Veronica Heinen stood up in front of a room full of hockey players — and their mothers — and revealed a secret even her son Danton didn’t know was coming.
She took the group back to the evening of June 15, 2011, when Veronica remembers her son returning home in tears. Danton, then 15, had grown up a Canucks fan and lived only a saucer pass from Rogers Arena in Langley, B.C. He and his father, Rick, had attended Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final in 2011.
They watched helplessly as the hated Boston Bruins won the championship.
“He made a little Stanley Cup that he took with him,” Veronica said. “He was a huge Canuck fan and now he’s a Bruin. It’s crazy how that works and he’s playing for the team he hated.”
Danton remembers that cup well.
“I was a diehard back then. Everything I did was hockey. I made a little Stanley Cup and we would play for it in the driveway,” he said.
But he wasn’t prepared for the truth: Not long ago, Veronica admitted, she threw it out.
“I was put on the spot,” Veronica Heinen said with a laugh.
Fortunately, Danton didn’t seem to mind.
It’s about time she threw it out,” Heinen said.
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“None of us would be here if it wasn’t for our parents,” Marchand said. “Hockey is a very demanding sport; a lot of travel. It’s very expensive to play, and it completely takes over your life. The travel, the scheduling four or five days a week — and that’s with one kid. If you have multiple kids in the same sport, you’re basically a chauffeur for the kids to get to their sports. It’s incredible the time they put in and how dedicated they were. I think they enjoyed it more than I did, so I’m forever grateful for everything they’ve done for me.”
