When Elise Simard gets to the rink, she steps into her happy place.
“She changes into a different kid honestly,” says Elise’s mom Christy.
The 12-year-old was born premature and has spent most of her young life in hospital, but when Elise is watching hockey all those troubles melt away.
“She is completely intent on cheering for those boys and she is up in their faces and banging the glass and getting involved and being bossy,” says Christy.
“She likes to tell them to get on the ice.”
It was at the Q Centre in Colwood where her banging on the glass caught the attention of former Victoria Grizzlies star Alex Newhook.
“[I] saw her on the glass first time she was there, just kind of went over and gave her a little fist bump,” says Newhook.
“Then she started coming to the games and I always saw her in warm-up.”
“He just went out of his way to make her feel included right from the start so it was pretty wonderful,” says Christy.
Both Christy and Elise followed Alex’s progress through to the NHL, where Newhook currently plays for the Colorado Avalanche. With the Simards now living in Battleford Saskatchewan, they decided to make the trip to Edmonton and watch Alex and the Avs in action against the Oilers.
“She got to see him on the glass and he had a signed stock for her and it went from there,” says Christy.
“He commented on Instagram that they don’t lose when Elise is in the building.”
That planted a seed, with a GoFundMe page launched to bring Elise to an Avalanche home game during the playoffs.
“Within five days we had enough money to get there and have some fun,” says Christy.
The Avalanche won both their games, with Elise grateful to see her favourite player and Newhook happy to be reunited with his favourite fan.
“She’s been a great supporter for me and definitely a light in my life,” says Newhook.
For Christy, it was the chance to see her little girl live out her dream.
“All of this is watching stuff through her eyes,” says Christy.
“I know how cool of an experience this is and how special this is and this sort of thing, it just makes you realize there’s amazing people out there.”
Cole Sorenson
