On July 8, six-year-old Carter McPherson of Horsefly received a letter in the mail. It was from none other than Kirk McLean, retired professional hockey goalie who played with the Vancouver Canucks for 11 of his 16 seasons in the NHL.
鈥淭here were many high fives,鈥� wrote his father Marc McPherson in a Facebook post about the moment.
Carter is a new fan of the Canucks and an aspiring NHL goalie. He and his brother Cameron, who is eight years old, started their journey into hockey last year and will be joining Williams Lake Minor Hockey this year.
Their enthusiasm for the sport has grown over the months following Christmas 2024, when Cameron was gifted an autographed hockey card of Bill Ranford who played with the Edmonton Oilers.
鈥淚t was a big surprise,鈥� Cameron recalled. For Halloween, Cameron dressed up as Ranford.
The apple does not fall far from the tree, and the boys鈥� interest in hockey is one they share with their father. Shortly after gifting the Ranford hockey card to Cameron, Marc invited his sons to go through his big collection of hockey cards and choose players they鈥檇 like to try and contact. Marc's collections includes a number from the 80s and 90s.
鈥淭o get them to practice writing we started sending letters to older, retired players,鈥� said Shannon McPherson, the children's mother.
鈥淎nd the rewards have been so exciting for them,鈥� Marc said.
In their letters, the boys wrote a little about themselves, questions about the player鈥檚 time in the pros, and included hockey cards, offering to exchange autographs. The boys autographed photos of themselves, taken at the rink in their backyard, to send to the players.
鈥淲e sent a lot,鈥� said Cameron, who wrote to players as far away as in the Czech Republic.
鈥淲e only made two shelves to put them on and we already need more,鈥� he added, describing how each signed hockey card they鈥檝e received is then displayed in their home.
Among the responses, Cameron said one of his favourites was from Marcel Dionne, who spent most of his career with the LA Kings. Not only did the retired athlete return a signed hockey card, he also returned the photo sent to him of Cameron, which Dionne signed and marked down his total number of goals on.
One of Carter鈥檚 favourite returns was from Ron Hextall of the Philadelphia Flyers.
鈥淗e wrote 鈥榖est wishes to a fellow goalie鈥�,鈥� Carter said excitedly.
One time, Carter sent over five hockey cards to Tommy S枚derstr枚m, who played with the Flyers as well as the New York Islanders, and he received ten more signed hockey cards, along with a postcard.
鈥淗e was the furthest away,鈥� Carter said about the hockey player who lives in Sweden. After Marc posted a thank you online, S枚derstr枚m messaged him personally and sent an image to the father of Carter鈥檚 autographed photo up on his fridge, hanging next to postcards and photos of his dog.
Marc鈥檚 collection of cards also includes some baseball and football players, a few of which Carter recently reached out to but has yet to hear back. These include Rocket Ismail and Bryn Smith, the second of which played with Carter's namesake, Gary Carter.
The boys are also still waiting to hear back from more hockey players too, which they said makes them feel happy and excited.