Cody Glass scored his first goal in the NHL during the home opener against the San Jose Sharks on October 2. The look on his face and the joy exuded by his team had me feeling like I just watched my child score a goal for the first time. Not sure why, but maybe it was the way Marchy ran up to him with genuine pride; that showed the dedication of his new team members. Maybe it was because I had just heard the story of how hard he has worked and the way he was raised. And the fact that he’s old enough to be my child had me gushing. Any kid that works his way up through the ranks, but does it uphill both ways, has my full attention – and evidently a little bit of my heart too.
A Cinderella Story for a Cinderella Team
If you haven’t heard his story, it’s touching and inspirational. He grew up with his older brother, both raised by their single dad. His dad worked hard to send him to clinics and tournaments, but he couldn’t go to everything. There just wasn’t enough money and resources to go around. So he had to pick and choose. That means he had to often play twice as hard as some of the other boys because he had less experience and professional training/coaching. He didn’t give up. He looked up to his big brother and also wanted to play hockey just like him, so he had to try to keep up and push harder. One scroll through his dad’s Twitter account and you can see his dad is quite proud of his sons. He describes the relationship between the brothers as perfect. No fighting, just admiration and love. It sounds like he has been groomed for the Vegas Golden Knights his whole life. There are so many parallels between his life and the maturation of the VGK. #teamwork
Some of the greatest players of any sport, in any time period, are born out of trials. It looks to us like Cody had to climb over more hurdles to get to the top. That, my dear boy, is resilience. The most resilient people of all time are those whose paths were jagged and tempestuous. Which makes that goal at the top, taste that much sweeter.