WISH continued from page 25
VINNIE WITH JASON SPEZZA.
and of course when Patrick Kane donned the superman costume and shades and then scored that nifty goal, Vinnie was waving his all star towel to no end. Following the skills competition,
VINNIE MET MANY OF HIS HEROES. ABOVE: VINNIE WITH DANIEL ALFREDSSON.
Vinnie bought a box of hockey cards
and among them was the number one of five signed Ryan Nugent Hopkins rookie cards! Vinnie spent a lot of his downtime looking at all the cards from different teams. When they arrived back at the hotel, there waiting for them was a huge equipment bag full of all kinds of memorabilia from the NHL. They spent another hour looking at all the wonderful stuff they received. I had been in contact with Vince
(Ryan’s dad) and the family a couple of times over that day (Saturday), and it was agreed we would meet just inside the main doors at Scotiabank Place for the Skills competition. After taking some pictures out front
with the beautiful ice sculptures, it was off to our seats − all arranged by the NHL. Ten minutes after getting settled,
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up walked James Duthie to see if it would be all right to take Vinnie down to the dressing rooms to meet some of the players. (This was unexpected, because Vinnie’s Wish Day was the next day at the All-Star game.) He was met by John Tortorella, coach
of the New York Rangers, who took Vinnie under his wing and introduced him to a bunch of players while James snapped pictures. And then Vinnie was asked if he would like to be on the bench for the start of the skills competition! You can imagine the joy on the face
of this 10 year-old when he got back to the our seats. James escorted him back with
signed hockey pucks, an All-Star hat and sweater and the biggest smile in the world. But that was just the beginning. We watched the entire skills competition
there was a huge party for sponsors and dignitaries and special guests at the CE exhibition hall out by the airport. I met the family there at about 10:45 pm. Theresa and young Vinnie, both exhausted from a long day, decided to go back to Lac Leamy. I looked after Vince and Mike and nursed a couple of beers at the huge party with close to 4,000 people, two bands and plenty of food and drink. I introduced them to the mayor of
Ottawa, Jim Watson, and later Jim was introduced to Theresa and Vinnie. Mayor Jim told Vinnie he had just met his dad and uncle and hoped they were having a great time in Ottawa. We also ran into a friend of mine,
Mark O’Donnell, brother of Sean, who happens to play on the Chicago Blackhawks. Mark is a huge fan of the Make A Wish Foundation. He told us that he would arrange through Sean to have four tickets set aside for a future Chicago game so they all could attend. Amazing how one wish can turn into
something so special. I arranged to pick up Vinnie and his
family around noon on Sunday so we could drive around the city a bit to show off some of our sites. We eventually got to Scotiabank Place to meet Anne Marie Lynch from the NHL offices in New York. And this started Vinnie’s actual Wish Day. continued on page 35
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