Bear with the long post.
So I grew up in St. Louis during the 60s-80s. My parents, mostly my mother, took me to many Blues games and I became a huge hockey fan. Red Berenson, Gary Unger, the Plager Brothers, Noel Picard, Bernie Federko, etc... For some reason Jack Egers was my favorite and I wore out his #15 jersey playing street hockey and imitating his slap shot. My mother took me to game after game, and would even wait with me in the freezing parking garage after the games so I could get autographs when the players left. It turned into a special Mother-Son bond.
Fast forward to about 9 years ago. I have two daughters and I decided to see how they would like hockey, so I took my youngest down to Verizon for the last game of the season, planning to buy tickets outside. I approached several people selling tickets and was shocked with the prices. I could afford it, but I didn't realize how high tickets had risen and was just annoyed by it. I apologized to my daughter and told her we were going to head home.
Just at that time, a man turned to me and asked if we were Caps fans. I said yes, we were planning to be, and that this was going to be our first game. He said "here you go" and handed me two tickets - refusing to take payment. We went into the arena, sat down and I started explained the nuances of hockey including "icing" and "off-sides". My daughter loved it and we had fantastic time - together. I am forever grateful to that man.
The next year, I bought season tickets and for the next 8 years, I took both my daughters to many, many games. We experienced the highs and lows and they became avid fans with their own favorite players and jerseys. It has been our special Father-Daughter bond.
So, now they are older and we are moving away from the area in the next few weeks. My final game as a season-ticketholder is tomorrow and although I didn't plan it this way, it just turned out that the game is against the St. Louis Blues. I will sit in the stands with my daughter just as my Mom sat with me. When I get home from the game, my wife will ask me "who won?". My answer will be "I did".