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Believing in Cody Hodgson pays off for his Grade 1 teacher

Cody Hodgson

What a nice young man Cody Hodgson is. According to the Vancouver Province, the 21-year-old Canucks forward remembered to buy a ticket for a very special fan to watch his first NHL hockey game in Toronto last weekend.

That very special fan was his Grade 1 teacher, Laraine Forgrave, who taught Hodgson at Victoria Street Elementary School in Haliburton, Ont. and always believed in his dream to play in the NHL.

“She was so different than all the other teachers that I had,” said Hodgson. “I was in Grade 1 and everything I did was about hockey – all my journals, any of the stories I had to make up – it all related to hockey. She was pretty special. Other teaches always said, ‘You’ve got to find something else besides hockey, you’ve got to have Plan B. Nobody makes the NHL, you’ve got to be realistic.’

“She was totally different. I had to miss half a day of school in Grade 1 to play in an away tournament and she said, ‘It’s fine, just get me a ticket when you get to the NHL.’”

So to all you teachers out there – don’t forget to believe in the dreams of your students. Might get some free stuff out of it.