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Not a dry eye in the house

One of the most heartwarming moments of the NHL season came in February, when Canadiens goalie Carey Price met 11-year-old Anderson Whitehead, who had just lost his mother to cancer in November. Anderson is from Ontario, but he’s a big Canadiens fan and his mom had been hoping he’d get to meet his favorite player.

The NHL also invited Anderson to attend the annual NHL awards show in Las Vegas on Wednesday night, and he was called on stage for a special message from Price, who “couldn’t be here tonight.” Price, of course, was waiting backstage to walk out and surprise Anderson with an autographed jersey. Anderson (along with most of the crowd) was brought to tears by the moment. 

On top of all that, Price also invited Anderson to go to the All-Star Game next year in St. Louis. It’ll be another unforgettable moment for a kid who’s been through a lot. 

Kawhi is actually very funny

Everyone clowns on Kawhi Leonard for his allegedly wooden personality, but if we’ve learned anything from his latest championship run it’s that he’s more personable than you think. Just take this story that Raptors head coach Nick Nurse relayed on Zach Lowe’s ESPN podcast (as transcribed by Yahoo Canada).

Nurse also went on to reveal that Leonard delivered one of those knockout punchlines after the Raptors defeated the Bucks in Game 5 in Milwaukee, when he tried to keep his team level-headed and focused on the task at hand with an opportunity to close out the series at home in Game 6.

The 51-year-old described to his team how his D-League team had won a Game 1 in a best-of-three Finals on the road and would have the opportunity to win the championship at home, and with the city abuzz and even ring sizes being prepped, the team lost by 25.

Halfway through that story, Leonard interjected with, “In the D-League? I’m done listening to this story.”

Max Scherzer is one bad dude

max-scherzer-eye.jpg

Not only did Max Scherzer end up pitching last night, one day after breaking his nose, he pitched extremely well. He allowed just four hits, struck out 10 and walked four in seven shutout innings while throwing the ball harder than he has in years.

He also looked like a total maniac on the mound. 

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Email dan.gartland@simail.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.