Cowan: NHL dream comes true for mother of Canadiens’ Xhekaj brothers
It was back to reality Monday for Simona Xhekaj.
Reality for the mother of the Canadiens’ Arber and Florian Xhekaj meant waking up at 6 a.m. to go to the gym, followed by a 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. shift changing tires in the garage of a Costco in Hamilton. Simona was promoted to a supervisor post last February, but she helps out in the garage during the busy snow tire season. On Monday, she changed 36 tires.
“I promised Jack (her husband) that I’m not going to go back to tires,” she said. “I know I’m 54 years old and I probably shouldn’t be doing these heavy things, but it is what it is.
“Guys were laughing at me because I said, ‘I need pictures,’ ” she added. ” ‘For what?’ they said. I said: ‘For a newspaper.’ ”
Simona was kind enough to pass along those photos and also spent 20 minutes speaking with me on the phone during her drive home after work. She still can’t really put into words what she saw Saturday night at the Bell Centre as her two sons skated for the first time as Canadiens teammates in a 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, with Florian making his NHL debut.
“When we were flying in, all the things when they were little, like when Florian almost died on me in Spain, were going through my mind,” Simona said. “My kid almost died on me and seeing him achieve what he wanted is just … it’s really hard to put into words.”
When Florian was 14, he was playing in an international tournament in Spain when he was butt-ended and suffered a ruptured kidney, putting him in critical condition. His mother flew to Spain and spent a couple of months with him as he underwent several operations and was confined to a wheelchair.
“There were just so many feelings and emotions going through me,” Simona said about watching Florian make his NHL debut. “It was crazy.”
It was a very impressive debut by Florian, who had an assist and a fight in his 9:48 of ice time, to go along with two shots, three hits and a blocked shot.
“I was a little bit scared that he was going to be nervous and try to do too much,” Simona said. “I think he didn’t do that. I thought he fit in and he really played his game. He did what he was supposed to do and what Marty (St. Louis) expected from him. They just needed a little bit of grit and I think he brought it. I was very surprised that he played so calm — he was not nervous.”
The same can’t be said for Simona and her husband, who were in the stands watching, along with their two daughters, Sophia and Dominika. After the game, the family went to a restaurant for a late dinner.
“I was just so happy that we were all together and both my girls could make it,” Simona said. “We really only all get together at Christmas, so it was very, very special.”
The Xhekaj family story reads like a movie script.
Simona and Jack came to Canada during the 1990s looking for a better life. Simona left the Czech Republic and Jack left Albania. They met through mutual friends in Hamilton, got married and started a family.
“They sacrificed everything for us to be here,” Florian said after Saturday’s game. “Long nights when we played minor hockey at the rink. We spent almost all our childhood at the rink. We can’t thank them enough.
“We repay them every time we can,” Florian added. “We bought my dad a car and we’ll see what happens next. They deserve the world. And for them to see us out there tonight, I think it’s special for them, along with me and Arber.”
“The dream honestly came true and it’s something so special,” Simona Xhekaj, changing tires at the Costco garage in Hamilton where she works, says of sons Arber and Florian playing for the Canadiens.
Jack was also back at work Monday at National Steel Car in Hamilton, where he is a welder building freight railcars.
Having one boy — never mind two — playing high-level hockey can be very expensive. While Florian and Arber were growing up, Jack would also do stucco work on the side. There was a three-year period when Simona was holding down two jobs, working during the day at a bank and at night at a Tim Hortons.
“Well, why do you think we still have a mortgage?” Simona said with a chuckle when asked how they were able to afford hockey for the two boys. “We just made it. It was very difficult, but sometimes difficult things pay off.”
On the flight back home Sunday, Simona took a moment to text her two boys.
“I just said: ‘This is something that we’ve all been working for and that I just dreamed about,’ ” she said. ” ‘We dreamed about you guys playing one day together on the same team and now it’s just happening.’ The dream honestly came true and it’s something so special.
“I truly believed inside me that this is something that was going to happen — either sooner or later — but one day, it will happen. And it did.”
