WHITEHORSE - A 10-year-old Whitehorse boy will be living his dream by hitting the ice with hockey legend Wayne Gretzky.
Tyler Egglestone will head off to Calgary with his mom on Sunday before playing a game of scrimmage on Monday with Gretzky and Hayley Wickenheiser, the three-time Olympic medallist for women's hockey.
Egglestone is a die-hard fan of the Edmonton Oilers, the team the Great One led to four Stanley cups.
His mom, Charlene Egglestone, said she entered her hockey-crazy son in a TSN and Samsung contest for a chance to meet and play with Gretzky and Wickenheiser months ago and then forgot all about the contest.
"I had entered him in it because Tyler is like, a huge hockey fan," she said.
As part of the contest, parents had to write a 250-word essay about why their kid should qualify as one of the biggest hockey fans in Canada.
Egglestone said it was hard for her to describe her son's love of hockey in so few words.
"You would have to see his room to believe it," she said of the Oilers' fan's haven that's decked out in the team's memorabilia.
The boy's most extensive collection includes pucks and clocks, chairs and action figures. Even the walls have been painted to complement the navy blue, white and orange colours of the team.
His mom said one of the hardest things about getting Christmas presents for her son is trying to figure out what Oilers souvenirs he doesn't have.
Egglestone, who's currently playing his first year of pee wee hockey as centre with Whitehorse Minor Hockey, has been stick handling since he was four. He hopes to one day play the game professionally.
When Egglestone was called to the school office a few days ago for his mom to tell him the good news, he had no idea what he was in for.
"I think he was more in disbelief," said Egglestone. "I don't think it set in till the day after."
"I kind of just stood there and didn't believe her," he said of the chance to join 14 other kids from across Canada to play with such high-profile hockey stars.
Egglestone thinks her son might not say much around his idol when he finally gets to shake his hand.
"I think Tyler will be quite quiet."
Gretzky remains the only player in hockey history to have his jersey number, 99, retired by all participating franchises in the NHL.
After joining the Oilers in 1979, he played for three more NHL teams -- the St. Louis Blues, Los Angeles Kings and the New York Rangers -- and retired in 1999.
Gretzky then played for Team Canada at the Nagano Olympics and was Team Canada's executive director at the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, when the team won its first gold medal in 50 years.
He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1999 and is the only NHL player to have 200 points in one season, a feat he accomplished four times.
Wickenheiser is the only woman to have scored a goal in a men's professional hockey league, which she did while playing in Europe.
She has six gold medals from Woman's World Cup hockey and also represented Canada at the 2000 Summer Olympics for softball. (Whitehorse Star)