The Arizona Coyotes scored five unanswered goals on Sunday night, putting the Capitals behind by three. It was a bummer. After Coyotes goal number six, and the Caps still several minutes away from losing their fourth straight game, CSN cameras rolled tape of an adorable girl yawning during warm-ups to raise our spirits.

“Young lady, those are my thoughts exactly,” said Joe Beninati sadly into the microphone.

That young lady is Amelia, and she was the star of warm-ups on Sunday. Her brother too.

RMNB reader Julia D. (@heyjuliamae) explains.

Last night was like any ordinary Caps pre-game for me, I like to get into the arena mostly before anyone else because the rink is so peaceful and of course I like to reserve my spot up against the glass for warm-ups. It is much easier to see what is going on when you aren’t standing behind a bunch of people. Two of my girlfriends had even joined me (avid RMNB readers @CAPLDY and @WeWillBonzai) and we were chatting away right before the guys came out of the tunnel when we noticed an adorable little girl making her way as quickly as she could down to the glass holding up a gigantic sign that read: “Swedish Triple Threat” with a picture of the Swedish flag drawn in the top left corner. We had some space next to us and motioned for her and her family to come down so that she could hold up her sign in hopes that one of the guys would see it. We were soon joined by Amelia and her brother Jackson, and their grandmother with their father not too far behind us.

Warm-ups started and they went nuts! Holding up their signs (Jackson had one as well) and banging on the glass and calling out to the players as they skated by, they were on cloud nine. After a few minutes, Kuznetsov stopped right where Amelia was standing and motioned to her that he was going to toss a puck over the glass.

Photo: Amanda Bowen

As soon as she got that puck in her hands, she had the biggest smile on her face. But of course, the sweetness doesn’t stop there. Mike Green had stopped to wave to some eager fans and decided to throw not one, but two pucks over the glass and one of those was caught by Amelia’s grandmother and then quickly snatched away by Amelia herself before she gladly handed it to her brother. Getting a puck from a pro hockey player is pretty awesome, but at that age (I would say they were about 5 and 7) children are so impressionable and really look up to these guys. A small gesture of kindness from them could be the highlight of a child’s life thus far.

After all the guys went back into the locker room, I learned from Amelia and Jackson’s father that they have an au pair (nanny) from Sweden who is also a huge hockey fan and she helped them construct their signs for the game. Jackson’s sign read ‘mål!’ which is Swedish for goal. I mentioned Russian Machine and their father told us that he is on the website at least 3 times a day. I asked if I could submit this wonderfully adorable story along with some pictures to Ian and he said it would be perfectly fine. Needless to say, this was the highlight of my night (Carly’s goal was a close second) and if you watched the game, you know exactly why. I can only hope that my future children are as passionate about hockey as Amelia and Jackson. Thank you for letting me share this story!

Photos: Julia D.