Ever heard of Chicago Blackhawks backup goalie Scott Darling? The president has.
He has proven himself to be a leader off the ice as well as on.
In hockey, backup goalies don't often get much credit — especially from the president.
But that's exactly what happened when the Stanley-Cup-winning Chicago Blackhawks made their way to the White House on Thursday for an awards reception.
Among the people President Obama wanted to give credit to: backup goalie Scott Darling — who played in just 14 regular-season and five playoff games last year.
GIFs from the White House/YouTube.
Why? Well, it was actually something that Darling was involved with off the ice.
Obama wouldn’t have known to praise Darling without a serendipitous exchange between an Uber driver and a Beer League Hockey Player.
Here's a story an Uber driver told beer league hockey player Kane Van Gate, who posted it to Twitter:
"I knew nothing about hockey until I gave Scott Darling a ride. He changed my life. When I picked him up he had a man with him. A man who had been through some really trying times and Scott just so happened to see him on the street and strike up a conversation. So he had me drive this guy to a hotel and he paid for him to stay at that hotel for an entire month until he got back on his feet, and even got him some groceries.
I've never met anyone in my life who was so sincere. I later Googled him, found out who he was and now I think hockey is the greatest sport in the world."
Now, you're probably thinking, "That's an oddly specific story, but how do you know the Uber driver wasn't just making it up or missing a few facts?" Well, Darling confirmed the story via his own Twitter account, though he hasn't said anything else about it since.
Darling warms up before a game last season. Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images.
Now, it really should be noted that Darling is nowhere near one of the National Hockey League's top-paid players (he's making $575,000 this year — which is obviously a lot for those of us who aren't professional athletes, but you get the idea).
"He paid for him to stay at that hotel for an entire month until he got back on his feet, and even got him some groceries."
Pretty cool, right?
Darling lifts the Stanley Cup trophy during the Blackhawks Championship Rally last June. Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images.
And while Darling has remained hush-hush on the whole thing, Obama felt such a selfless act was worth highlighting.
Ever the modest one, here's how Darling reacted to the presidential kudos:



A Generation Jones teenager poses in her room.Image via Wikmedia Commons
An office kitchen.via
An angry man eating spaghetti.via 
Gif of baby being baptized
Woman gives toddler a bath Canva


An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
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Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.