Toronto Maple Leafs player had heartwarming pre-game tribute for late fan
Bobby McMann walked into Scotiabank Place wearing a Loblaws work vest for Saturday night's Toronto Maple Leafs game.
It wasn't the snazzy outfit that fans are accustomed to when it comes to NHL player outfits, but it carried quite a bit of meaning for McMann. The 29-year-old Alberta native decided to wear the vest to honour a Leafs fan named Kevin, who recently passed away.
Kevin worked at a local Loblaws grocery store and was a huge Maple Leafs fan. The Toronto forward posted a photo of himself wearing the vest on his Instagram story on Saturday.
"Walking with my guy Kev," McMann captioned the photo.
Some background on Kevin's story was posted by the HockeyIlluminati Instagram page shortly after his death. In the post, the page's founder, Frank Crupi, says that Kevin worked as a cart man at a Toronto Loblaws and passed away during a Leafs game last week at the age of 48.
"He was always wearing Leafs gear, every time I saw him," Crupi said. "We'd always stop and chat about the buds for five-10 minutes.
"This man, my boy Kevin, might have been legitimately the biggest, most diehard fan in Leafsnation... His favourite Leaf was Bobby McMann, who would also pop into the Loblaws every now and then, and he got a photo with him one time."
Crupi also said that outside of his wife, Kevin did not have any other family and was on his own for the most part.
It was a heartwarming tribute from the undrafted forward, and one that seemed to spark his Maple Leafs teammates. The tribute was beautifully done, and the Leafs followed that up with a 5-0 dismantling of the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.
As the Leafs look to take a hearty run at the playoffs over the next few months, they'll surely have a fan cheering them on from above as they do it.
@bobbymcmann/Instagram
