Anyone up for a "feel good" Hockey Story? This is an excerpt from my blog about a friend of mine's son:
LJ has two kids. Jake, 4 and Hannah is about 5-6 months. Jake is the reason or this story. LJ and her family and close to Philadelphia, PA and her husband (JP) and Jake are hockey fans. Of course, the Flyers are the NHL team for that area and little Jake had picked Michal Handzus as his favorite player. As with every major league sport, trades are inevitable and Handzus was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks before the 2006-2007 season started. Jake was crushed that he wouldn’t be able to see his favorite player in Philly anymore. Well, Jake and his father wrote a letter to Handzus and told him how upset Jake had been about the trade and they promised to come to Chicago to see him play. Handzus, in the meantime, had been injured and was recouping from knee surgery when he ran across Jake’s letter. Handzus actually called JP on his cell phone and asked if they were still coming to Chicago. When JP answered, “Yes,” Handzus said he would love to meet up with Jake.
During their trip to Chicago, Michal Handzus and his girlfriend met with Jake and his father. They all went to lunch together and then he took them to the Chicago locker room so they could meet the rest of the Blackhawks. LJ said Jake was so excited about the entire day. Handzus even gave Jake his cell phone number and email address so he could keep in touch. How cool is that???
You hear, almost daily, in the news about Professional Athletes getting in trouble, beating their wives, doing drugs, cheating, etc, etc, etc. Every time they mess up, it’s on the news. But, hardly ever, do you get hear a story that is actually “news worthy” because it’s a feel good story. People want dirt, people want others to do bad so their own lives don’t look so bad from a different perspective. I, for one, like the good news stories. This is a feel good story about a professional athlete that took time out of his schedule to help out a genuine fan. A real “nice guy” in the world of cry-baby, spoiled brat, millionaire athletes. (Note: I’m not talking about just hockey players, I’m lumping ALL professional athletic forums in that negative generalization) I know there are many “nice guys” in professional sports, so don’t think I dislike them all.. I’m just noting you see and hear more about the bad stuff they do than the good stuff.. This says a lot about Michal Handsuz. I don’t know the guy from Adam’s Housecat, but I’m a fan now because he’s “keeping it real.” Of course, no news media deemed this meeting worthy because Jake is just a regular kid. So, I'll use my own media outlet (this blog) to tell the story.
Salute to you Mr. Handzus. And, if my Thrashers can’t win Lord Stanley’s Cup, I hope your Blackhawks do. (Although, with the 2007 stats, it’s not going to happen for either of them this year)