.@Jack_Eichel11 throws his hat to a young fan after the game. The kid was hooked up with a signed T-shirt. pic.twitter.com/itz7h4sZNt
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) October 31, 2015
Jack Eichel may have been born in suburban Boston, however, he has quickly been adopted by the Western New York community.
Buffalo is a city of good neighbors and Eichel. 19. has assimilated seamlessly into his new environs because of his kindness towards others and his generosity.
Sabres fans got a frontal view of Jack's compassion and tenderness when last Saturday night before the New Jersey-Buffalo game, the Sabres celebrated Hockey Fights Cancer night. Eichel touched hearts and cause Adam's Apples to constrict when he was holding hands with and guiding pediatric cancer patients onto the ice so that they could participate in the special recognition ceremony.
It is difficult to fake that kind of sincerity and compassion towards fellow man and children.
Seeing his recent acts of kindness tells me that Eichel was raised the right way by two love parents.
On Friday night, Eichel performed another random act of kindness when tossed an autographed Sabres hat over the glass toward 9-year-old Sabres fan named Taylor Filighera.
For whatever reason, a disrespectful and ignorant Philadelphia Flyers honk stole the Eichel autographed hat away from the young man.
Taylor's father reportedly said that an incensed Eichel immediately pounded on the glass to get the loser's Flyer fan's attention so that he could interrupt the heist. No dice. The slob kept walking towards the exits.
Didn't we just see this movie on Thursday night in Pittsburgh?
Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma flipped a puck up and over the glass to a young Penguins fan when it was rudely stolen away by a fat, sleazy, grease ball of a middle aged fan. In Pittsburgh, the Penguins immediately reacted to the ruckus when they were alerted to the puck theft via Twitter. The Pens immediately approached the young man and gave him a Sidney Crosby sweater and a Penguins puck. Bylsma also gave a Sabres puck to an usher and sent it to the young man.
The Buffalo Sabres rallied in much the same way on Friday night when they presented young Taylor with a signed Sabres hat and a T-shirt from Eichel himself. In the end, Eichel righted the wrong and restored the euphoria and the adulation for the Sabres in the heart of the young 9 year old Sabres fan.
Happy Halloween from our Jack Eichelantern! #HappyHalloween #Eichelantern pic.twitter.com/aLScfwg2Oc
— Bauer Hockey (@BauerHockey) October 31, 2015
***
Memo to loser adult fans who steal souvenir items from young hockey fans. If you do it when I'm in the general facility, you better have good dental coverage.