A very special hockey game was played at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Thursday night to honour the memory and spirit of five-year-old Nathan O’Brien.
Nathan's Heros hit the ice to honour the little boy who disappeared along with his grandparents last year.
The charity game raised money for the Nathan O’Brien Children’s Foundation and players included investigators who worked on the case, government officials, Flames alumni, friends, family and supporters.
“We get to celebrate our son in another event, in a hockey game that he loved and we’re making his dreams come true tonight,” said Rod O’Brien, Nathan’s dad.
Nathan played hockey for the Springbank Hockey Association and Timbits and Novice players will be in the stands to cheer on the teams.
Nathan’s mother Jennifer, the head coach of Nathan's Heros, says he loved hockey and superheroes.
“He just loved to have fun and play the game and his motto is ‘play hard and have fun’ and that’s what everyone’s going to do tonight and have a good game and his brother gets to go out and play and a lot of his buddies at the intermission and his friends get to come and see the game and he would just love that,” said Jennifer.
The O’Briens say Nathan’s favourite superhero was Spiderman and people dressed up in costume for the event.
The O’Briens say they continue to focus on their family to help them get them through the tough times and that they have a great support network to lean on.
“They just lift us up when we need lifting up and for us it’s also doing something for our son Nathan,” said Rod. “Nathan was a part of their world too and we’re just very blessed, we feel very honoured that everyone is doing this for our son and making his dreams come true so they’re all Nathan’s superheroes.”
“We’re blessed to have world class people step in and help plan this event,” said Jennifer. “We are so grateful for the people that we have to help us out.”
For more on the Nathan O’Brien Children’s Foundation, click HERE.
