Edmonton Visit

Edmonton Visit

What a special evening it was for NHL officials Tom Kowal, Brad Kovachik, Lyle Seitz and Chris Lee who officiated the game on December 7, 2007 between the St.Louis Blues and the Edmonton Oilers in Edmonton.

Prior to the game, the officials were able to visit with James Dufour , age 8 and his mother Monique as well as Karan Kumar age 10, escorted by Rina Kumar both patients of the Stollery Children's Hospital at the University of Alberta.

At approximately 6:20pm before the game the group entered the officials room already in possession of a generous gift bag put together by the Oilers organization . After several minutes of conversation about the sport of hockey and a picture opportunity with the officials , the best part was when both Karan and James were given the chance to put on a real NHL officials jersey. The smiles on their faces were priceless.

After their visit in the room they were escorted to the ice area behind the St.Louis net were the Blues were going through their pre -game warm-up. The children stood behind the goal and witnessed first hand pucks being shot at the net and hitting the glass inches in front of their faces. Once again smiles were seen from ear to ear.

Shortly after this the visit came to an end and the group said their good-bye's. They were escorted to their seats for the very entertaining game by Sara Ripko ,Coordinator of Fan Development for the Edmonton Oilers, who was an integral part of setting up this visit. Our thanks go to Sara for all her hard work.

Special thanks also to Tony Caughell ,NHL Security Rep, for his help on this evening.

On behalf of Tom, Brad and Lyle this will be a night we will never forget.

Chris Lee

NHL Referee