On Wednesday, the Detroit Red Wings made a very special delivery to some very special kids.
"A lot of these children are going to be staying over the holidays in the hospital and anything we can do to try and lighten up their day," said Wings forward Steve Ott.
The Wings stepped off the ice and into the Red Wings lounge in the lobby of Children's Hospital of Michigan to deliver gifts, sign autographs, spread some holiday cheer.
"The biggest thing is what we get out of it as group. The impact that these kids have on you when you leave is awesome," explained head coach Jeff Blashill.
Players like Henrik Zetterberg had a pretty big impact as well. Just ask 18-year-old Ali Haidar.
"I can’t believe I just met him. And I'm like screaming on the inside," said Haidar.
Ten year old Karl Burns summed up the whole experience nicely. "It feels...extraordinary," Burns said.
For some of the Red Wings, the experience at the Children's Hospital hits particularly close to home.
"I talked to a 9-year-old boy that’s very sick, and when you have a nine year old daughter, it puts things into perspective in a hurry," said Ott.
"My niece actually comes to this hospital on a regular basis. She suffers from a blood disease called DBA so she has to come here for lots of blood transfusions and that, so I know the impact that this place had on my niece and her family," explained Blashill.
