Chapter 28

Sidney did not want a big fuss made for his birthday so we went to his house in Halifax for a long weekend to spend it with his Mum, Dad and little sister Taylor, it was nice.

It was soon time for Mum, Dad and Andy to move over and they settled in very quickly just as I had done nearly a year ago.

The schedule for the new season was released and once again it was time for the games to start. We had a lot to live up to after the amazing season we had last year and the year before.

We got the season off to a good start by winning or first few games and Marc-Andre started where he finished off with his long running shut out record, he certainly was at the top of his game.

As I sat in the office this morning I received an email from my Mum who works in the events office telling me that Nickelback have agreed to play at the charity event at the Melon Arena that has been organised with all proceeds going to the Mario Lemieux Fund. It is on a night that we do not have a game so I said to her to put my name down for attending. That was one band that I would not be missing and of course it was part of my duties to attend such events. Although I had agreed to go it was not really something that I had a choice about.

I phoned Sidney to tell him that Nickelback have agreed to play, I was not sure if it was music that he would like.

“I think they will be a bit rocky for me but I can’t not go to the charity events.

“I wonder if Wayne Gretzky will be there, he is a big fan of them and a very good friend of Mario, I would love to meet him, he is an idol of mine”.

I came off the phone and set about making his dream come true. I started by asking my mum and then Mario’s wife if they knew if Wayne Gretzky would be making an appearance, she did not know but said for me to phone him and she gave me his contact details. I asked them not to mention this conversation to Mario or Sidney.

I eventually plucked up the courage to call him.