Selanne hat trick for friend dying of cancer

[niss]

Anyone else see this (from the Newark Star Ledger)? These kind of stories are pretty amazing.

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It had been almost six years since Teemu Selanne scored a hat trick -- since March 29, 2001, to be precise.

At 36, the Ducks forward wasn't sure he had another three-goal game in him. But that was before he spoke via telephone to a close friend back home in Finland Thursday morning. The friend has terminal cancer and asked Selanne to send him the puck if he scored three goals.

"He found out that the cancer has spread to his brain," Selanne revealed. "I don't think he has much time to live. So I told him if I scored a hat trick I'd keep the puck. I told him the odds weren't very good that it would happen. Obviously it was a really sad day, but what are you going to do? Life is not fair sometimes."

Incredibly, Selanne scored a hat trick that night in a 5-1 victory over the Stars.