The St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres have their teammate's back in the biggest fight of his life. The bantam AAA hockey team has dedicated the rest of its season to Noah Fayad after the 14-year-old Sabre was diagnosed with leukemia two weeks ago.
The St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres have their teammate's back in the biggest fight of his life.
The bantam AAA hockey team has dedicated the rest of its season to Noah Fayad after the 14-year-old Sabre was diagnosed with leukemia two weeks ago.
“There is no doubt we're rallying around Noah. We have his number (12) on our pants so every time we hit the ice, whether it be a practice or game, he is with us the entire way. We have his jersey hanging up in the room for everybody to see. We also make mention of him before we hit the ice before every game now,” said head coach T.J. Woodward.
It's with heavy hearts the Sabres are hosting the John Reid Memorial Tournament without Fayad in the lineup.
“We're playing for Noah. We're supporting him and we're going out to win it for him,” said assistant captain Zach Giacobbo. “The first day we heard about it we were really sad and after that we've just been playing for Noah ever since.”
Assistant coach Brady Reid described Fayad as a tough kid who will beat the disease.
“The way he plays hockey and how he does everything in life he is just an absolute warrior. He is the one kid that I know that will come out of this on top. He's just such a strong kid and a good kid from a good family, it's just too bad he had to get it,” said the son of John Reid. The tournament's namesake was a dedicated St. Albert minor hockey and lacrosse coach who lost his battle with leukemia at age 41 in 2003. The bantam AAA tournament was renamed in his memory the following year.
It's been a struggle on and off the ice for the Sabres while the players come to grips with the devastating news. The team was 2-4, including a 1-1 showing in Thursday's tournament opener, since Fayad was diagnosed with the most common type of cancer in children.
“It's been such an eye-opener for the kids that there is more to life than just hockey,” Woodward said. “It was all of a sudden, a shock, and just trying to deal with it was difficult for sure. There is a feeling-out process of what am I feeling and why am I feeling this way and I think we struggled a little bit coming to the rink because you know there is more to hockey at that point going on.”
Woodward is proud how the Sabres have pulled together in the face of adversity.
“The way this group of young men have rallied around this cause and their teammate, their brother and their family at the age of 14 and just the maturity they're showing is inspiring,” he said. “They've had an opportunity to go see him now. You see his spirits are up and you see he's fighting this thing with everything he has. He has a smile on his face the entire time and it's almost been therapeutic for the boys to see that and to know that he's fighting this thing.”
Fayad's dad, Sammy, is overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from the Sabres.
“It's basically an extension of our existing family. The support group within the team – the coaches, managers and teammates – they're just like brothers to him. Anytime they can support him by calling him, contacting him, texting him it's very uplifting for him,” Sammy said. “Being part of this team is like being part of a brotherhood and being away from it hurts him but at the end of the day he knows he has a bigger fight to battle and hopefully he overcomes this disease and he can eventually come back and play again one day.”
Sammy also expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the St. Albert community on behalf of his wife, Hanna, 13-year-old son Adam and Noah.
“I couldn't ask for a better place to live and a place to be a part of because in addition to the hockey community the community itself has supported us and they've rallied behind us. They made our journey so far very positive and promising. We have a positive outlook in this and we're hoping to overcome this with all the support of the community behind us,” Sammy said.
“To be part of this and be involved in a disease like this and to be alone it would be very damaging and very scary and to have the support and have the community behind you it's almost uplifting. It's that sense of positive reinforcement you need to break through this and get through it and I didn't expect that much support. We're not taking this journey by ourselves, we've got all these people kind of rallying behind us.
“It's kind of hard to put it into words. It's quite emotional as a parent. You never want to see your child go through something like this. You can't trade places with them. You don't wish this upon anybody else but yet you feel so much helplessness. You get the box seat to this unexpected journey and I have to watch it and all we can do is be positive as family, as teammates and as community to rally behind him. At the end of the day, his health and well-being is depending on how he engages himself and how he wants to take this on and be positive.”
Sammy had an intuition there was something seriously wrong with Noah while watching him labour through games.
“My son plays with a certain level of intensity. He's very passionate and goes out and tries his hardest but in mid December I just noticed he felt a little lethargic. He wasn't as strong as he use to be and his recovery from shift to shift wasn't as good … he just felt gassed and winded and I thought maybe it was the flu,” he said.
After the 4-2 loss to the KC Pats on Jan. 2, Noah revealed his heart was beating erratically and admitted he wasn't able to recover after a shift as quickly as before. He was taken to the Stollery Children's Hospital that night for blood work and five hours later was being prepped for treatments.
The Grade 9 Lorne Akins School student has since undergone a number of treatments but showed up for Thursday's opening ceremonies at Go Auto Arena to perform the ceremonial puck drop with Ernie Reid, John's father.
Patrolling the left wing for the Sabres, Noah ranks second in scoring with 23 points in 24 games.
“Noah is a battler. The word competitor – he sums it up every time he hits the ice. He's gritty, hardnosed, hits everything that moves, fights for every puck, tries to win every race and the big thing with him is he sells out. Every shift he's trying to win a hockey game for you. He doesn't take anything off; no nights off, no shifts off, no periods off. He's just battling with what he's going through right now and I know he's not going to take this thing off either,” Woodward said.
Reid tournament
Friday's result against the Okanagan Hockey Academy of Penticton, last year's tournament champion, determined what playoff bracket the Sabres are competing in today. The score was unavailable at press time.
Visit www.johnreidmemorial.com for the tournament playoff schedule and results.
The Sabres edged the Winnipeg Warriors 3-2 and lost 2-1 to the Colorado Thunderbirds Thursday.
Eddie Gallagher's highlight-reel goal with 6:18 remaining broke a 2-2 tie against Winnipeg.
Captain Jayden Platz and Garrett Clegg also scored and Giacobbo and Dylan Wells added two assists apiece. Shots were 33-19 for the Sabres and Colton Girard was in net.
Platz also scored against Colorado with 2:49 to play to cut the deficit to one. Shots were 25-17 for the Sabres and Mitchell Reidy was between the pipes.
“Some of us went into the tournament a little nervous but after the first period (against Winnipeg) we got our nerves out and then we just started playing our game,” said Giacobbo, a 14-year-old centre.
The 37th annual St. Albert tournament features 16 elite teams from across western North America.
“It's pretty amazing to be part of this tournament. Ever since atom I've been waiting to play on this team for this tournament. It's just a great opportunity to play in this tournament,” said Giacobbo, a Grade 9 Richard S. Fowler school student.
