An eight-year-old hockey player from Niverville got the experience of a lifetime earlier this month. On Sunday, December 8, Ryder Couzens, who plays for the Novice B Clippers team, was selected to be the Winnipeg Jets Junior Trainer for a Day.

The contest, sponsored by Red River Mutual, allows a child the opportunity to come down to Bell MTS Place for a home game, sit on the bench during warm-up, and interact face to face with some of their favourite hockey heroes.

That Sunday, Ryder attended the game with his mother, Meg. She had entered him into the contest back in October when she’d seen the contest advertised at the local BSI Insurance office.

“They let me know about a week in advance of the game that he had won,” Meg says. “When Ryder found out, he was completely speechless then jumped up and down. He was so excited, it’s all he could talk about for the days leading up to it.”

As part of the experience, Ryder was given a Jets jersey along with two tickets to the game. Meg and her husband then purchased two additional tickets so the whole family could attend. The team even allowed him to keep one of the pucks used that day.

“It was an amazing opportunity for him to meet and chat with some of his idols,” adds Meg. “Matthieu Perreault squirted him with water and goofed around with him. Blake Wheeler chatted with him about hockey… He got to toss the pucks out onto the ice and chat with players.”

It certainly helps that the Jets won the hotly contested game by a score of 3–2.

“It was an overall amazing day, topped off with a Jets win,” she says. “Definitely a day he will always remember.”