DALLAS — Jason Robertson hosts a family of an active-duty service member at every Dallas Stars home game throughout the regular season. The program is called “JR’s Heroes” and it’s been ongoing since the start of the 2021-22 season.
“I don’t think I’ve ever done it in the playoffs, honestly,” Robertson told NHL.com.
That changed Tuesday, when Robertson, jointly with the NHL, the Stars and ForgiveCo, hosted U.S. Army Specialist Cesar Gonzalez and his family at Game 5 of the Western Conference First Round against the Minnesota Wild at American Airlines Center.
Gonzalez is one of the 1,025 U.S. veterans who will receive a portion of $1.25 million in debt relief being offered in a partnership between the NHL and ForgiveCo, a tentacle of the League’s ‘Operation Line Shift’ military initiative that honors and supports the military community.
Gonzalez was joined at Game 5 by his wife, Lupe, and four kids; Cesar (16 years old), Penelope (13), Camila (10) and Kalani (7).
They were each given Robertson jerseys, seats in the lower bowl of the arena, section 106, and Gonzalez was handed his debt relief check shortly after arriving at the arena.
“This was a big surprise,” Gonzalez said before the game. “I couldn’t believe it to just have it come out of nowhere. It was an amazing surprise, and then on top of that they added this (attending Game 5) into it. But the biggest thing is financially I feel a little bit lighter, I feel I can do more for my kids, provide more for them. It was very difficult for us transitioning out and I got into the hole a little bit, but now we’re trying to come out and this is a big step up.”
Hosting a U.S. veteran is new for Robertson. His “JR’s Heroes” program provides families of deployed active service members tickets to the game and a post-game meet and greet with Robertson.
Robertson said his desire to work with and honor service members and their families began when he was playing for Kingston in the Ontario Hockey League from 2015-19.
“My billet ran a group of young kids of people in the military there, so I kind of got my first glimpse of it there because he’d take me and we’d do some stuff, play hockey, things like that,” Robertson said. “When I came down to Texas, it’s such a big community here that I thought this would be a great opportunity to use the platform that we have to do that. It’s just grown. We wanted to help out, bring some families here. My cousin went to West Point so there’s a little connection there. It’s grown out. Every year you hear new stories and now we’re doing new things. It’s been fun.”
Gonzalez is an Army veteran who was deployed in Iraq from November of 2010 through August of 2011.
He also spent time at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, Fort Riley in Kansas, Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos) and Fort Sam Houston in Texas, Fort Jackson in South Carolina and U.S. Army Garrison Schweinfurt in Germany.
His family resides in Farmers Branch, Texas, a Dallas suburb, where his son, Cesar, is a high school hockey player, having gotten into the sport when he was in second grade.
“The NHL and the hockey families around us just made a whole new community for me,” Gonzalez said. “I went from no structure after getting out to getting my son into hockey and then branching out, getting to meet new people. The way that the families are, the way that Robertson is, the organization, how they treat our youth and how they’re able to provide and just help them grow, it’s great humans. It’s amazing. It means everything to me.”
