11-year old Sask. hockey player saves the day by lending Connor Bedard his socks
Dillon Serdachny received a memorable gift in return
Even Connor Bedard forgets his hockey socks sometimes.
Dillon Serdachny, 11, was on Cloud 9 after winning the George Watson U-11 hockey tournament with the Yorkton Terriers last Sunday in Regina.
The defenceman's day got even better when he was able to provide an assist to one of hockey's most exciting prospects.
Dillon was in the locker room after the victory when he learned that his brother had scored a photo with Bedard, the junior hockey phenom expected to go No. 1 in the upcoming NHL Draft.
That was exciting on its own, but then the 11-year-old hockey player walked out of the locker room to find a trainer looking for a pair of socks for Bedard to use during a training session.
That's where Dillon came in with the save.
"Dad was like, 'Get out your socks, you can give him your socks,'" Dillon said.
They turned out to be a good fit. Dillon watched as Bedard jump on the ice wearing his orange-striped Yorkton Terriers socks.
"It was a once in a lifetime opportunity!" Dillon said.
Bedard gifts Dillon his stick
Dillon and his family watched Bedard work on his skills at a private training session for about two hours.
"It was cool watching him skate and train," Dillon said. "I also really wanted my socks back."
During Bedard's training session, Dillon joked to his mother that he could trade his socks for Bedard's stick.
Lisa Serdachny quickly shut down that idea. She thought getting Bedard to potentially sign the socks would be more than fair.
"He did that and much more," Serdachny said. "He was so polite and he said thank you very much for waiting and sorry it took so long.
"And then he said, 'I'd like you [Dillon] to have my stick as well.'"
Dillon said he'll never forget that day.
"I was speechless!" Dillon said. "My goal is to make the NHL and be a hockey player like Connor Bedard."
Dillon was so happy that he ended up falling asleep with Bedard's stick by his side.
Dillon won't be using the socks or the stick to play. Instead he plans to put the mementos in a frame to commemorate meeting one of his heroes.
Lisa said the interaction will forever be ingrained in their family's memory.
"It was one person helping out another, which is important in our family. It just happened to be somebody who's on a global stage," Lisa said.
"But bottom line it was one hockey kid helping out another."
Lisa said Bedard is an idol for all three of their sons.
"They've all been downstairs every day practicing their shots because Connor inspired them to to work really hard."
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With files from Samanda Brace