Mom praises man who stopped flying hockey puck headed for her 4-year-old son

CLEVELAND (WOIO/Gray News) - A man sitting next to a mother and her 4-year-old son at a Cleveland hockey game is being honored for stopping a flying puck from hitting the boy.

Asia Davis and her 4-year-old son Nasir went to a Cleveland Monsters game Thursday. In the third period, with only a few minutes left, a hockey puck flew into the crowd at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, WOIO reports.

Davis, who captured the incident on video, says the puck was headed straight for her son when a man sitting next to them jumped into action and stopped it from hitting the boy.

“This puck comes out of heaven, straight toward my son’s head,” said Asia Davis on TikTok. “If you know anything about a hockey puck, it’s more dense than a baseball. This dude literally saved my son’s life.”

After the heart-stopping moment, Davis, Nasir and the man took pictures together then left the game, but when she got home, Davis wanted to thank the man more and sent out a call via TikTok to help her find him.

The video quickly spread, making its way to the man himself: Andrew Podolak.

“Next thing you know, my phone is blowing up. One person after the next, ‘Is this you? Is this you? Is this you?’” Podolak said. “That’s me. I was there.”

He remembers seeing the puck flying toward the 4-year-old.

“It was coming up over the glass, and I just saw it was wobbling and whatnot,” he said. “I was like, ‘Oh god.’ The first thing I gotta do, first instinct, is protect the kid, jump in front of it.”

He told WOIO the puck hit him on the inside of his hand.

Thanks to Davis’ TikTok, the Monsters also got word of Podolak’s actions and invited the three back for a special experience at Saturday night’s game against the Laval Rocket. Davis, Nasir and Podolak walked in together, greeted the players as the team entered the rink and, just before game time, met at center ice for an emotional puck drop.

“It’s really cool,” Davis said. “I didn’t expect any of this.”

After Podolak caught the puck, Davis learned he had made the choice to sit next to her and her son. He bought two seats, one of which was empty, but stayed in the seat by Nasir, despite the 4-year-old’s mother saying the boy had trouble sitting still during the game.

“But he stayed in that seat, and he was like, ‘I was meant to be here,’” said Davis on TikTok. “And he was. You cannot tell me God is not real.”

Davis and Podolak say it’s not a coincidence that this happened.

“My section was 107, row 7, seat 7,” Podolak said. “It hit me after everything blew up... Everything happened for a reason.”

“Seven is my lucky number,” Davis said. “I was born on the seventh. That’s always the number I play when I do a little gambling. I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe everything happens for a reason. I’m just so grateful.”

Though the Monsters ended up losing Saturday’s game 5-1, the final score was meaningless for Davis, Nasir and Podolak, as they were reunited, making the night a win for everyone.

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