Grayson Boe has spent the last several days immersed in what many fellow youth 鈥� and adults 鈥� would describe as a dream come true.
The 10-year-old from Edmonton, Alta., has been visiting Vancouver with his parents, Charlene and Trevor, to watch Team Canada make a run at world junior champions.
But along the way, as the team of young men fought to win each game, Grayson had his own personal mission: collect as many pucks from the players on ice as possible.
Grayson told Black Press Media his plan for pucks originated last year during the 41st world juniors in Montreal. But no matter how hard he tried to get the players鈥� attention, the pucks weren鈥檛 being thrown in his direction.
鈥淢y parents started making signs up and my dad said, 鈥榃hat if we made it in their language?鈥� So my mom Googled how to write 鈥楶uck Please鈥� in the different languages,鈥� he said.
HEARTBREAK AT HOME:
At the time, they didn鈥檛 have poster paper so the trio wrote the messages on the back of their printed tickets. By the end of the tournament, Grayson had collected 14 pucks.
During this year鈥檚 championship in Vancouver and Victoria, Grayson came prepared. With a dozen poster boards, each with a message translated in French, German, Danish and others, Grayson has managed to collect 24 pucks.
鈥淭he last game I asked for one from Alexis Lafreni猫re and he tossed me one,鈥� Grayson said. 鈥淭he other games I asked for one by my signs from Maxime Comtois and Owen Tippett and they also tossed me one.鈥�
Out of all the Vancouver-based matches, the only team Grayson couldn鈥檛 grab a puck from was Team USA.
鈥淚 was really hoping Sweden would be in Vancouver so I could get a puck from them,鈥� he added.
So what鈥檚 a kid to do with 40 junior championship pucks? The Boe family will be building a special cabinet for each one to be on display.
鈥淎nd this time we know which puck is from what player as my mom wrote on each puck with white tape the puck [number], who it鈥檚 from and what game.鈥�
ashley.wadhwani@bpdigital.ca
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