An NHL team threw a birthday party for an 11-year-old fan

An NHL team threw a birthday party for an 11-year-old fan

Toronto players congratulated the child to whom no one came to the party.

Birthdays are one of kids’ favorite holidays: friends, cake and presents make it unforgettable. But the party of Cade Foster, an 11-year-old Canadian schoolboy, turned out quite differently and almost became the worst in the boy’s life. We tell you how the party was saved with the help of hockey fans.

No one came to Cade’s birthday party

This story began with a sad event: Cade Foster found himself in an unenviable situation when none of his friends bothered to come to his 11th birthday party. Of course, such a situation upset the kid. But luckily, his dad took matters into his own hands by enlisting the help of social media. He tweeted out a photo of his son wearing a Toronto FC jersey – Cade’s favorite hockey team – and touchingly captioned it:

‘My son Cade had a birthday yesterday. But none of his invited friends showed up for his 11th birthday. That’s really sad. Please, if you have a spare moment, wish him a happy birthday.

This story quickly spread across the network: the post was shared by about 30 thousand users, almost 200 thousand supported the schoolboy with likes. The boy received hundreds of congratulations from the stars. Even the Governor of Ontario and Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau congratulated Cade.

Toronto hockey players decided to save the day

The news of the failed birthday got to John Tavares – the captain of Toronto. He personally called the young fan and invited him along with his family to the next game with “Philadelphia”. The hockey player revealed that he just wanted to make the kid happy on a special day:

“His birthday was on Monday, I called him and just said: “Happy Birthday!”

The Toronto Hockey Club covered all expenses for the Fosters’ flight from Newfoundland. Interestingly, the initiative to throw a party for the child came primarily from the team’s hockey players themselves. Mitch Maner, one of the players, said:

We immediately started discussing this story in our chat room and wanted to help the boy in some way. As a kid, birthday parties like this mean a lot: you have friends over, you treat them to pizza, other goodies – it’s all usually a lot of fun.

Greetings at the Skoushabank Arena

The festive day started with the Foster family visiting the team’s locker room after morning practice. There Cade talked to the idols, took a bunch of memorable photos and took autographs from his favorite hockey players.

But the most unforgettable surprise was waiting for the guy at the end of the game. The polar bear, the team’s mascot, brought a big cake for Cade, and 20 thousand fans congratulated the birthday boy. Judging by the boy’s emotions captured on video, he still can’t believe it’s happening to him.

“Toronto” that day lost on a shootout, but it hardly spoiled Cade’s mood, because the hockey players already fulfilled the child’s dream.