Mom expresses gratitude to man who saved her 4-year-old son from being hit by a hockey puck

Andrew Podolak’s quick reaction to stopping a flying puck from striking a 4-year-old boy during a hockey game in Cleveland prevented what could have been a tragedy. According to WOIO, Asia Davis and her son Nasir were seated next to Podolak during the Monsters’ game on Thursday.

But during the third period, a puck flew toward the crowd section and to where Nasir was seated. Davis said Podolak fortunately stopped the puck from striking her 4-year-old son’s head.

“This puck comes out of heaven, straight toward my son’s head,” Asia Davis recalled on TikTok. “If you know anything about a hockey puck, it’s more dense than a baseball. This dude literally saved my son’s life.”

“It was coming up over the glass and I just saw it was wobbling and whatnot and, O God!” Podolak also said. “The first thing I gotta do is protect the kid, jump in front of it.”

Davis also said Podolak had the opportunity to sit away from them as he had purchased two seats. But he decided to stay put. “After he caught the puck, he told me this empty seat next to him was his seat too,” Davis recalled. “If I were him, I would have switched seats from this badass little kid, can’t sit still, but he stayed in that seat and he’s like I was meant to be there.”

The trio later took pictures and parted ways in the wake of the incident. But Davis said she felt compelled to thank Podolak again when the incident played in her head after she got home. That was when social media came to the rescue. 

“TikTok, I need your help finding someone,” Davis said on TikTok. “This man.” Podolak also said his phone later started “blowing up” after Davis sent the appeal. The Monsters also became aware of Podolak’s actions and invited the trio to watch their game against the Laval Rocket at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, WOIO reported.

Before the commencement of Saturday’s game, the trio had the opportunity to greet the players and drop the ceremonial first puck. “It’s really cool,” said Davis. “I didn’t expect any of this.”