The Western Canada Montreal Canadiens rec hockey team in Saskatoon’s motto is that all Montreal Canadiens fans are family.
Braden Fauchoux and Rachelle Zacharias have had a very unfortunate March. First, their beloved 18-month-old french bulldog Chiko went missing. Then, while thinking they were going to meet someone who had their dog, their home was ransacked in Vanscoy, Sask.
So, when their team president found out Fauchoux was a Canadiens die-hard fan through a news story that aired on Global, he knew the team needed to reach out to help.
On Sunday, the couple was invited by Jim Taman for a tour of the club’s dressing room. The senior hockey team, a staple in Saskatoon recreational hockey, has a dressing room at Harold Latrace Arena completely decked out in Montreal Canadiens swag and gear.
The gesture left the couple in awe.
“It’s a nice feeling knowing that there are so many positive and fantastic people out there, when we have been through the tragedy. It’s heartwarming,” Zacharias said.
“When we got the phone call, we were so surprised. It just shows that there a nice people in the world.”
Fauchoux agrees the fan club went out of its way to do this.
“It’s pretty cool. It’s the closest thing you can get to the Montreal Canadiens out here,” Fauchoux said.
“We definitely appreciate all of this.”
In late March, they received a call that someone had found him. The stranger offered to meet them and return Chiko.
The stranger never showed up at the meeting place.
When Zacharias and Fauchoux returned home, they learned they had been robbed.
“The doors were all broken into and everything was just ransacked,” Fauchoux said.
“When we walked in the door, I just looked to the right and I saw our bedroom and I saw the mattress had been flipped upside down,” Zacharias said.
Money, cameras and jewelry are all missing. But only Chiko matters, his owners say.
RCMP continue to investigate the incident, but so far the person or persons responsible have not been caught, and their dog remains missing.
Taman said the fan club appreciates the opportunity to get together and share a happy moment with them during an otherwise tough time.
“It makes us — the fan club — feel good,” Taman said.
After getting an extensive and thorough walkthrough tour of the dressing room — a slice of heaven for hockey fans — the couple was presented with a custom Montreal Canadiens cheque for $500, as well as a new golf shirt.
The couple says they are forever grateful for the help and support, and they won’t give up.
“Being Hab fans — that you would get a cheque with the Montreal Canadiens logo on it — it was sweet to see that little smile and laughter from the two of them,” Taman said.
The couple even stuck around Sunday afternoon to take in some of the fan clubs’ hockey game.
“It gives us hope.”
— with files from Nathaniel Dove
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