Saskatchewan farmer Kent Wolfe still can’t believe his lucky family finally got to see Oilers captain Connor McDavid at Rogers Place.
Wolfe drove five hours to Edmonton last week from Biggar, Sask., with his wife, BJ, eight-year-old son, Reid, and five-year-old daughter, Charlee, so the kids could see their first live NHL game.
But just before the Feb. 19 game, McDavid was scratched from the lineup because he was sick.
“I kind of thought it was going to be the end of the world,” said Wolfe, whose son had made a sign saying how excited he was to see his hero.
‘End of the world’
Reid and his sign were shown on national television. The family watched the Oilers lose to the Arizona Coyotes 3-2 in overtime, and planned to head home two days later.
Reid is back & so is Connor! ? <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/LetsGoOilers?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#LetsGoOilers</a> <a href=”https://t.co/uJqdQXcWar”>pic.twitter.com/uJqdQXcWar</a>
—@EdmontonOilers
But Kurtis Hicks saw young Reid and his sign online and felt terrible for the boy.
“I think the word hero is what kind of caught me,” said Hicks. “We felt bad for him, for his family.”
A lifelong Oiler fan himself, Hicks tweeted from his phone to see if anyone could put him in touch with the Wolfe familly.
The two were talking about an hour later.
‘Out of this world’
Hicks, general manager at Sherwood Ford, gave the family tickets to the next game on Feb. 21 against the New York Islanders.
“It was amazing, the kid’s eyes just lit right up, they were going back to see another game,” said Wolfe, who drove the family to the dealership the next morning to meet Hicks and pick up their tickets.
“I was just glad I was driving a Ford when I went to the dealership,” he said.
Update: We rolled the dice hoping McDavid would play tonight and are happy to hear he is CONFIRMED to hit the ice! We are pumped for Reid and Charlie get to see him in action! Thank you everyone for helping get the message out! <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheyEvenDriveAFord?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#TheyEvenDriveAFord</a> ? <a href=”https://t.co/60b7tscOq8″>pic.twitter.com/60b7tscOq8</a>
—@SherwoodFord
The Oilers, with McDavid in the lineup, beat one of the best teams in the league, with the game-winning overtime goal scored by the captain himself.
“I didn’t expect any of this to happen, it swept us off our feet,” said Wolfe, who runs a small cattle farm about an hour west of Saskatoon. “I catch myself looking back at the pictures quite a bit, and everything that went on during the week there like it was out of this world.”
“It was an unfortunate event, we kind of stepped in and made it better,”said Hicks. “You don’t hear all the good stories all the time, and this one kind of turned into one and it was just nice to be a part of one.”