved ones,” said Ed. “Tell somebody what’s going on in your life, especially if you break up with someone. Make sure you tell somebody that you’ve broken up with somebody because you don’t know what’s in the other person’s head at that point. The most dangerous part is during the breakup. That’s when people are the most vulnerable. That’s when most of the murders happen.”
“Deadly Influence” airs July 1 at 9 p.m. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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