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https://www.yahoo.com/video/nhl-youn...003324364.html
A young Montreal Canadiens fan and his father went to cheer on their favorite team in Toronto. The lad brought along a sign that he held up against the glass during warmups, asking for a puck from his favorite player, Nick Suzuki. It worked, Suzuki flipped a puck over the boards to him. Unfortunately he missed the catch and got hit in the mouth, resulting in a bloody lip and a few tears. Suzuki felt bad and came out to take a picture with him, sign the puck, and topped it off by giving him one of his sticks.
So far, so good.
Then the arena staff stepped in. They informed the boy's father that if they wanted to keep the stick, they'd have to leave the game immediately, otherwise they'd have to surrender the stick.
Their reasoning? The stick was a weapon. They opted to leave.
I can see the rationale behind not permitting hockey sticks in the stands. It *can* be used as a weapon, and while I'm sure this kid wouldn't have used it as such, there's no guarantee an inebriated fan wouldn't grab it and hit someone with it.
What I don't understand - at all - is why their only two options were to get kicked out or give up their prized souvenir. This is far from the first time a player has given a fan a souvenir stick, so you'd think they'd have had time to come up with a reasonable way to handle it by now.
The solution seems entirely obvious: inform them that they can't keep the stick with them in the stands, but offer to hold onto it for them - at the security office or the pro shop, for instance - so they can pick it up after the game.
Instead, they kicked them out. A young fans night made, ruined, made again, then ruined again. That's just disgraceful.
(As if I - as a Boston Bruins fan - needed another reason to root against Toronto!
)
A young Montreal Canadiens fan and his father went to cheer on their favorite team in Toronto. The lad brought along a sign that he held up against the glass during warmups, asking for a puck from his favorite player, Nick Suzuki. It worked, Suzuki flipped a puck over the boards to him. Unfortunately he missed the catch and got hit in the mouth, resulting in a bloody lip and a few tears. Suzuki felt bad and came out to take a picture with him, sign the puck, and topped it off by giving him one of his sticks.
So far, so good.
Then the arena staff stepped in. They informed the boy's father that if they wanted to keep the stick, they'd have to leave the game immediately, otherwise they'd have to surrender the stick.
Their reasoning? The stick was a weapon. They opted to leave.
I can see the rationale behind not permitting hockey sticks in the stands. It *can* be used as a weapon, and while I'm sure this kid wouldn't have used it as such, there's no guarantee an inebriated fan wouldn't grab it and hit someone with it.
What I don't understand - at all - is why their only two options were to get kicked out or give up their prized souvenir. This is far from the first time a player has given a fan a souvenir stick, so you'd think they'd have had time to come up with a reasonable way to handle it by now.
The solution seems entirely obvious: inform them that they can't keep the stick with them in the stands, but offer to hold onto it for them - at the security office or the pro shop, for instance - so they can pick it up after the game.
Instead, they kicked them out. A young fans night made, ruined, made again, then ruined again. That's just disgraceful.
(As if I - as a Boston Bruins fan - needed another reason to root against Toronto!
)