Asher and Kyler meet Finn at the Canucks game.
Image Credit: FACEBOOK
January 30, 2020 - 9:10 AM
The power of social media isn’t something the Andersons will soon forget.
In just one week, the cute Zamboni video the Vernon family posted of their two boys went viral and caught the attention of the Canucks, the NHL and millions of fans.
“So, what turned out to be some video for friends to see has been seen by most of North America,” Steven Anderson said at the end of a busy seven days.
It all started when his wife, Jolene, made a Zamboni out of the power wheels jeep in the garage an old cooler and some boxes.
She put their two boys, Asher, 6, and Kyler, 5, atop the creation on their backyard rink and posted a photo that somehow made its way to the Canucks, said Anderson.
“The Canucks posted it and it made its way to the NHL and now it has had 1.8 million views,” he said.
Those views materialized into something more substantial, as well.
“The Canucks contacted us on Wednesday night, and asked if we got us tickets would we make it down for the game on Monday,” he said.
So, of course, they did.
“It was whirlwind kind of trip,” Anderson said.
The boys were invited to go out for the morning skate and met all the players as they went on the ice.
“They were more excited to see Finn than anything else,” Anderson said.
Later they got all the players’ autographs, did an interview with the Canucks and even got to get on top of a real Zamboni and honk the horn.
Then it was their turn in the spotlight. While other minor hockey kids played a scrimmage match at centre ice. The nets were then moved up a little bit up and then they got to Zamboni around just behind the kids playing hockey.
“It was pretty overwhelming,” Anderson said. “It didn’t bother them at all that we weren’t on the ice with them. They looked like they had fun and they were tired when it was all done.”
The trip was intense, and the family is definitely tired, but it was worth it all.
“We’ve set the bar for a game pretty high,” he said. “It’s going to be hard to explain that not all hockey games are like that.”
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