Welcome to This Is Hockey digest. Hockey is more than a game. It doesn't just offer exercise and excitement, it teaches teamwork and perseverance, and builds character and humility. It celebrates diversity, promotes equality and helps connect families. In short, it is a community inspired by a sport.

These are our stories. This is Hockey.

Pat LaFontaine, a Hockey Hall of Famer and vice president of hockey development and community affairs for the NHL, will be speaking on Capitol Hill on Thursday to a group of staffers from The Hill and healthcare advocates about the impact of youth sports on child obesity. LaFontaine, the chief architect of hockey's Declaration of Principles, a vision statement positioning sports as a platform for participants to build character, foster positive values and develop important life skills, wrote an op-ed in The Hill on Oct. 15, pushing for the passing of the Personal Health Investment Today Act.

Here is the op-ed by LaFontaine: 

WASHINGTON -- The Stanley Cup was the star attraction, but the message was equally powerful at a policy briefing on shifting demographics and hockey's future at the Cannon House Office Building on Wednesday.

Pat LaFontaine looked no further than the Toronto Maple Leafs naming four-time Olympic gold medalist Hayley Wickenheiser an assistant director of player development as an example of the hockey community living the Declaration of Principles one year after its unveiling.

The DOP, unveiled in New York City on Sept. 6, 2017, was developed by and for 17 hockey stakeholders to advance policies, programs and initiatives to create the best possible experience for the entire hockey community. It embodies, in part, that all hockey programs should provide a safe, positive and inclusive environment for players and families regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status.

The NHL is among the 35 organizations on the short list for the 2018 Beyond Sport Global Awards.

There are no moments that stand out, no particular instances of leadership or commitment to service or humanitarian contributions, examples of humility or perseverance. It's not because there weren't those moments or those instances or those examples in the careers of Vancouver Canucks forwards Henrik and Daniel Sedin. It's because that was the everyday for the Sedin twins.

It's who they are. It's who they've always been. It wasn't about a moment or two. It was about each day, each week, each season, each dollar given, each hospital visit, each pick-me-up for a teammate, each time facing the difficult questions.

That's why it's fitting that, after announcing their retirement at the end of the 2017-2018 season, the Sedins were awarded the 2018 King Clancy Memorial Trophy on Wednesday, for the things they did for 17 seasons in the NHL, and the same things they expect to continue to do beyond their time in professional hockey.

WASHINGTON -- When Ralph Featherstone started playing hockey in the seventh grade, he didn't know the impact the sport would have on his life.

In fact, he didn't even like it.

TAMPA -- In September, the NHL and the NHL Players' Association unveiled hockey's Declaration of Principles, developed to create the best possible family hockey experience, and was adopted by 17 hockey organizations globally.

The next step in advancing those principles came Friday at the 2018 NHL All-Star Declaration of Principles Summit at the Westin Tampa Waterside, which kicked off 2018 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend in Tampa.  

STOCKHOLM -- Former Ottawa Senators forward Daniel Alfredsson is interested in the Declaration of Principles, unveiled by the NHL and the NHL Players Association two months ago, because he has four hockey-playing sons, giving him a stake in the future of the game at the youth level.

"I think they're very good points, valid points, and I totally, fully support all of them," Alfredsson said before taking part in a Declarations of Principles event at Ericsson Globe on Thursday. "I think the toughest part is making sure everybody lives by them." 

NEWARK, N.J. -- Kiira Dosdall still remembers the only item she had written down on her Christmas list almost 18 years ago -- a New Jersey Devils cap.

Dosdall, 26, who plays defense for the Metropolitan Riveters of the National Women's Hockey League, can't believe she'll have an opportunity to play on the same ice as her favorite sports team as part of a NWHL/NHL doubleheader at Prudential Center on Saturday.