Some people warn that you should never meet your heroes. Well, Mathew Blindheim is going to ignore that piece of cynical advice.
Thanks to the efforts of his intrepid mother, Naomi Blindheim, who entered her son’s name the maximum of once a day for a month, Mathew is a winner of the McDonald’s contest In The Line Up.
“We saw an advertisement for it, I think it was on the TV,” said Naomi. “One of his friends from last year had won the contest, so I knew it was coming up in November.”
As one of 12 children randomly selected from over 12,000 online entries, Mathew has not only won tickets to January NHL All-Star game in Montreal, the nine-year-old will get to stand alongside the players during the opening ceremony to the game.
According to Naomi, Mathew, who plays in net for the Envirolube novice team in Whitehorse, would most like to meet Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo.
“We don’t know if that’ll happen because he is injured,” said Naomi. “He’s a huge Canucks fan.”
However, Mathew’s fascination with players is not restricted exclusively to the Canucks franchise.
“He’d like to meet Sydney Crosby and pretty much any goalie.”
As a bonus to winning, last week Mathew received a call from Dion Phaneuf of the Calgary Flames, wishing him congratulations.
“He asked him who his favourite player was, who his favourite team was and if he was excited in coming to the All-Star Game,” said Naomi. “My son wouldn’t tell me too much — he’s nine.”
The yearly contest, which is a joint venture between McDonald’s Canada, the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Association, selected one entry from each of the nation’s provinces and territories. Included in the prize is round-trip travel for two to Montreal, lodging for three nights, an on-ice clinic, dinner with two NHL stars, tickets to the All-Star Game practice and more.
“Oh yes, we’ll be at all of it, he doesn’t want to miss any of it,” said Naomi.
As for non-hockey related attractions, the Blindheims still have some planning to do.
“I’ve never been there, so I don’t what to do,” said Naomi. “We probably won’t go too far from the arena. It’s going to be fun.”
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com