His Best Setup Yet?

The young lady to the left is Selena Urban. She doesn't know she's appearing here on a hockey blog written in Canada, but I think she deserves a little space. Selana, you see, is a huge San Jose Sharks fan, but there was some worry she may never get to meet her favorite players after she was diagnosed as needing a liver transplant. Selena made a wish through the Make-A-Wish Foundation to see her players, and, today, the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Sharks Care Foundation put her on the ice with her favorite team!

With the Sharks at practice and going through their drills, Selena got to watch her hockey heroes do their thing on the ice. It was also team picture day for the Sharks so that meant buckets were off for the big moment when the photo needed to be taken at the start of practice. No big deal, right? Every team does a team photo, so this was pretty much a normal NHL day with an extra fan in the stands.

That is, until Joe Thornton set Selena Urban up for the moment of a lifetime. Writer's note: have the tissues nearby!

How incredible is that for Selena? Clearly, from the tears and the excitement and the disbelief in everything that's happening, she's overwhelmed with emotion, and that's exactly why hockey players and hockey teams, particularly at the NHL level, need to do more stuff like this. Selena's medical situation is perhaps the furthest thing from her mind in this moment, and that's exactly the kind of influence that NHL players and NHL teams can have, and there should be more stories like this.

Now if this was the end of the story, we're all feeling a little better about Selena's day thanks to the Sharks. The Sharks, however, weren't quite done with Selena there as they had a few more things planned for her day.

She got to sit on the bench while the Sharks practiced and got to meet all the players. Head coach Bob Boughner, upon hearing she was coming to Saturday's game, appointed her to read the pregame starting lineup in the dressing room! Of course, that brought more tears from Selena as she was overwhelmed once again. Clearly, the Sharks have not only made this young woman's day, but perhaps her entire month.

But then Jumbo Joe came back with perhaps his best assist to date in his illustrious career. Joe Thornton showed Selena the socks he'd be wearing to the game on Saturday night that featured Selena's graduation photo on them in honour of the 16 year-old, and then he offered to pick Selena up from her house and bring her to the game!

"He has my face on his socks!"

Jumbo had a few more surprises for Selena before leaving. @SharksCare | @SFWish pic.twitter.com/CQzugQoe1T

— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) March 7, 2020

Selena = STUNNED!

I can't say that I've ever identified myself as a San Jose Sharks fan, but I am a fan of any and all NHL teams doing this. Joe Thornton's efforts, in particular, will leave Selena with a lifetime of memories, and that's the power that these teams and players hold when exercise it. When we talk about teams putting up barriers between fans and players, this is the tearing down of those barriers in an extremely meaningful way, and the Sharks and Joe Thornton should be commended for what they did for Selena Urban.

Well done, Sharks, Make-A-Wish Foundation, and Sharks Care Foundation in bringing a lifetime of memories to one young lady who just wanted to meet her favorite players!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!