Danny Getzlaf has good reason to cheer for the Anaheim Ducks when they roll into Oilers territory.
It’s in his blood.
Getzlaf, who lives just north of Edmonton, shares a common Russian ancestor with Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf.
On Sunday, Getzlaf, who was recently diagnosed with ALS, finally got to meet his distant cousin.
“Needless to say, I never dreamed it would happen,” Getzlaf said in an interview with CBC Radio’s Edmonton AM.
After getting word of his recent health battle, the Ducks plucked Getzlaf from the stands after Anaheim’s 4-3 win over Edmonton.
They never give up. I like to treat my disease in the same way,– Danny Getzlaf
Getzlaf says the meeting reminded him to take courage as he faces off against an incurable illness.
“I look at the Ducks, and they seem to always pull it out in the last minutes of the game, and they never give up,” Getzlaf said.
“I like to treat my disease in the same way.”
Getzlaf said he never suspected he shared an ancestral connection with the Saskatchewan-born power forward.
He’s been watching his namesake play since Ryan Getzlaf’s days with the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen and claims to have the largest collection of Getzlaf hockey cards and memorabilia in the world.
When Danny Getzlaf’s sister began researching the family tree a few years ago, she discovered their link with the hockey star.
As far as they can tell, the two Getzlafs are third cousins, several generations removed.
“My great grandfather came over from Russia with his brother and they settled in Canada, in Saskatchewan,” he said.
“And I’m off one of those branches, the other branch.”
Every time his distant cousin comes to town, Getzlaf faithfully sports his Anaheim jersey. The tradition has earned him some notoriety.
A photograph of him in his jersey at playoff game in Edmonton last season — a lone white jersey in a sea of orange — went viral online and got the team’s attention.
After all these years, the two men had never met until Getzlaf got the surprise invitation on Sunday.
He and his wife Linda were escorted downstairs to meet the team captain outside the locker room.
“It was pretty cool,” he recalled. “I talked about how I was a good luck charm and he mentioned that they should take me to Vancouver too.
“He was very gracious.”
‘I’m slowly dying but quickly living’
Getzlaf was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in November.
During a routine appointment last August, he jokingly told his doctor that he could no longer move his big toe and was sent for a battery of tests.
The debilitating and incurable degenerative disease has already began attacking his nervous system.
I just thought I was getting older and getting weaker.– Danny Getzlaf
“I have all these quivers in my body … and had some wasting in my hands from the muscle loss,” he said.
“I just thought I was getting older and getting weaker, but at 51 years old, I guess you shouldn’t think you’re getting weaker.”
Getzlaf, who lost his father at age 13, said it’s painful to think about saying goodbye to his friends and family.
“[My father] had a heart attack and I was present. I didn’t really get to say too much to him and he didn’t really get to say too much to me.
“I like to think some of those grunts were ‘I love you.’
“So there’s a lot of ‘I love you’s’ that I tell to my children and my friends and family now.
“I’m slowly dying but quickly living.”