The email dropped in my box a few weeks ago. Preston Brown Jersey . Almost lost it in the endless stream of playoff-related info (Rangers Availability, 5:00pm, JW Marriot) and reminders from Shutterfly about my daughters upcoming soccer practices. This note was from a friend made a few years ago, in the worst possible way you can make a friend. Paul Frustaglio just wanted to let me know they were having a golf tournament on June 26th for his son Evan. "Drop by, if you can make it," he wrote. I couldnt. Would be in Philadelphia for the NHL Draft. So I sent along my regrets and said that Id at least try to get a prize sent over from TSN. "I should have remembered that was draft week," Paul wrote back. "Evan was a 96." Thats the first way every hockey parent describes his/her kid; by their abbreviated birth year. When someone asks,"What is your boy?" We know instantly what they mean. "Oh, hes a 98." There will be a slew of 96s who have their names called Friday night and Saturday in Philadelphia who will remember Evan Frustaglio. He was part of an elite group of Toronto area hockey players growing up. From minor atom on, he battled against top prospects like Sam Bennett, Robby Fabbri, and Josh Ho-Sang. He played on summer teams with Bennett, Sunny Milano and Connor McDavid, next years draft prodigy. When the Grade 8 team from Vaughns Hill Academy, a sport-focused private school north of Toronto, played its opening game in 2008, Evan scored the games first three goals. His linemate Michael Dal Colle, a likely top-five pick Friday, scored the next six. "Evan had sick hands," Dal Colle says, waiting for his luggage at the Philadelphia airport. "He wasnt big but his skill level was off the charts. Great player, great guy. So sad." Evan Frustaglio was 13 when he started to feel sick at a hockey tournament in London. His Mom, Ann-Marie brought him home after the Saturday games, thinking there was no point staying over if he wasnt likely to be better for Sunday. Dont want the flu to spread around a dressing room. And it looked like, felt like, had to be, the flu. Thats what the doctor at the walk-in clinic said Sunday. "Probably just a mild virus... give him lots of fluids." But his parents were worried, and Paul stayed up all night watching him. The next morning, Evan told his Mom he was feeling OK, so she went off to work. Paul took the day off to stay home with Evan, and catch up on sleep. He gave his son a bath, and noticed an odd rash, but couldnt reach his family doctor to ask about it. Evan went back to bed, and Paul left the room briefly. When he called Evans name just a few minutes later, there was no answer. Paul found him sprawled on the bathroom floor, limp. The rest, four years later, is still a painful blur. A panicked 9-1-1 call, the operator giving Paul instructions on how to do CPR, the medics arriving and trying to revive him. Too late. Evan died October 26, 2009, the same day they started giving H1N1 shots to the public. That virus, the one supposed to prey on the vulnerable, the elderly and the very young, had killed a strong, healthy teenage athlete. "It attacked his heart," Paul says. "He was... too healthy. From what they told me, the best laymans way to put it is that his heart literally beat itself to death." Evans death triggered H1N1 hysteria across Canada. Instantly, there were line-ups that queued for hours at immunization clinics. Three thousand came to Evans wake. Hockey people, mostly. Entire teams that played with and against him. Some who did neither. Hockey is like that. I met Paul there. He was remarkable, thanking me and everyone else over and over for coming. The ultimate Canadian, overly polite even when his world was crumbling around him. He proudly showed me the flowers Sidney Crosby had sent. Evan had touched people. You hold on to that to keep you going, I guessed. Doctors would thank Paul for doing interviews, for talking about Evan, for encouraging people to get immunized. That helped him a little too, he supposes. But soon the H1N1 story faded, and the Frustaglios were left to figure out how to continue their lives without their first-born. Theyre still working on it. Evans younger brother Will, a 99, was too young to grasp the loss of his best friend. Its only started to really hit him hard in the last year or two. But hes done remarkably well. He is a top student and athlete at The Hill, his brothers old school, working out everyday in the same gym as Dal Colle. Will got the size gene Evan didnt, and enters his junior draft year as a solid prospect. Any parent who has lost a child tells you the grieving never really ends. But after four years, Paul and Anne-Marie finally felt ready to celebrate Evans memory. So as you read this, The Hill Academy is holding the first Evan Frustaglio Memorial Golf Tournament at The Glen Eagle Golf Club near Bolton, Ontario. The school is naming its gym after Evan. Money raised from the tourney will be used to set up a scholarship, and the plan is to designate a different charity every year to support. Would Evan have been in Philly Friday? Would he have gotten the chance to walk up on that stage and put on some teams sweater and ballcap, while Paul and Anne-Marie and Will and aunts and uncles and friends cheered and cried a little in the stands? Useless hypothetical, I suppose. His size was starting to be an issue by the time he was a teenager, so the odds were probably against him. But with those hands, that skill, and a fearlessness to boot, who knows? A couple of growth spurts... and... maybe. No. Was right the first time. Useless hypothetical. Paul Frustaglio would prefer to celebrate the life his son had, instead of the one that might have been. And so Friday night, he will do what he does every year. "I will watch the draft for sure," he says. "Im sure it will be bittersweet and a little sad this time because it is Evans class. But these kids are great kids. Some of them I watched since they played minor novice in the North York Hockey League. Ill be incredibly happy for all of them." Click here for more information on the golf tournament. Dan Carpenter Jersey . Take a look at TSN. Aaron Williams Bills Jersey . Kyrie Irving scored 22 points and the Cavaliers won their sixth straight game, 101-93 over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night.MILWAUKEE -- Jim Henderson got the big out, and made the big play. Henderson pitched a scoreless inning of relief, getting a Andrew McCutchen to pop out and applying the tag on a runner cut down at home in the eighth, as Milwaukee ran its winning streak to eight with a 3-2 victory against Pittsburgh on Saturday night. With runners on first and third and one out, McCutchen hit a towering popup behind home plate. Lucroy made the catch and Travis Snider attempted to tag up from first, but Lucroy alertly threw to shortstop Jean Segura covering the bag. As Snider retreated toward first, Starling Marte broke for home but was tagged out by Henderson (1-0) covering the plate to end the inning. "My focus was just to get my glove out in front of the plate. I actually really didnt know where I was positioned on the plate," Henderson said. "Im glad I covered home in the first place. Some pitchers just hang out by the mound." After making the tag and recording an extremely rare 2-6-1 double play, Henderson spiked the ball to the ground as he left the field. "It was in the moment and McCutchen is always a tough out for me," Henderson said. Lucroy said he broke to cover the plate but backed off when he saw Henderson was already there. "That was a really weird play but its got to be the top play. It was awesome," Lucroy said. Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said Snider breaking from first base planned. "Its a play that we have in place that we work on all spring that won us a ball game last year. We tag at first, draw the throw to second and then send the runner from third. Marte breaks on the throw, they had to make a baseball play. We tried to steal a run," Hurdle said. Carlos Gomez hit a leadoff homer and Lucroy drove in the tiebreaking run with an eighth-inning single. Gomez got Milwaukee started with a 432-foot drive to centre field off Edinson Volquez, and Khris Davis scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0 inn the second. Thurman Thomas Bills Jersey. . Pittsburgh tied it in the third on Starling Martes groundout and Travis Sniders single, snapping Yovani Gallardos scoreless streak to start the season at 14 2-3 innings. Gallardo struck out Pedro Alvarez to end the inning with two runners in scoring position. The right-hander then held the Pirates scoreless over the next three innings, striking out the side in the fifth. Lucroy singled to right in the eighth to drive in Ryan Braun, who slid in ahead of the throw to the plate. Francisco Rodriguez got his fourth save in four attempts. Gallardo went six innings, giving up two runs and six hits. He struck out six and walked one. He is 11-4 in his career against the Pirates. Volquez, making his second start of the season along with one relief appearance, gave up two runs and four hits in 6 1-3 innings. He struck out four and walked two. The Pirates threatened in the sixth when Andrew McCutchen doubled with one out and moved to third on a groundout. Gallardo struck out Russell Martin looking to end the inning. The Brewers (9-2) put runners on second and third with one out in the seventh against Volquez. Tony Watson retired the next two batters to keep the score tied. The Brewers broke through in the eighth. One-out singles by Braun and Aramis Ramirez off reliever Mark Melancon (0-1) put runners on first and second for Lucroy. Gomezs home run was the lone extra-base hit for the Brewers. Doubles by McCutchen and Travis Ishikawa accounted for the Pirates only extra-base hits. NOTES: McCutchen was back in the lineup after being lifted in the eighth inning of Friday nights game with a sore ankle. ... Gomez received his 2013 Gold Glove before the game. He was the first Brewers player to win a Gold Glove since shortstop Robin Yount in 1982. ... It was Gomezs second leadoff homer of the season. ... Milwaukee RHP Kyle Lohse (1-1) faces RHP Charlie Morton (0-0) in the series finale Sunday. ' ' '
