Man stops flying hockey puck from hitting boy, 4: 'Dude literally saved my son's life'
"I had a couple of other kids sitting behind me as well, so I just tried jumping in front of it," Andrew Podolak explained.
CLEVELAND (WJW) — An Akron, Ohio, mother's search for a Cleveland Monsters fan who protected her son from a flying hockey puck is over.
Asia Davis recently posted on TikTok that she was searching for the man who was filmed blocking a speeding puck from hitting her 4-year-old son Nasir in the head during a game on Thursday.
"I just feel sick when I think about it because I had the reaction time of a sloth, this dude literally saved my son's life, he prevented a life-changing event from happening," Asia said in the video, explaining the moment came near the end of the third period when the American Hockey League game was growing hectic.
The puck came so close to the child, there were ice particles in his hair, Asia said in the video.
The post went viral and eventually, the man was found.
Saturday night, during the team's final regular season home game at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, the mother and son were reunited with the man — who we now know is Andrew Podolak — through the help of the Monsters.
They all participated in the ceremonial puck drop prior to the game, and afterward, Nexstar's WJW caught up with the trio.
"I saw it soaring on through and my first instinct was just to cover up," Podolak said of the big moment. "I had a couple of other kids sitting behind me as well, so I just tried jumping in front of it. And it was able to deflect off my hand and luckily go over top of him and fall behind me."
There may have been some destiny behind it all: Andrew said his lucky number is 7, and during that game, they were sitting in section 107, row 7, and seats 7 and 8.