Pezzetta: 'It was nice to see those kids smile'

MONTREAL -- Earlier this summer, Jake Evans and Michael Pezzetta participated in a special meet-and-greet that was beautifully captured by Sportsnet.

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The pair spent a few precious minutes with three of the four Blair brothers - 29-year-old Tyler, 14-year-old Alex, and 12-year-old Jack - whose parents, Greg and Jamie, were among the 22 victims killed during the Nova Scotia massacre in April 2020.
The meeting took place at Rogers Centre on July 15 in conjunction with a larger Toronto Blue Jays experience organized by veteran sportscaster, Jamie Campbell, with the help of Westjet and Hotel X Toronto, to fulfill a wish on Greg's behalf for his boys.
"I can't really say my father was a person who had a bucket list, but we had a lot of things that we wanted to do," explained Tyler, the eldest of the Blair crew, in the emotional video published on Sunday. "We were talking about it a few months before everything happened, that it was just our goal to all get down to a Jays game and take that experience in."
Enter Campbell. He talked to Tyler just two weeks after the tragedy and learned of the dream road trip that was in the works.
The host of Blue Jays Central graciously invited the family to a game, stayed in touch over the last two-plus years, and everything finally came together last month.

While narrating the video, Campbell also revealed that the Blairs are huge Canadiens fans because of Greg.
Goaltender Carey Price even sent Alex and Jack a message of empathy, compassion and hope in May 2020
that was documented on canadiens.com
.
"Greg Blair loved watching sports with his sons. He grew up cheering for two teams: the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Blue Jays," said Campbell. "That passion was shared with Tyler, Craig, Alex and Jack."
With that in mind, Campbell reached out to Evans, a family friend, to come down to the ballpark that night.
He enthusiastically accepted the invitation and texted Pezzetta to join him as well.
At the 6:42 mark of the clip, the Blairs leave their seats and head to the Sportsnet studio where Campbell is seen waiting to introduce Alex and Jack to a couple of their favorite Habs.
The jovial encounter, which was a complete surprise, resonated with Pezzetta. He was thankful to attend.
"I can't even imagine how those children's lives have been affected since the incident, losing both of their parents like that where you have no control over anything. You just wake up one day and all of a sudden your parents are gone as a young kid. You can't even put it into words. I can't even imagine what that would feel like," said Pezzetta. "When Jakey asked me to go, I made sure to be there. I was happy to do that. It was a nice time. It was nice to see those kids smile and kind of forget about all the craziness that has been happening in their lives for a bit."
The incredible journey to Toronto meant everything to the Blairs, who reside near Truro, NS and traveled from Halifax.
And the smiles Pezzetta described clearly spoke volumes.
"That was awesome, getting to watch them meet some of their idols," said Tyler, also referencing pre-game chats with Blue Jays players Bo Bichette, Kevin Gausman and Danny Jansen. "More than anything, this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, especially for them."