Ottawa boy with rare disease steals show at NHL Awards
The NHL Awards are supposed to pay tribute to the best players in the league, but they also paid tribute to one of the bravest fans of the game on Wednesday night.
Young Jonathan Pitre, an Ottawan who suffers from a rare skin condition Epidermolysis bullosa (EB), was surprised on stage Wednesday night by members of the Senators and was rewarded with tickets to next year's All-Star Weekend and a charitable donation by the NHL.
Pitre originally caught the eye of the Senators and the NHL when he was featured in an Ottawa Citizen story about EB, an extremely painful condition which causes his skin to blister and scar from the smallest triggers. Senators GM Bryan Murray saw the story and awarded Pitre, a hockey fan, a one-day contract with the Senators. Since then, Pitre has continued to raise awareness about the condition and fundraised over $100,000 for the cause.
So on Wednesday, the NHL ran a short video feature on Pitre during the awards show before surprising the shocked 14-year-old with members of his favorite team, including Erik Karlsson, Andrew Hammond, Mark Stone, Cody Ceci, Daniel Alfredsson and Bryan Murray. Pitre was not given any advanced notice about the proceedings, and when asked on-stage how he felt, said "I have no idea what's going on right now."
But Ottawa captain Erik Karlsson made sure everyone was fully aware of Pitre's impact.
"To us you're a hero," Karlsson told Pitre. "Thank you for doing what you do and being who you are. We really do appreciate it."
(h/t NHL)
Photo credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images
