Carey Price's missing pooches found by quick-thinking landscaper
With NHL playoffs on his mind, goalie tweeted appeal for help in finding wayward Labs early today
One Habs fan had an unlikely get-together with the team's star goalie this morning after Carey Price lost his two Labrador retrievers last night outside Montreal.
John Mastromonaco, a landscaper in Candiac, Que., was listening to a local sports-talk radio station early Monday morning when the host mentioned a tweet Price had sent out the night before.
At 12:17 a.m. ET, Price, who isn't a prolific tweeter, appealed to anyone in the area to keep an eye out for his two missing dogs.
“Almost simultaneously I crossed these two dogs that were following this jogger, but they weren’t on a leash. I found it kind of weird," Mastromonaco told CBC Montreal's Daybreak.
Mastromonaco stopped his truck and asked the jogger if the black and yellow labs were his. The jogger said they weren't and Mastromonaco immediately called back the radio station to see if they could get a hold of Price.
Then he noticed they were wearing tags, but the number didn't have a local area code.
"I know Carey is from B.C. I called the number and it was his wife. She was very happy I’d found the dogs," he said.
The landscaper quickly arranged to drop off the dogs at Price's house. He said they immediately jumped in his truck and happily ran out when they pulled up to the goalie's suburban home.
“I rang the bell and Carey came out very happy that I’d found the dogs," Mastromonaco said.
"He gave me a signed stick. I thanked him, wished him luck on Tuesday and that was it."
Mastromonaco, a dog owner himself, said he knows how anxious he would be if his pet were missing. He said Price looked tired but relieved at 6:30 a.m. when he rang the bell.
As for the moral of the story?
Mastromonaco said he hopes anyone who hears the story will stop and help if they see a dog wandering, even if it isn't a celebrity pet.
Price and the Habs will take on the Boston Bruins in Montreal in Game 3 of the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs on Tuesday.
With the series tied at 1-1, many Habs fans may be relieved to know that missing dogs won't be on his mind.