As our readers know, we at NHLTradeTalk.com have decided to focus on Canadian-based hockey, however every-once-in-a-while there’s simply a great story and we simply have to cover it. Here’s one of those stories, and we want to publicly give a shout out to the St. Louis Blues for making a young woman’s life so happy.
Laila Anderson and the St. Louis Blues
Her name is Laila Anderson and her story is that she was diagnosed with a rare, auto-immune disease called HLH. She needed to find a bone marrow donor and eventually did. What makes her so special to hockey fans is that she’s a super St. Louis Blues fan. And, when the team learned about her, they brought her on board and made her part of their Stanley Cup run.
Not only was Laila a fan, but she also was an inspiration. The St. Louis Blues team adopted her. During game three of the Western Conference Finals, the team gave her a microphone so she could pump up the crowd during the Stanley Cup Finals. She did.
The team also flew her to Boston for game seven where the Blues beat the Boston Bruins. During the victory celebration, Colton Parayko helped her hold up the Stanley Cup on the ice. She was also part of the team’s championship rally.
However, the team wasn’t finished. They also inscribed her name other championship rings, and just the other day both forward Alexander Steen and defenseman Colton Parayko showed up on her home with a surprise. They presented her with her own Stanley Cup ring.
Steen told Laila, “You know how much you mean to us, right, and what an inspiration you’ve been to so many people. So me and Colton are here and representing our organization and everybody there, and we have something that we would like you to open right now.”
When Anderson opened the box she was in tears. Holding her own championship ring, her response was priceless, as you can watch on the video below: “I feel I shouldn’t be touching this,” she said.
Obviously, the St. Louis Blues franchise thought differently. Here at NHLTradeTalk.com, we salute the St. Louis Blues organization for their kindness and generosity. Personally, as a former teacher, anything that makes a young person smile is worth doing. Sometimes hockey is more than what’s going on during a game.
