Man, I love this—chatting about hockey with my buddy JT!
Yesterday afternoon, we decided—on a bit of a whim—to record a three-way episode of Stanley25 with Charles Veilleux.
We started by talking about customer service in 2026… and we wrapped it up by talking about Arber Xhekaj, Renaud Lavoie, Yaya Touré, Stéphane Auger, Kaiden, Cole Caufield and Noah Dobson’s girlfriends, the Senators’ French, Samuel Blais, Joshua Roy, Alex Newhook, Kent Hughes, and Sidney Crosby!
A full hour of podcast that you can find here:
Monday night, between Games #3 and #4, someone told me a story. A sad story that, in the end, still had a happy ending.
That afternoon, Arber Xhekaj went for a walk near the Lachine Canal with his brother Florian, who was recently recalled from the Rocket, and they witnessed a scene you never want to see: a man attempted suicide by jumping into the Lachine Canal.
Several people saw the scene, and Arber Xhekaj could have done what most people do: stay out of it, watch, and then walk away.
Or film the scene with his cell phone, as too many people do these days…
Except that Arber isn’t “everyone.” According to very reliable sources, Arber approached the water, then decided not to jump. It’s always dangerous to try to save someone from drowning: the person is almost always tempted to use you to pull their head out of the water. It’s a basic human survival instinct.
And Arber didn’t have a life preserver to throw him.
Instead, he dialed 911 and then cooperated with law enforcement and medical authorities.
In the end, the person pulled through and survived. We must commend Arber Xhekaj’s actions, as he could have chosen not to get involved in all of this between two playoff games. Especially since he had just been fined $3,500 for punching Sam Carrick in the face the day before…
He clearly “wasted” part of his day off by playing the good Samaritan.
Let’s be clear: he didn’t do it for the photos, the clicks, the likes, or the cameras. Believe me!
He did it because it was the right thing to do, that’s it.
Way to go, Arber!
Here’s the podcast in question. I tell the story around the 20-minute mark:
