TORONTO -- Two young Ontario hockey players are getting a taste of sports stardom in a new Tim Hortons ad.

In the commercial titled “The Autograph,” 8-year-old Gordie Gilders of Campbellford plays a young Wayne Gretzky, according to Trent Hills Now. Gilders plays Gretzky visiting a Tim Hortons location in 1968 Brantford and getting a napkin autograph from Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman and restaurant founder Tim Horton. The moment is framed as “the beginning of something great,” a reference to Gretzky’s title as “The Great One.”

As the ad flashes forward through the hockey star’s career, two other actors are featured, including 12-year-old Tyler Vriesema as a teenage Gretzky on the Vaughan Nationals. More than 68,000 Canadian boys auditioned for the roles, according to a news release earlier this month.

Tyler, who plays minor hockey in Essex County in Southwestern Ontario, had to learn to skate in old fashioned hockey skates and stickhandle with his left hand, just like Gretzky.

“The kid couldn’t even stand in the skates,” his mother, Julie Vriesema, told CTV News Windsor. “We’re in wardrobe and two ladies are holding him up so he can stand. And I’m like ‘in two days, this kid’s going to have to be on ice skating on these old skates. But not only just skating on these old skates but skating and looking like Wayne Gretzky. How is he even going to do this?’”

The small part in the new commercial has had a big impact on Vriesema. “I want to stick to acting but I still want to play hockey,” he told CTV Windsor. “Acting is fun.”

In an interview with Trent Hills Now, Gordie’s mother said he has to miss hockey practices with the Campbellford Colts, but his coach was understanding. “It’s just an honour for him to be doing this… It all happened so quickly it seems it was a dream,” she said.