American man hailed as a hero who deflected a hockey puck at a 4-year-old boy | US News

Ann Ohio A man has been hailed as a hero after deflecting a hockey puck flying at a four-year-old boy with his arm, saving him from serious injury or worse.

This heroic and coordinated feat took place at a minor league hockey game last Thursday. cleveland. A Cleveland Monsters game nearly ended when a hockey puck shot into the crowd went straight toward little Nasir Davis.

“This puck is coming straight from heaven to my son's head,” Nasir's mother, Asia Davis, 33, said in a TikTok post. WOIO reported on monday.

Being hit by a hockey puck can be fatal. Just last year, an 11-year-old boy in Canada died. being hit A puck hits his throat during hockey practice.

Thankfully, Nasir escaped injury. A mysterious man stopped the puck just before it hit Nasir.

“If you know anything about a hockey puck, it's denser than a baseball. This guy literally saved my son's life,” Davis said in the video.

After the amazing close call, Davis took to social media to try to find out who stopped the puck from hitting Nasir. She wanted to express her gratitude to a selfless stranger.

davis video The post quickly went viral and led her to her then-hero, Andrew Podolak.

Podolak told WOIO that he was able to connect with Davis and Nasir after a friend showed him the video.

Podolak said he remembers seeing the puck heading straight for Nasir. “It was coming towards me through the glass and I could see it wobbling,” he said.

“I thought, 'Oh my god.' The first thing I have to do, my first instinct is to protect my child and jump in front of it,” Podolak told WOIO.

In a split-second decision, Podolak was able to deflect the puck with his arm. The Washington Post reported.

Word of Podolak's actions and reunion efforts quickly caught the attention of the Cleveland Monsters.

The hockey team reached out to Podolak, Davis and Nasir and offered them free tickets to Saturday's game and a special on-ice experience.

Before the game opener, the three reconvened, met with several team members, and were ushered onto the ice for puck drop.

Davis and Podolak said this reunion was extraordinary and could be the beginning of an extraordinary friendship between the two.

Every time they met, Davis repeatedly thanked Podolak for saving her son's life.

“You are truly a special person, and I just hope you never go through a day of your life without knowing that,” Davis told Podolak. NBC News.