The hockey world has been full of a lot of terrible news over the past couple weeks. The NHL shutting down, the NHL pulling out of the Olympics and now the World Juniors being cancelled. But through all the terrible news there is an amazing story out of Winnipeg that truly warms the heart.
So rather than being alone over the holidays Ehlers was invited to spend the holidays with the Stastny family. Ehlers was appreciative of the opportunity, but that wasn't enough for Paul's wife Haley.
"I knew he was supposed to go somewhere from Dallas. He was supposed to meet up with one of his cousins, or one of his buddies, and do Christmas with them. Then we were flying to Dallas, it would have been tricky to fly international. So I think he decided he was staying here. I asked him if he was by himself or not, and he was. We wanted to invite him over. For him, at this age, when you're that young and still a kid you want to be with family. I think Christmas is always a special time, especially with him being European, me being European, I think we both grew up with the same values, same principles. It was an easy invite. I love Christmas and I knew he would. I reached out to his mom to get different ideas, things they do differently, and try to make it a little more special for him. Him. I gave him a traditional Slovak American Christmas combo that my wife and I do. My wife made a pork roast and these special potatoes, and something he grew up with. It might have been harder. Work, dinner should have been at 6:00 and it might have been at 7:00, but in the end I think it turned out great. The kids had fun with him, he played with the kids. It was quite a special two nights."