A special gift

Lisa North-Nevco shows off her brand new NHL Referee jersey. Photo by Chris Dawson.

Lisa North-Nevco asked and Les Couchie delivered.

The avid hockey fan who loves hockey referee's had a dream come true on Wednesday afternoon fittingly in the penalty box at Memorial Gardens as Les Couchie of 7th Generation Charities handed her an authentic NHL jersey signed by more than 50 NHL officials.

Lisa, a special friend of hockey arena's across the region, met Couchie last summer at the Northgate Square where he was selling authentic autographed jerseys for the First Nation's Charity. She asked about the possibility of getting a referee jersey and Couchie promised that he would make some calls.

He went to the right place as he called Jack Walkom, whose son just happens to be Stephen Walkom, the NHL's referee-in-chief.

"I'm not sure she expected all the signatures on it, I think it was a bonus for her and I'm sure that she thought that was great," said Couchie.

Lisa says seeing the jersey with all those signatures from Stephen Walkom to Don Koharski to Kerry Fraser, left her speechless.

"It's an honour for me," she said.

"I got to meet Stephen when we had the NHL game here. The only thing better would be having the 50 plus officials at the rink in person."

Now those officials will always be with her through their signatures.