Blues sign 8-year-old Levi Ervin to one-day contract

ST. LOUIS - Meet Levi Ervin.
He's eight years old.
And now that he's been signed to a one-day contract, he's also the youngest Blue in franchise history.

Blues general manager Doug Armstrong and Blues chairman Tom Stillman signed Levi to the deal on Wednesday evening, which will allow him to travel with the team and be an official member of the club when the Blues meet the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena next Friday.
Levi will fly on the team plane, stay at the team hotel, watch the game from good seats in Carolina and also will get an up-close view behind the scenes as the team prepares to battle the Hurricanes. Stillman also presented Levi with his own personalized Blues jersey on Wednesday.
"Levi has been through quite a bit at such a young age," said Armstrong. "To have him be part of our group and be around our players, once they hear his story, they're going to be excited to have him around us."

In August, Levi and his two-year-old sister, Paisley, were traveling eastbound on I-70 near O'Fallon, MO with their grandparents when a piece of metal fell from the tractor trailer ahead of them, wedging itself underneath their vehicle and puncturing the gas tank, which caused the vehicle to catch fire.
Levi was able to escape the car without any physical damage. His grandparents suffered third-degree burns while they tried to rescue Paisley from her car seat, which they were eventually able to do with the help of a passing motorist.
In September, though, Paisley passed away from her injuries.
A one-day contract and a road trip with the Blues is certainly special for Levi, who has had a difficult few months coping with those tragic events.
"Anytime you can give back to a young man or a family in any sense, it's rewarding for us and it's exciting to be part of it," Armstrong said.
"It's great to see a smile on his face, get his mind away from what he's gone through," said his dad, Eric. "There's nothing that really brings a smile to my face more than seeing a smile on his."
Fans can follow Levi's trip with the Blues next week at stlouisblues.com and on the team's social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.