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BEST EMOTION

Statues will be built. Stories will be told. Streets will be renamed. Songs will be sung. Poems will be written.

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Dreams will be had.

Actually, a dream was had here today.

Strip away the hype, and man there’s going to be a lot of it, and forget for a moment the strangeness, and there sure was some of that, at the core of what unfolded today, something special happened.

I don’t understand why Willie opened his locker room to Boeser’s parents minutes before the game, a move he’s never done before, but he created emotion, and maybe a little magic.

Boeser’s home is just 20 minutes from the rink. To have this moment in this arena with his parents reading out the opening lineup was almost too much.

“It meant a ton to them,” he said. “I had tears in my eyes. I’m so thankful for everything they’ve done.”

Yes, he got my cold, often-dead heart right there.

BEST REALITY CHECK

It was the Canucks who wanted Boeser signed to an NHL contract and playing games with the Canucks which meant burning the first year of his ELC and also made him ineligible to play in Utica until the fall.