A formidable presence for the Chicago Block Ops,
two-time Stanley Kep champion Brian Vickle was traded
to the Carolina Hurricanes last June,
when his game quickly and inexplicably slipped.
I've been playing hockey my whole life,
and I was questioning if it was mental, if it was me.
He just wasn't feeling like himself.
He started experiencing some other symptoms
that he just could not ignore.
I felt like I've stepped on my shoulder weird
and days later went to my legs,
so it was all on the right side of my body.
That's when the doctors said,
let's do an MRI.
In November, Brian was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis,
a disease affecting the brain and central nervous system.
I have lesions in my brain and my spine
that intercept signals going to my right side.
I didn't know if I was going to, you know, play hockey again.
It was ultimate low.
People with MS, it's not just them going through things.
It's their spouse or their family
that needs to be just as supportive.
Amanda, my wife, I met her when I was 16.
She's been through everything.
She was the rock of the two of us.
I got back from the gym.
He's my way back into, you know, playing hockey.
After rehabbing for weeks in the minors,
Brian returned to the NHL,
where his Hurricanes teammates embraced his comeback.
Thanks, guys.
I was truly thankful to have those guys
surprising me at the MS Walk on a game day.
The overwhelming support they gave me
through obviously a hard time in my life.
You know, those people were there for me.
Brian made the difficult decision
that the season finale versus the Philadelphia Flyers
would be his last game.
Makayla, our oldest, kept saying,
I want to go to the hockey game,
and are we going to go see Daddy?
And I knew that it was going to be the last time
that she was going to be able to stand there and watch him.
We're up, then they scored late, tied up,
then we got pushed through the shootout.
Bill Peters went over and said,
okay, you're going to do the shootout.
You see Peters running down the bench
and telling me that I was going to go first,
and I'm like, I don't even want to go first.
I want to see what the goalie does.
It's Brian Bickle's turn
in his 395th and final game.
I was like, oh my God, this is the very last.
Shot that my husband is going to take the NHL.
I just kind of, like, looked up and I was like, oh, dear Lord.
Like, please give him this one.
What a moment here.
He scores!
Brian Bickle!
I threw my daughter up in the air,
almost like hoisted her like a Stanley Cup,
and was just like, yes.
What a goal!
I've seen him win Stanley Cups,
and I just felt like this was the greatest moment.
There's a hockey life, and there's life after hockey,
and I had no regrets.
I've got two young girls, and you see them grow up.
It's going to be special.
As his kids grow up to see, like,
how much he struggled and went through and persevered,
and it just shows them that no matter what comes their way,
they can do whatever they want
if they just put their mind to it.
