GoodSports: NHL Finals Champ Patrick Kane Finally Gets Game-Winning Puck

GoodSports is a collection of stories here at brandonsneed.com highlighting the good given the world through sports. The GoodSports archive can be found here. 

This seemed fitting, what with the hockey world being in the thick of the NHL finals right now.

The Chicago Blackhawks last year won their first NHL championship in 49 years when right winger Patrick Kane ripped a shot from the left faceoff circle past Philadelphia Flyers goalie Michael Leighton into the net.

That puck was lost forever. Not even the FBI could find it. I can't speak for Kane, but as an athlete, I know that I love those little pieces of memorabilia. They take you back to those moments. You'll always have the memories, yeah, but so often, especially the older you get, those memories begin to feel more and more like dreams.

A hockey puck from the game-winner in the Stanley Cup Finals? It's like having brought something with you from that dream. 

Anyway, last month, Kane got something in the mail from a 10-year-old kid named Matt Cannon. A hockey puck. 

Last year, after the Blackhawks won, Cannon sent Kane an invitation to his birthday party. Kane actually went, and brought autographed gear and played hockey with the kids. 

In March, Cannon scored the game-winning goal for the Tonawanda Lightning against the Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles to win the Western New York Amateur Hockey League squirt championship. Knowing Kane didn't have his own game-winning puck, Cannon decided to send Kane his. 

"Matt wanted Patrick to have this puck because he knows Patrick's winning puck is still missing," Matt's dad, Dave Cannon, told the Chicago Tribune. "He told me, 'Patrick has given me so much, so I want to give him the only thing I can that he doesn't have. '"

"It was pretty cool," said Kane. He signed the puck and mailed it back, writing, "Congratulations on your goal, you should be proud — Patrick Kane 88."

No word yet if Kane's going to crash Cannon's 11th birthday next week. 

[ Kane eventually got championship puck | Chicago Tribune ]