Needless to say, it was an emotional moment for Domi, who met plenty of hockey stars growing up thanks to his father, Tie, a former Toronto Maple Leafs enforcer.
"I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you if it wasn't for that man over there," Domi said during the meet-and-greet on RDS, referring to Clarke. "I know everyone has an idol growing up, someone to look up to. My dad played a big part and other individuals did too, but having a disease like type 1 diabetes, it's a small community, not many people understand it. But if you have it, you get it; you understand what we go through. [Clarke] lived it, he understands it. He's a [two-time] Stanley Cup champion, a captain of the Philadelphia Flyers as a type 1 diabetic; how do you beat that? I changed my number to 16 because of him. He's my idol for a reason; I look up to him for a lot of reasons. It's pretty cool to be sitting with him right now."
Clarke may have achieved a lot over the course of his storied 15-year career, but finding out how much of an impact he had on someone like Domi still felt like a special accomplishment to the 70-year-old.
"It's pretty humbling when you hear a National Hockey League player say that about you. Having diabetes… on his part, he made the NHL because he can play hockey," praised Clarke, the Flyers' second-round pick (17th overall) in 1969. "It doesn't have anything to do with the fact that he's a diabetic. He's an NHL hockey player with diabetes, and that's pretty special, I think."
