You absolutely love to see this

Tonight as the Washington Capitals came into Pittsburgh to face off against the Penguins, we got a pretty special moment. Ivan Miroshnichenko on February 4th of 2022, while playing in Russia’s second division, received the diagnosis that he had Hodgkin’s lymphoma. February 4th happens to be his birthday. Cancer, at 18. After receiving treatment in Germany, losing 30 pounds and having to be away from family for 4 months, he was then drafted just weeks later by the Washington Capitals in the 2022 Draft. What is neat, is that during that time in Germany, he received a special call from an NHL legend, Mario Lemieux. Lemieux himself, battled Hodgkin’s Lymphoma during his infamous 92/93 season. A season where he was still won the art ross as the NHLs leading scorer with 160 points in 60 games. Lemieux’s message to Miroshnichenko? “Life doesn’t end. You’re going to recover. Don’t worry about it. Get it out of your head and go through recovery.“ Pretty strong words