Luke Fanella is a 14-year-old Chicago Blackhawks fan who deals with a muscle disorder that makes it difficult to walk. But that hasn’t allowed him to stop enjoying Halloween every year.
As millions of kids trick-or-treat on Wednesday, Luke will be out there with one of the more creative costumes you’ll ever see. This year, the Woodridge, Il. teen is dressing up as the Blackhawks’ bench.
“That’s where the players have to hop the boards to get to their shift,” he told ABC7 Chicago’s Jesse Kirsch. “Just to see where they go and what they’re doing back there is pretty cool. I wanted to be that kid that got to sit on the bench during their warmups and give them all knuckles and high-fives.”
Using Luke’s scooter, his uncle built the costume that includes boards, glass, advertisements, and depending on who’s following behind him, fans. His spot on the bench is right between Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.
New year, new @NHLBlackhawks costume for Luke Fanella! This Woodbridge teen shows us all that #disability can’t hold him down: https://t.co/Ur4jlrGvmg #HappyHalloween pic.twitter.com/1p11L7M1JA
— Jesse Kirsch (@JesseKirschNews) October 29, 2018
Luke and his Uncle Jim are pretty good at this Halloween thing. Last year he dressed up his wheechair as a Blackhawks Zamboni.
The team caught wind of the costume and invited him to United Center to ride the real thing a few days later. This year’s idea should certainly earn Luke a spot on the real Blackhawks bench for some pre-game knuckles and high fives when the team returns from their Western Canada road trip.
We’re already anticipating Luke’s 2019 costume.
Happy Halloween!
MORE: Your 2018-19 NHL on NBC TV schedule
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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.
