Shaelin Earle is from Beverly, Mass., but he’s a huge Anaheim Ducks fan. So when his favorite team was in town Thursday to face the Boston Bruins, the Ducks made sure he got some extra special treatment.
Fourteen-year-old Earle has cystic fibrosis and was a Ducks guest of honor, thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The organization had flown Earle to California earlier this season, but because of the mumps outbreak that made the rounds through Anaheim’s locker room, he wasn’t able to meet the players.
So the Ducks assured that wasn’t the case at TD Garden. The team invited him to its morning skate, gave him his own locker and later celebrated a 3-2 overtime win over the Bruins.
“The whole experience has been unbelievable,” Shaelin’s mother, Jeanne Earle, told The Los Angeles Times. “We didn’t know this would happen, initially. They flew us out, there might be a minor, little problem. But they have been so gracious in everything that they did to make up for that.”
Winger Corey Perry, Earle’s favorite Duck, enjoyed the experience almost as much as the teenager did.
“First thing when we walked through the door, everybody was standing up meeting him and shaking his hand,” Perry told the Times. “Those things, I’m sure, he didn’t expect. Anytime you put a smile on somebody’s face — it doesn’t matter who it is or what it’s for — it just feels good inside and really makes you happy.”
As for how a North Shore native became an Anaheim fan, though, that remains a mystery to Jeanne Earle.
“He’s a major sports fan, and he really doesn’t like any New England teams, despite the fact that we live here,” Earle said. “He’s not a Patriots, Red Sox, Bruins fan.”
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@AnaheimDucks
