{"id":609336,"date":"2026-04-17T02:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T02:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/609336\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T02:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T02:40:09","slug":"with-gesture-to-10-year-old-fan-dustin-wolf-proves-that-small-goalies-can-make-big-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/609336\/","title":{"rendered":"With gesture to 10-year-old fan, Dustin Wolf proves that small goalies can make big impact"},"content":{"rendered":"

CALGARY \u2014 Ten-year-old Kade Heisler walked into the Calgary Flames<\/a> dressing room to meet his idol, handed him a birthday balloon, and apologized.<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry for what?\u201d asked Dustin Wolf<\/a>, beaming at the sight of the young viral-video sensation.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor losing your focus,\u201d responded Heisler, alluding to the two goals scored on Wolf after Tuesday\u2019s stick exchange melted hearts around the globe.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot at all,\u201d said Wolf, inviting him to sit next to him in his stall before signing the stick.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad it worked out the way it did. The smile on your face means the world to me. That\u2019s what it\u2019s all about.\u201d<\/p>\n

By now, you\u2019ve seen Heisler\u2019s beautiful reaction to having his sign recognized in the stands by Wolf during a TV timeout, and bursting into unabashed tears of pure joy as he cradled a game-used stick sent to him by Flames equipment manager Mark DePasquale.<\/p>\n

Wolf didn\u2019t see the priceless reaction in real time, but melted after the game when shown the video that has circled the globe for its purity.<\/p>\n

It prompted the team to invite Heisler and his family \u2014 parents and four kids \u2014 to the Dome to meet Wolf after Thursday morning\u2019s skate.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw the video afterward and just the pure emotion, love and the happiness\u2026 it goes a long way,\u201d said Wolf, whose status as one of the most beloved players is getting a well-earned boost.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo take a couple seconds out of your day to make someone else\u2019s better is what we want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

After all, he knows what it feels like.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in the same position with Quickie (Jonathan Quick),\u201d said Wolf of his childhood idol growing up in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very fortunate to get a couple pictures of him over a few different years, and it’s sad to see him hang \u2019em up, but to get to play against him and see him across the ice a few times is certainly a dream come true. That’s the stuff you dream about as a kid.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re very privileged. We’re in an unbelievable position to support others, to make other kids’ days, make families’ days, and try to go above and beyond when you get the chance. It doesn’t seem like it’s a whole lot to you when you’re doing it, but it means so much to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than Wolf could ever have known.<\/p>\n

\"DustinDustin Wolf, left, and Kade Heisler, right, pose for a picture together. (Eric Francis\/Sportsnet)<\/p>\n

This hasn\u2019t been an easy year for Heisler.<\/p>\n

Just before Christmas, the resident of nearby Carstairs, Alta., quit hockey because he was bullied by a teammate.<\/p>\n

The young man walked away from the game he loves.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt started out with names and stuff, and then it turned into physical,\u201d he told Sportsnet. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t fun anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking on with pride as her son was interviewed by several local TV stations Thursday, his mother, Kimberly Komarniski, said the sign he made declaring Wolf his idol has plenty to do with the fact the Flames goalie is the smallest in the NHL.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe gets picked on for his size a lot and that\u2019s where his admiration comes from for Wolf,\u201d she said. \u201cWe were just hoping for eye contact, or for him to see the sign. To get a thumbs up from Dustin was above and beyond, then the stick was mind blowing.\u201d<\/p>\n

As has been the fallout \u2014 something the young man has taken in stride as he started being hounded for interviews TV and radio stations around North America early the next morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like Wolf because he proves that size doesn’t matter,\u201d said the pint-sized goalie, who will be the shortest player on the ice when he starts skating with his new team, the U-13 Renegades, this fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you’re short or tall, you can still cover the same amount of net. Wolf doesn’t let his size hold him back. He turns it into motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The day was also a big one for Kade\u2019s 12-year-old brother, Jayden, who has battled cystic fibrosis since birth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the day comes for his Make-a-Wish, it’ll definitely have something to do with the Flames,\u201d said Kimberly, who added that daily treatment and a new drug has helped with their outlook on the disease, which causes severe respiratory and digestive issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe eats and breathes the Flames. He is an encyclopedia for the Flames, and he\u2019s a huge Dustin Wolf fan too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis means the world not just to Kade, but all of us. It\u2019s like a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the thing about being kind \u2014 you never know how much it can mean, and to how many.<\/p>\n

Small gestures \u2014 no pun intended \u2014 can have big impacts.<\/p>\n

And while most players understand their power, and wield it appropriately with acts like these every day, it was Kade’s reaction that made the\u00a0moment so powerful.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThose tears of Kade\u2019s the other night, those were just pure gratefulness,\u201d said mom.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s why it hit home with the millions and millions who\u2019ve seen it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CALGARY \u2014 Ten-year-old Kade Heisler walked into the Calgary Flames dressing room to meet his idol, handed him…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-609336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}