'She's a Light in My Life'

All it took was a fist bump through the glass at warmup.
A few years ago when current Colorado Avalanche forward Alex Newhook was playing junior A for the Victoria Grizzlies in the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL), an adorable fan named Elise Simard caught his eye as she sat directly on the glass.

Newhook skated over and bumped fists with Elise through the pane of glass while he and his team took warmup.
The connection was immediate.
"When you see the two of them together, the world just disappears," Christy Simard, Elise's mom said. "It was instant. They just have such a special bond. From that moment on, she and Alex have just clicked."
Elise, who was about nine at the time, and Christy began going to Grizzlies games as they had a friendship with the team's power skating coach. It was Elise's birthday on that particular day that she fistbumped Newhook through the glass and got to meet the team at their autograph session following the game.
She never looked back.

"There's never really been anything that she's been obsessed about until hockey," Christy said. "She's a different kid. When you walk her from outside to inside the rink, she completely changes. She's banging on the glass, she's cheering and she's just all in. And she can spot Alex from anywhere, no matter where she's sitting."
Newhook and Elise's bond grew even closer in those subsequent months after he noticed that she hadn't been in attendance for a handful of home games. Upon learning that Elise was admitted into the hospital for a brief stint, Newhook made frequent visits to go see her and brought care packages as he hoped to cheer up his biggest supporter.
"Just that he would do that was so meaningful," Christy said. "He was probably still a teenager himself at the time. And she's 12 now. She doesn't realize how special it is to have this kind of a relationship with him. Not every kid gets this kind of attention, but I think that is part of what makes it so sweet. It's pure for her. It's just all about cheering on Alex and their connection."
Fortunately, Elise's condition stabilized after her trip to the hospital, but soon after during that summer Newhook departed to play Divison l hockey at Boston College. Also around that time frame, the Simard family moved from Vancouver Island to a 40-acre farm in rural Saskatchewan, where they now raise sheep, have pigs, chickens, eight herding dogs and horses - including one that was born this past Tuesday morning that they plan on naming Denver.
While Elise could no longer watch No. 18 on a regular basis, she and Christy made sure to tune in to all of his games. They would frequently send Newhook photos and texts showing their support for him as he played for the BC Eagles and represented Hockey Canada at the World Juniors Championships in 2019 and 2020.
The hope had been to make a trip out to Chestnut Hill to watch Alex play for Boston College, but unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the tight border restrictions that followed, Elise and Christy were never able to make the visit.

"I always tried to just make her as much a part of our team at the time as I could," Newhook said. "She's taken on hockey as one of her biggest interests now. She's into it. Just being down and around by us during warmups, being on the glass and being a part of something like that is pretty meaningful to her. It's cool to see. And even though she couldn't be there recently, I know I've always had that support which means a lot."
And when Newhook left Boston College following his sophomore season as he pursued his professional hockey career, Elise and Christy were thrilled to add the Colorado Eagles and the Avalanche to their regular streaming queue. Fortunately, the circumstances - and the support from the tight-knit hockey community - provided an opportunity for Elise and Newhook to finally see each other in-person for the first time in over two years.
One of the mom's of Newhook's former Grizzlies teammates offered her Edmonton Oilers seats to Elise and Christy so they could go to the game and cheer on Alex as he and the Avalanche made a trip to Rogers Place on April 22.
There, the video of Newhook and Elise's unique bond went viral as they shared an exchange prior to him taking the ice of warmup. The duo commemorated the special moment with a photo together to which Newhook posted on his personal Instagram account with the caption, "Great to see this girl back at the rink last night! We don't lose when Elise is in the building."
The posts sparked a successful
GoFundMe page
to send Elise to Denver to watch Newhook and the Avalanche compete in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs. So after finalizing all of the dates and details, Elise and Christy took a two-leg flight from Saskatoon to Calgary to Denver for Games 1 and 2 at Ball Arena as the Avalanche began their First-Round series against the Nashville Predators beginning on May 3.

In Denver, Elise even got to attend morning skate before Game 1, where she sported her signed No. 18 Newhook jersey and her custom Burgundy and Blue converse that say "I heart Newy!" red ink on the white rubber toe. She cheered on the entire Avs squad by their bench while they took the ice. She also met all of the players after their skate. They greeted her as "Alex's friend" and in turn, she exchanged a homemade "Stinky Boy Bar" of soap in exchange for a signature and photo.
"She's definitely a light in my life," Newhook said. "It is bigger than hockey. As professional athletes and especially being on the team that I am right now, it's all about changing people's lives and affecting them positively. For Elise, it's just a great opportunity to bring some light to her life the way she does to mine. She's such a big hockey fan. To just be around the team, the crowd, all of that energy, it's pretty cool to see how much she enjoys it."