Few Things Bond Friendship

FEW THINGS BOND FRIENDSHIP more than sharing in success. In 2000, New Jersey’s Patrik Elias and Jason Arnott won a hockey title for an injured friend.

The New Jersey Devils faced the Dallas Stars in the Stanley Cup finals. Leading the series three games to one, the Devils missed an opportunity to capture the crown on their home ice when Dallas claimed a 1–0 triple-overtime victory.

With game six moving to Dallas, the intensity continued. In the first period, New Jersey wing Petr Sykora skated across the blue line and fired a slap shot toward the Stars’ goal. An instant later, Dallas defenseman Derian Hatcher leveled him with an elbow, and Sykora fell to the ice, hands outstretched.

Medical staff strapped the Czech player to a stretcher and transported him to a hospital, where a CT scan revealed no serious injuries. When the game resumed, the Devils and the Stars each scored second-period goals. Tied 1–1, the contest went into overtime.

Neither team found the net in the first extra period, but midway through the second, Scott Stevens sent the puck deep. Elias retrieved and blindly made a backhand pass across the goalmouth. It neatly slid to Arnott, who shot it past a defenseless Eddie Belfour for the winning New Jersey score.

At the Stanley Cup presentation, Elias draped Sykora’s jersey over his shoulders. Seeing the display of friendship, Devils coach Larry Robinson donned Sykora’s uniform for the championship photograph.

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POINT After Petr Sykora left the arena, Elias and Arnott vowed to win the Stanley Cup for their friend. And although Sykora missed the winners’ picture, he got the next best thing: his uniform with its unique number as part of the photo op.

Following the game, instead of celebrating out on the town, Patrik Elias spent the evening in Petr Sykora’s hospital room admiring the Cup. Sykora knew his friends loved him.

The writer of Proverbs describes that kind of friendship. And other stories in the Bible demonstrate a friend’s love. Naomi and Ruth, Jonathan and David, and Paul and Timothy all show how a friend loves at all times. We’re blessed when God gives us such good friends.

GOAL! Who are some of your close friends?