CHARACTER COUNTS
Coyotes to rock custom kicks honoring Hockey Fights Cancer Night
Apr 19, 2021, 12:35 PM
Monday night is “Hockey Fights Cancer Night” when the Arizona Coyotes host the Minnesota Wild at Gila River Arena.
Four Coyotes will be entering the arena wearing custom-designed shoes by local artist J. Pierce to commemorate how cancer has personally affected their lives.
Those four players are Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Jakob Chychrun, Clayton Keller and Jordan Oesterle.
The Adidas Nizza RF High style shoes were designed with oil paint pens and will be auctioned until 12 p.m. Tuesday to support the Arizona Coyotes Foundation.
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Ekman-Larsson’s kicks are dedicated to his mom, Annika, who battled cancer for 10 years and passed away in 2017. The horseshoe design symbolizes her love for horses.
The defenseman also included gold ribbons — which represents childhood cancer — to honor Leighton Accardo, who passed away from Stage 4 cancer in November at the age of nine. She was a Hockey Fights Cancer ambassador and honorary Coyotes teammate, who had her name and No. 49 added to Arizona’s ring of honor on Saturday.
Chychrun paid tribute to family friend Lori Alf with his shoes after she recently beat multiple myeloma, a rare type of cancer. Alf is now cancer free.
Keller will be honoring his grandfather Bill, who died of cancer, in addition to having the breast cancer awareness note of “Never Give Up” on the inside of his shoes.
Oesterle’s kicks include a pink ribbon for his sister, who was diagnosed with cancer in August.
The Coyotes host the Wild at 6 p.m. at Gila River Arena on Monday night.
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