THUNDER BAY – Ron Setala has been a hockey fan all of his life and was thrilled to learn Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Matt Murray would be making a stop at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre on Tuesday with the Stanley Cup.
So thrilled, in fact, that he stuck around for a few hours after his dialysis treatment for a chance to shake Murray’s hand and pose for a picture with the fabled hockey trophy, on display for an hour for patients and staff at the hospital.
Setala, whose hockey card collection once included a 1912 Georges Vezina that was donated to the Hockey Hall of Fame a number of years ago, was at a loss for words after Murray’s afternoon visit.
“I’m a big hockey fan and I was watching. When the playoffs started I had a list of all the Thunder Bay guys on each team to see which one would bring the Cup back home. And every time a Thunder Bay boy lost, I crossed him off and it was narrowed down to Matt Murray,” Setala said.
There’s simply nothing like the Cup in professional sports, he added.
“It’s a legend. Everybody knows what it is. It’s even more popular than the Grey Cup, I think.”
It was a special treat for patients and staff alike, said the hospital’s Rhonda Crocker-Ellacott, executive vice-president of patient services and chief nurse executive.
The 22-year-old Murray was more than generous with his time, touring sections of the hospital before hosting a 60-minute meet-and-greet where patients and staff could have a picture taken or an autograph signed.
Crocker-Ellacott, whose son MacKenzie Blackwood is also a goaltender and last year was a second-round pick of the New Jersey Devils, said a lot of the hospital’s patients simply aren’t mobile enough to make it out to any of the public celebrations.
“For Matt to understand how valuable that is to our patients and to share some of his day is just spectacular,” she said.
“We had him down in child and adolescent mental health to spend some time with our children. He’s spent time with one of our patients in intensive care on a ventilator. These are individuals who would not otherwise experience meeting Matt today and seeing the Stanley Cup.”
Murray’s mother, Fenny Seimen, said that’s just the type of person her son has developed into over the years.
“It’s hard to say how proud I am because it’s totally what I know him to be. It’s just to do the right thing and he just does. He always brings it,” she said.
Murray’s day with the Stanley Cup will conclude with a private friends-and-family-only celebration at an undisclosed location.
