The Time A Son Took His Estonian Father To ‘Hockey Heaven,’ And Touched Our Hearts

The Huffington Post Canada  |  By Jesse Ferreras

Andrei Lanochkin always wanted his son Vitaly to have a chance to play hockey.

His son thanked him by taking him to “hockey heaven.”

The two feature in a new ad released as part of Molson Canadian’s#AnythingForHockey contest, which asks people to tell the company “what you do for hockey” for a chance to win a trip to a spectacular rink in the mountains.

The latest commercial introduces viewers to Andrei, a former coach of the Estonian national hockey team when the country was occupied by the Soviet Union.

Vitaly says in the ad that money for hockey ran out when the Soviet Union fell. So his father moved his family to Canada so that his boy could play the game.

To say thanks, Vitaly arranged with Molson to fly himself and his father up to the remote rink via helicopter to shoot some pucks before the chopper flew in with a fridge of the company’s beer.

Father and son enjoy a happy moment together as they look out over a beautiful, icy vista.

We know, we know: it’s a commercial. But for anyone who’s played a little shinny with Dad in the winter, this is still pretty special.