Ron MacLean says Prince Edward Island has literally touched his soul so he wanted to try and give a little bit back.
The Hockey Night in Canada host reached out to the families of slain baseball players Tanner Craswell and Mitch MacLean this week.
Ron MacLean says he has a special place in his heart for athletes who leave home at such a young age to pursue their dreams on the ballfield and the ice.
"As one hockey and ball lover to another, what can I do but reach out,'' MacLean said in an interview with The Guardian Friday. "What is there to say? There's a horrible hole there (for the families and friends) that is impossible to fill.''
MacLean said he developed a bond with P.E.I. and Islanders in 2005 when he became close friends with Murray Harbour's Brad Richards, a forward with the New York Rangers. He said that friendship taught him that there is something very special about Islanders.
"It's a group that kind of supports one another, has each other's backs.''
It was through Richards that Ron MacLean became friends with Forbie Kennedy's boys, Mike and Gary, the Carraghers, MacDonalds and the Birts. It was Summerside Police Const. Trevor Birt that helped MacLean get in touch with the MacLean and Craswell families.
"The think that I just adored about the memorial service (for MacLean and Craswell) out in southern Alberta was the three teams that the boys played for, the Jets, Dogs and Bulls . . . I just felt vicariously through the service they got to experience through Tanner and Mitch what I've come to know through my time on the Island through these incredible people.''
MacLean said Tanner and Mitch brought a blend of P.E.I. ingredients into the clubhouse - fierce competitiveness, a professional attitude and a sense of mischief.
"They would have given every other man on the field a feeling of what it takes to believe in yourself and some of that is to care for one another. They were great leaders.''
Hockey Day in Canada will feature a story today about another Islander - Kristen Cameron, the Islander who was struck by an impaired driver in Pennsylvania and paralyzed in 2010. She was working as an assistant coach of the women's hockey team at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Penn.
MacLean, who once served as honorary chair of the Canadian Paraplegic Association, says the Cameron piece is magnificent.
"We went to visit Kristen at the Lyndhurst rehab centre (in Toronto) . . . and Kristen, being an athlete, she had some of the tools in her toolbox to know how to deal with adversity so that helps. All the athletes (we encountered) were a step ahead. They had a little bit of an inner belief that you could come through whatever and she's got that and that comes from Brian (Kristen's father) and Dave (uncle).''
MacLean said it's a very inspiring story.
"She'll be coaching. She's not quite ready yet but she will be coaching again and playing a meaningful role in whatever she chooses to do because she's got a big heart.''
