In the stands at the ACC Tuesday, I met a woman beaming with pride at the sight of her son living his boyhood dream.
Linda Hachey had watched her eldest Glen nurture his love of hockey since she could remember.
Her first-born honed his hockey skills on very unlikely ground -- the outdoor rinks of Regent Park -- a place mostly inhabited by drug addicts and gangs.
He wore hand-me-downs and borrowed equipment but it didn't matter, he just wanted to play.
"I'm not sure when it started but it seemed to me that he always had a hockey stick in his hands. You know the plastic ones with the little plastic puck?"
Glen's passion for hockey and anything Maple Leafs made discipline a piece of cake: "Oh it was so easy keeping him in line, all I had to do was threaten that he'd not be allowed to watch the Leafs that night and boy would he listen."
Hachey, family and friends were so looking forward to her son's return to Toronto on Oct. 30 -- they had their tickets and were ready to head to the rink when the phone rang: "Mom, it's me ... I'm a healthy scratch ..."
Both mother and son took the disappointing news in stride -- they'd certainly been through far worse -- so they stayed positive and looked ahead to Dec. 5.
Tuesday proved to be worth the wait as the hockey gods truly smiled on Linda's boy.
Glen Metropolit would be in the Atlanta Thrashers line up this time and the 32-year-old who refused to give up in the face of all sorts of adversity ... had the game of his life.
For Linda, those years of struggle at Regent Park, a single mother of three trying to make ends meet, this is what dreams are made of.
When Glen scored, the camera found Linda in the crowd -- a picture worth a thousand words.
Little did Linda's boy know that right there on ACC ice, as he realized his dream, Mother's Day came early.
Jody Vance is sportscaster with Leafs TV. Her columns appear Tuesdays and Thursdays in 24 hours.
