In the last few weeks I’ve read three interesting stories that involve off-the-ice situations that involve the NHL. Two of the stories involve NHL players. One story involves an equipment manager for one of the teams. All three stories I have labeled the Good, Bad, and Ugly. Starting with the ugly, then bad, with the good news as the caboose. These stories show you hockey players are human beings as well. It shows society today can be the same ordeal: good, but very bad and man, people can be ugly.

THE UGLY

PATRICK MARLEAU

Last season, Patrick Marleau, wearing a Sharks sweater, broke hockey icon Gordie Howe’s record for most games played in the NHL. Marleau was drafted by the San Jose Sharks in the NHL 1997 draft. Marleau has played most of his career with the San Jose Sharks racking up over 500 goals and dishing out over 600 assists. This season Marleau is a free agent at the age of 42. Will he retire or will he find his way back on the ice at some point? The ‘Ugly’ part of this story is about Patrick Marleau’s son, Brody.

Some of the Marleau family were in the city of New York. Patrick Marleau’s son Brody is 12-years-old and left his sunglasses at the pool of the hotel. As would most parents, his let him go back down to fetch the sunglasses, and come right back up. When Brody was approaching the pool, a couple started to follow him. The woman of that couple started to ask Brody some questions as they were getting kind of close. The woman then was seen reaching for Brody and trying to get the young boy to go with them. Thank God another family saw what was going on and saved this from getting uglier. It was ugly with stranger dangers trying to lure the kid to go with them. Hotel security was called in by the couple that saved Brody from a potential lingering nightmare. Mrs. Marleau was called from the room and came racing down. The Headlam’s were the heroes from Louisiana, a couple who watched this unfold and intervened in this sticky situation. Would have been great if Patrick Marleau was there, a hockey player dropping the gloves on two evil kidnappers. Brody is the second in age out of the Marleau children. Brody may never forget his sunglasses ever again. Anything involving kids in some plot like kidnapping is just ugly. At least this story has a happy ending and hopefully they put those sick bastards away behind bars for a very long time.

THE BAD

CALEB JONES AND CONNOR MURPHY

Downtown Chicago these days has been overrun with rats. Chicago is the murderer’s capital of America. Maybe even the world. Chicago is where carjackings have been running wild. This story involves two Chicago Blackhawks players going out for dinner. Caleb Jones and Connor Murphy picked out a place to eat and even got their vehicles valeted. While Jones and Murphy were inside eating, thieves approached the valet as they had an unknown object on them & were demanding the keys.

The thieves made out like bandits as they got away with both Caleb Jones and Connor Murphy’s rides. Murphy’s ride is a 2017 Porsche Panamera worth $100,000. Jones, who came over form the Edmonton Oilers in the off-season, was driving a 2021 Jeep Trackhawk that is worth $90,000. Street value-wise… your guess is probably better then mine. Do you think Jones and Murphy had to pay for their meal? Car-jackings are becoming the norm like shootings in Chicago. I would have liked to see this story end with the thieves approaching both players and perhaps the thieves end up in the penalty box of the meat wagon. Perhaps bloody or at least a black eye. Glad no one was hurt in this incident. If crime numbers keep escalating, it might be hard for a Chicago sports team to land free agents. No one will want to come to the city where your life is at stake when getting a meal out. What a shame.

THE GOOD

NADIA POPOVICI AND BRAIN “RED” HAMILTON

This story happened in October when the Vancouver Canucks were visiting the brand new expansion team, the Seattle Kraken. The details of this story made headlines recently. The story involves a Kraken fan, a 22 year graduate of the University of Washington University, named Nadia Popovici. She was sitting behind the Canucks bench during this first ever match-up between Vancouver and Seattle. While she was sitting taking the game in, she noticed something on the Canucks’ equipment manager’s neck. Popovici knows what it is on his neck and used notes app on her phone to warn Brian “Red” Hamilton, the Canucks equipment manager. The message read, ” The mole on your back of your neck is possibly cancerous. Please go see a doctor.”

What would you think if you were on a visiting hockey team, the enemy, and a fan wrote you this? Is this fan twisted going to that level of bringing up possible cancer? Why would a fan flash this type of message to the equipment manager just to rattle their cage? Fans would rather want to rattle a player than a equipment manager. Brian Hamilton did get the mole checked out just in case when he arrived back in Vancouver. The mole was removed and was biopsied. The mole was in the beginning stage of cancer that had cancerous cells attached. If Hamilton would have ignored the fan, in the long run he would have had life-threatening cancer invading his body.

What makes this such a great story is Brian “Red” Hamilton did a search for the good Samaritan because she did saved his life. The Kraken organization helped track the 22-year-old girl down.

Both Nadia Popovicki and Brian Hamilton were reunited. Hamilton thanked Popovicki in person. The story even gets better. Popovicki, even before spotting the mole on Hamilton’s neck, was planning to go medical school. The Kraken and the Canuck organization, along with fans, have raised $10,000 dollars for her medical education. Now the pressure will be on Nadia to make her dreams come true as she was already headed in that direction. I give Nadia Popovicki credit because many younger people, who know about something, might not speak out. Being unsure about something could hold people back from giving out their opinion. If she was wrong, it would have only wasted about an hour or even less of Hamilton’s time getting it checked out. She was right and it became a huge deal, a game-changer & a life-saving call. Nadia Popovici has made her first mark on the world medical-wise and could be a great asset to many people in the years to come after she graduates from medical school.