En route to the Canada vs. Sweden Sledge Hockey game, Liz King told me about the new pin she recently acquired. During the Paralympic Opening Ceremony she was seated behind a Team Canada sledge hockey player’s proud parents who made pins with their son’s number on them (#19). Being the newly addicted pin collector that she is, she was quite excited when they offered her one of their son’s pins. You can’t get more authentic than that!
What was even more exciting was when we took our seats in the arena – coincidentally in front of the 50 fans that flew in from Ottawa to cheer on their “hometown hero.” Sure enough, #19 (Todd Nicholson) was that hero. All the small and large Canada flags they brought along had #19 in the center of the maple leaf with other words of encouragement around it. We knew right away that this was going to be a great game.
Final score aside (10-1 … heck yes!), what made the game memorable was cheering on Todd with his proud fan club. Our section literally went wild every time he slid onto the ice. The crowd usually cheers like that when a goal is made – when the team does something remarkable. Todd, however, was doing something remarkable when he strapped himself into his sledge. He was never giving up.
Sidenote: If you want to cheer on Todd too, check out his athlete profile and his family’s blog they are updating daily during the Games.
Pick of the post: Regina Spektor – On the Radio (Official music video)
Related posts: