A wish came true for 16-year-old Kalen Anderson this week thanks to the Capitals and Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic.
Anderson, who is in remission from synovial sarcoma, signed a ceremonial contract with the team Wednesday ahead of their annual Hockey Fights Cancer game Thursday night. Though she originally hails from Alberta, she became a fan of the Caps while playing EA’s NHL video game at age 9.
“I was playing NHL, my Be a Pro,” she said. “And I got drafted first overall to the Caps and ever since then they’ve been my team.”
After signing her deal, Kalen was surprised by TJ Oshie, her favorite player, who arrived to follow her through her wish. She could hardly believe her eyes when Oshie walked into the room.
“I froze,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it. It’s just insane.”
Oshie presented Kalen with a custom “Anderson” jersey plus a jersey for her tiny dog, a corgi named “Oshie” in honor of the winger.
Kalen then suited up as a goaltender before she and Oshie hit the ice at the tail end of Capitals practice. Players took shots on her as a group before conducting a shootout, where she performed well in net even against one of the most famous shootout players in hockey history.
“Oh it was cool,” she said with a grin. “The shootout legend. I don’t know — it was so cool. I don’t know what else to say.”
Anderson stopped four of Oshie’s five shots, while Oshie managed just one goal and fell down on another attempt.
She noted, “I haven’t been playing net in a while and it’s just so nice to be back, and especially with the guys that I look up to and stuff. It’s just — it’s crazy.”
“She did great out there,” Oshie said. “Kalen stopped all the five-hole shootouts, so she may have been watching film, I don’t know. Little pre-scout before we got out there today.
He later added, “I don’t know you if guys were watching but I fell down out there, so she’s miles ahead of me. Maybe she can get can give me some pointers.”
Oshie also introduced Kalen to the rest of the Capitals squad, who greeted her with a big round of applause.
“Just them knowing my name is insane to me,” she later noted.
But Kalen’s wish wasn’t over yet. She joined the team at Capital One Arena Thursday, where she dropped the ceremonial first puck ahead of the Caps’ game against the Colorado Avalanche.
“This was insane!!!” Kalen wrote in the comments of RMNB’s instagram post. “So happy I’m this lucky ❤️”
