SAN JOSE – The day began with Macklin Celebrini merely passing the puck to one in every of his greatest followers, Luke Schumann, as they skated alongside the ice collectively on the San Jose Sharks’ apply facility.
It ended with celebrations, actually, because the Sharks’ rookie sensation confirmed Schumann, a 5-year-old most cancers survivor, the best way to journey his stick alongside the ice. Then, after he went bar down with a shot from in shut that beat one in every of San Jose’s goalies, Luke skated away, dropped to at least one knee, and slid alongside the ice.
“We were building some chemistry out there,” Celebrini stated Friday of Schumann, whose household lives in Lakeville, Minnesota. “So hopefully when he gets older, we can play together here.”
A couple of days after his fifth birthday, Luke was identified with a uncommon type of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (Nodular Lymphocyte Predominant Hodgkin). His mother and father, John and Lindsey, found a lump below his armpit on Could 14, 2024, a day earlier than he turned 5 years outdated, and Luke quickly needed to bear surgical procedure to take away the tumor, adopted by chemotherapy therapies all through the summer season.
“That’s the phone call nobody wants to get, let alone with one of your kids,” stated John Schumann, who credited Youngsters’s Minnesota in Minneapolis for his or her care and remedy. “When we first got that phone call, you’re in shock. But they put an awesome plan together, and it was kind of the best of the worst news, if you may, because they had had a few kids (with) this form of cancer, so they had a good formula in place.”
Luke accomplished his chemotherapy in September and has since been declared cancer-free, with follow-up CT scans and blood work to make sure the illness has not returned.
“We’re just so blessed that he’s cancer-free,” John stated.
As Luke underwent chemotherapy, his physician instructed his mother and father that the Make-A-Want basis might give their son an unforgettable expertise. Luke had been a Sharks fan shortly after he started taking part in hockey when his mother and father purchased him socks with the crew’s emblem. He then began following Celebrini final 12 months.
One in every of John Schumann’s co-workers is Ryan Duncan, who gained the Hobey Baker Award as school hockey’s prime participant in 2007 as a sophomore at North Dakota. Eventually 12 months’s Hobey Baker Award presentation in St. Paul, Minn., the place Celebrini turned the youngest-ever winner of the award, Duncan obtained a signed puck from the soon-to-be No. 1 general draft choice and gave it to Luke.
“That’s kind of when it started for Luke,” John Schumann stated. “Here’s a Macklin Celebrini kid, he’s a young guy, so that’s kind of where it started.”
Luke’s siblings are additionally a part of this expertise. His sister, Ellie, 10, and brother, Ryan, 8, skated with the Sharks on Friday whereas touring the power and hanging out with the gamers and coaches.
Saturday, earlier than the Sharks performed the Seattle Kraken, the Schumann household’s itinerary included being picked up at their downtown lodge by Celebrini and pushed to the sport, taking a tour of SAP Middle, and studying the Sharks’ beginning lineup to the gamers of their dressing room.
Luke can even stand behind the Sharks’ bench for the Nationwide Anthem, high-five the gamers earlier than they take the ice, and journey the Zamboni through the first intermission.
“First class by the Sharks,” John Schumann stated. “To allow our whole family, because the kids were greatly affected by it too this past summer, and what he went through. So just super cool.”
Celebrini and the Sharks may need had as a lot enjoyable on Friday because the household did as on the ice, there haven’t been many feel-good moments for the crew this season. That modified this weekend.
“I think you saw all of the guys smiling, having a good time,” Celebrini stated. “It does bring a little joy and perspective to our group.”
“Cancer is a tough thing to go through for anyone, no matter how old you are,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky stated. “Hits home for me. I have a five-year-old. Luke is 5 years old, and that turns your life upside down. He’s a tough kid, and it puts life in perspective for me and our players. He helped us today. As much as we helped him, he helped us.”
It additionally highlights how seen Celebrini, nonetheless two months shy of his nineteenth birthday, has change into, even within the nascent phases of his profession. Luke began watching Celebrini final 12 months when Boston College competed within the Frozen 4.
“He understands what comes with being the No. 1 overall pick, being kind of the face of this franchise at such a young age is absolutely remarkable,” Warsofsky stated. “For being 18, he knows how it affects (Luke). Give a lot of credit to Mack for doing that and being the person he is.”
It was no drawback in any respect for Celebrini, as he and Luke have developed some chemistry.
“I can tell he loves hockey and is obviously a big Sharks fan,” Celebrini stated of Luke. “It’s awesome he kind of knows who I am, and we were able to do this.”
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