Noah Dobson was 4 years old, and there was some concern. His father, Andrew, had gotten him into an initiation program for hockey on Prince Edward Island. Every Saturday, they would drive about 30 minutes from their home in the town of Summerside. Noah was underage in a group of 5- and 6-year olds. The program’s administrators worried.

They didn’t want a kid who would disrupt proceedings. They thought a 4-year-old might end up sitting on the ice in tears if things went wrong. 

“One thing I do with my kids — my daughter plays soccer, too, and stuff — if I had to push them to go, I wasn’t going,” Andrew Dobson said. “Put it that way. They had to want to do it.”

Noah never asked out. The program leaders’ fear never came to fruition. And that was one of the last times for a long time anyone would harbor a concern about his desire or ability to play the game of hockey.