Like many players, Mattias Ekholm has his routine during pregame skates for the Nashville Predators.

Towards the end of warmups, for example, the defenseman would fling a few pucks at the glass behind the net. At home games, Ekholm noticed something curious and consistent where he was firing those pucks: a 4-year-old girl named Alice was staring back at him, gleefully cheering him on, giggling and pointing as the rubber discs hit the glass.

“She was there every time. And then we just started this routine, and it’s pretty intense,” said Ekholm.

That routine, formed over the course of dozens of home games, now includes Ekholm smiling and waving from the ice, and trading fist-bumps through the glass with her.

“When she sees him on TV, she says, ‘There’s my friend,” said Emily Kraft, Alice’s mother.

Ekholm had met Alice a few times at Predators “meet and greet” events, but recently took her for a tour of the team’s dressing room and arena, as captured in the video above. And although she was super shy, Alice came away with an autographed stick from the player whose oversized jersey she was wearing.

NHL More

Great stuff from the Predators, and exactly the kind of extra effort and personal connection that makes a hockey fan for life.

—

Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

MORE FROM YAHOO SPORTS



