Mason Midlane’s missing hockey stick has been found, according to Flair Airlines, though his family is still waiting for confirmation.
The 12-year-old Ucluelet local was given the stick by Seattle Kraken player Daniel Sprong during the Kraken’s April 11 matchup versus the Vegas Golden Knights, but it was lost after being checked in at the Las Vegas airport for his return flight on April 15.
“The stick was located and is being returned or already has been returned to the family,” a spokesperson for Flair Airlines told the Westerly News via email on Wednesday. “We’re glad the stick was found, as we expected.”
Mason’s mom Carrie however told the Westerly that she has not heard from the airline.
“To my knowledge it is still missing,” she said. “We have no knowledge of it being returned to us, nor have we seen it.”
Mason had travelled to Las Vegas with his friend Blake Swann and Blake’s parents Jeff and Naomi.
Both boys were hoping for a stick and had made a sign specifically asking Sprong for his. “Sprong #91, we flew over 200 kilometres to watch this game. Rock, paper, scissors for your stick?” the sign read.
“We didn’t think we were going to get a stick at all,” Mason told the Westerly. “We thought we had no hope of getting a stick because we’ve gone to several NHL games before with a sign but didn’t even get a bite at any of those games, so we didn’t think that we were going to get a stick.”
His heart began jumping when he saw Sprong skating over to him.
“He went to the bench first and he had three sticks in his hand and he picked one of them and then he came back off the bench and started skating towards us and we both just couldn’t believe it. It was amazing,” he said.
Mason facetimed his parents in Ucluelet immediately to show them his new prize and he and Blake kept the stick safely in their hotel room before heading back home on a direct flight from Vegas to Vancouver on April 15.
Mason explained they were going through security at the airport when they were told the stick would need to be checked in. When they arrived in Vancouver, it was nowhere to be found.
“We got off the plane and went to the baggage area and there was no stick there,” he said.
He said they waited for about 20 minutes before he started to get worried
“There was a conveyor belt with all the oversized baggage coming out of it and we could hear things moving back there, so we all had hope that the stick was just delayed,” he said.
He said they were then told that there was no luggage left on the plane and the stick was missing.
“My heart kind of just dropped. I was very disappointed,” he said, adding he was holding out hope that the stick was found.
“I don’t want to think that it is gone because that would just make me really sad.”
His mom Carrie Midlane told the Westerly she had reached out to the airline numerous times.
“We’ve called three times now where we’ve waited on hold for an hour to an hour-and-a-half each time and talked to customer service and they tell us that they can’t help and we have to email baggage, so I’ve emailed baggage about seven times. We do get a response, but it kind of seems like a canned response just saying it has not been located and they’re still looking.”
Mason is a hockey player himself and travels from Ucluelet to Port Alberni about three times a week during the season.
“It’s worth it for them so it’s worth it for me…We try our best on the West Coast here to carpool as much as we can,” Carrie said of the commute.
“It keeps them busy, it keeps them out of trouble and doing something that they really love and have fun with. We only have so many more years with them at home to do this kind of thing for, so we will do it.”
She added receiving the stick at the game was a very special moment for Mason.
“A huge thank you goes out to Daniel Sprong for doing that. It was amazing for him to see Mason and do that for him,” she said. “It takes a few seconds, but it sure brightens up these kids’ lives for a long time, so thank you to him for doing that.”
andrew.bailey@westerlynews.ca
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