Canucks welcome hero fan who pointed out mole on equipment manager

When Nadia Popovici was left with a choice of minding her own business or speaking up to help out a stranger, she said she realized there was no choice.

For the Vancouver Canucks, it was a no-brainer to say thank you by rolling out the red carpet.
In what became a worldwide news story, Popovici, while attending the Seattle Kraken home opener against the Canucks on Oct. 23, pointed out a mole on the neck of Vancouver equipment manager Brian "Red" Hamilton.
The mole turned out to be cancerous. Hamilton had it removed and sought out Popovici to thank her.
"Honestly, it feels like I have been thrust into a movie," Popovici told NHL.com. "I woke up on New Year's Day and everyone was trying to find me and it has just snowballed since then. People want to hear the story and most of all, they believe in where I'm going and they believe in my goal to become a doctor... I feel so incredibly blessed. It's absolutely surreal."
Since then, Popovici and Hamilton have done TV appearances and are now so intertwined, they've become like family.
"This is the first time meeting [Hamilton's family] in person," Popovici said. "I got to hug them and we had a lovely dinner. We talked for almost six hours at dinner. They are the best people. I couldn't have asked for a better family to be combined with mine at this point."
At the game Monday, the Canucks played a special video retelling the story.

The Hamiltons weren't the only ones Popovici, who earlier this year was
gifted a $10,000 scholarship
on behalf of the Canucks and Kraken, met Monday. She attended the Canucks morning skate wearing a Henrik Sedin jersey, and had no idea she would be meeting Henrik and Daniel Sedin, who would present her with a personalized jersey.
"I was like, 'Oh my gosh, the Sedin brothers and [Hamilton] kind of smirked and apparently he already knew that they were planning on me meeting them," Popovici said. "And so when they actually came out, I was so shocked. I have already sent pictures to my entire extended family. [The Sedins] signed both my jerseys. They're the best. They're the sweetest and they're just the coolest people."
She also got another unique gift, a slight twist to the now-famous knitted Kraken octopus hat she wore the night she first crossed paths with Hamilton: A knitted orcha hat.

"Brian has a family friend who is a principal at a school and one of her students ... she made this and they were like, 'You don't have to wear it.' I was like, 'Are you kidding me? I'm going to wear it the entire game!'" Popovici said. "So now I have knitted toques for both teams. I have my squid that's become famous, and now I have the Orca and I am so happy.
"It's convenient at this game because the fans from both sides love me and I love them too. I was a Canucks fan before I was a Kraken fan, and so I feel connected to both teams and both fan bases," she said.
Popovici said she doesn't feel the need to choose teams. She prefers only to choose kindness.
NHL.com independent correspondent Kevin Woodley contributed to this report