Ducks Fan's Persistence Pays Off
During a dreadful day for him and his family, Nick Pasillas' refusal to give up on seeing his favorite team proved to be quite lucrative
Pasillas has been a passionate Ducks fan for the better part of two decades, and it's not always easy considering he lives in Lancaster among a litany of Kings fans. Not to mention, Honda Center is a good two hours from his home, but that doesn't keep him from making it to several games a year. In fact, Pasillas purchased a Weekend Mini Plan before this season, and had already attended about eight games before making the trip down last Friday for a highly anticipated Ducks-Sharks tilt.
He actually took the day off from work to beat the traffic and get down to Orange County early with his family - girlfriend Elizabeth and their two daughters, Scarlett (3) and Audrey (6 months). They arrived in Anaheim around 2 in the afternoon and decided to kill some time at Downtown Disney. After about an hour and a half, they headed out get some lunch down the street, but there was one problem - their car wouldn't start.
"We ended up finding people who tried to help using a jump box and jumper cables, but nothing would work," Pasillas says. "We had to call a tow company and I guess they didn't understand, so they came out to jump it again. Most likely it was a broken starter. Finally they get someone over there who will tow the car, and he tried everything that we already did over again. By then it was already like 6:15 and we're getting closer to the game."
Puck drop that night was 7 p.m., and Pasillas was getting nervous. "I'm thinking, I don't think we're gonna make it at all now."
By the time they got to the auto repair shop, they were told the car couldn't be fixed that day because they were closing for the evening. A call to a different mechanic also proved fruitless. Pasillas was left with no choice but to find a place to stay for the night.
"I tried to find a hotel that was the cheapest and closest to Honda Center so we could at least walk to the game," he said, refusing to give up. "It was already 7:30 and we were still at Downtown Disney, and I thought, Maybe we'll make half of the game."
They settled on an Extended Stay America in Orange, just a little more than a half mile from Honda Center, near the Stadium Promenade on Katella. At the hotel, Nick asked Elizabeth if she had the tickets, and her face dropped.
"She tells me she left them in the car," Pasillas says. "So now we don't even have tickets."
He quickly called the Honda Center box office to see if he could get them reprinted. "The woman on the phone told me they could, but she said, 'Unless you're really close, I don't think you're gonna make it because we close in like 10 minutes.'"
Pasillas darted out of the hotel and began a dead sprint to Honda Center. "I'm all nervous and just running as fast as I can," he says. "It was pretty funny, but I saw another guy who looked like he was going to the game. He saw me running and for some reason he just started running too."
Pasillas made it to Honda Center just in time to get the tickets reprinted and called his family to walk down and join him.
"It was already a bad day, and I just wanted to see the Ducks," he says, adding that there was the extra motivation of it being an Ugly Sweater t-shirt giveaway night. "I was also thinking, I just want my shirt!"
Elizabeth and the girls eventually arrived at the arena, and as they headed to their seats, Pasillas remembered to buy a few
50/50 Raffle tickets
, something he had done at each game he attended since the Ducks introduced the program this season. Tickets are sold at increments of 3 for $5, 10 for $10 or 40 for $20, with 50% of the pot going to the winner and 50% going to the Anaheim Ducks Foundation.
"We'd never won, but it came to me at the last second, and I was like, 'We had such a bad day, what's 20 more dollars?'" Pasillas laughs.
The winning number was announced over the Honda Center PA and displayed on the scoreboard in the third period. "I'm looking at my ticket and I'm looking at it, straightening it, and I don't see anything," Pasillas recalls. "It was the last number I had on the ticket and sure enough, it was a match."
"I was in shock. I was speechless," he says. "I didn't know what to do. I told my girlfriend, and she didn't believe me because I was so calm. I just didn't believe it. Nobody around us could believe I won."
He was so flustered, he wasn't even sure where to go to claim his prize and had to ask around. "My girlfriend stayed and watched the game, and I went to figure out if I won. She told me later, 'All the people around us were like, 'Are you sure he won? He looks pretty calm.'"
There was a reason for that. "I've never won anything like that in my life," he says. "I have the worst luck. I'm the guy who buys the scratcher ticket and never wins anything, not even a free ticket."
Sure enough, 50/50 Raffle officials verified he had the winning number, and he won half of a pot that happened to be the largest of the season so far - $22,395, with Pasillas getting $11,197.50. And what does he plan to spend the money on? A car, of course.
"I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee, and it's old and it's falling apart," Pasillas says. "I have to spend random money on it every year because something always breaks on it, and I'll be without a car for a month or so."
He clarifies that it was actually Elizabeth's car that broke down that day. "It seems like it's on its last legs as well," he says with a chuckle. "We had already pretty much decided we were gonna get a car, but this definitely helps."
And it's all because Pasillas refused to give up on seeing his favorite team that day.
"I feel blessed by the Ducks, honestly," he says. "It's always a long drive, but I love being there. It's my favorite sporting event to go to and just a great place to be."
"And this," he adds, "was truly a blessing, especially around the holidays."
