The email dropped in my box a few weeks ago. Almost lost it in the endless stream of playoff-related info (Rangers Availability, 5:00pm, JW Marriot) and reminders from Shutterfly about my daughters upcoming soccer practices. This note was from a friend made a few years ago, in the worst possible way you can make a friend. Paul Frustaglio just wanted to let me know they were having a golf tournament on June 26th for his son Evan. "Drop by, if you can make it," he wrote. I couldnt. Would be in Philadelphia for the NHL Draft. So I sent along my regrets and said that Id at least try to get a prize sent over from TSN. "I should have remembered that was draft week," Paul wrote back. "Evan was a 96." Thats the first way every hockey parent describes his/her kid; by their abbreviated birth year. When someone asks,"What is your boy?" We know instantly what they mean. "Oh, hes a 98." There will be a slew of 96s who have their names called Friday night and Saturday in Philadelphia who will remember Evan Frustaglio. He was part of an elite group of Toronto area hockey players growing up. From minor atom on, he battled against top prospects like Sam Bennett, Robby Fabbri, and Josh Ho-Sang. He played on summer teams with Bennett, Sunny Milano and Connor McDavid, next years draft prodigy. When the Grade 8 team from Vaughns Hill Academy, a sport-focused private school north of Toronto, played its opening game in 2008, Evan scored the games first three goals. His linemate Michael Dal Colle, a likely top-five pick Friday, scored the next six. "Evan had sick hands," Dal Colle says, waiting for his luggage at the Philadelphia airport. "He wasnt big but his skill level was off the charts. Great player, great guy. So sad." Evan Frustaglio was 13 when he started to feel sick at a hockey tournament in London. His Mom, Ann-Marie brought him home after the Saturday games, thinking there was no point staying over if he wasnt likely to be better for Sunday. Dont want the flu to spread around a dressing room. And it looked like, felt like, had to be, the flu. Thats what the doctor at the walk-in clinic said Sunday. "Probably just a mild virus... give him lots of fluids." But his parents were worried, and Paul stayed up all night watching him. The next morning, Evan told his Mom he was feeling OK, so she went off to work. Paul took the day off to stay home with Evan, and catch up on sleep. He gave his son a bath, and noticed an odd rash, but couldnt reach his family doctor to ask about it. Evan went back to bed, and Paul left the room briefly. When he called Evans name just a few minutes later, there was no answer. Paul found him sprawled on the bathroom floor, limp. The rest, four years later, is still a painful blur. A panicked 9-1-1 call, the operator giving Paul instructions on how to do CPR, the medics arriving and trying to revive him. Too late. Evan died October 26, 2009, the same day they started giving H1N1 shots to the public. That virus, the one supposed to prey on the vulnerable, the elderly and the very young, had killed a strong, healthy teenage athlete. "It attacked his heart," Paul says. "He was... too healthy. From what they told me, the best laymans way to put it is that his heart literally beat itself to death." Evans death triggered H1N1 hysteria across Canada. Instantly, there were line-ups that queued for hours at immunization clinics. Three thousand came to Evans wake. Hockey people, mostly. Entire teams that played with and against him. Some who did neither. Hockey is like that. I met Paul there. He was remarkable, thanking me and everyone else over and over for coming. The ultimate Canadian, overly polite even when his world was crumbling around him. He proudly showed me the flowers Sidney Crosby had sent. Evan had touched people. You hold on to that to keep you going, I guessed. Doctors would thank Paul for doing interviews, for talking about Evan, for encouraging people to get immunized. That helped him a little too, he supposes. But soon the H1N1 story faded, and the Frustaglios were left to figure out how to continue their lives without their first-born. Theyre still working on it. Evans younger brother Will, a 99, was too young to grasp the loss of his best friend. Its only started to really hit him hard in the last year or two. But hes done remarkably well. He is a top student and athlete at The Hill, his brothers old school, working out everyday in the same gym as Dal Colle. Will got the size gene Evan didnt, and enters his junior draft year as a solid prospect. Any parent who has lost a child tells you the grieving never really ends. But after four years, Paul and Anne-Marie finally felt ready to celebrate Evans memory. So as you read this, The Hill Academy is holding the first Evan Frustaglio Memorial Golf Tournament at The Glen Eagle Golf Club near Bolton, Ontario. The school is naming its gym after Evan. Money raised from the tourney will be used to set up a scholarship, and the plan is to designate a different charity every year to support. Would Evan have been in Philly Friday? Would he have gotten the chance to walk up on that stage and put on some teams sweater and ballcap, while Paul and Anne-Marie and Will and aunts and uncles and friends cheered and cried a little in the stands? Useless hypothetical, I suppose. His size was starting to be an issue by the time he was a teenager, so the odds were probably against him. But with those hands, that skill, and a fearlessness to boot, who knows? A couple of growth spurts... and... maybe. No. Was right the first time. Useless hypothetical. Paul Frustaglio would prefer to celebrate the life his son had, instead of the one that might have been. And so Friday night, he will do what he does every year. "I will watch the draft for sure," he says. "Im sure it will be bittersweet and a little sad this time because it is Evans class. But these kids are great kids. Some of them I watched since they played minor novice in the North York Hockey League. Ill be incredibly happy for all of them." Click here for more information on the golf tournament. Adidas Nmd r1 Herre Danmark . According to a police report, Douglas is accused of grabbing his girlfriend by the neck and slamming her against the wall several times while he carried her from the elevator to their Hartford hotel room early Sunday morning. Adidas Nmd Herre Udsalg . Sterling was banned for life and fined US$2.5 million by the NBA on Tuesday for racist comments the league says he made in a recorded conversation. Nash, who plays for the rival L.A. Lakers, spoke as a representative of current NBA players at a press conference assembled by Sacramento mayor and National Basketball Players Association adviser Kevin Johnson. http://www.dknmdskotilbud.com/adidas-nmd-herre-outlet-danmark/nmd-r1.html . Josh Mazzola drove in five runs to lead the Goldeyes (20-12) past the Capitales 11-5 Friday night at Le Stade Municipal in Quebec City. Adidas Nmd Dk . -- Detroit shortstop Jose Iglesias says he has stress fractures in both legs and isnt sure when hell be able to play again, leaving the Tigers two weeks to fill his spot for opening day and perhaps a lot longer. Adidas Nmd Herre Danmark . He made the comment at a media availability Saturday prior to Game 2 of the Boston-Montreal playoff series when a Quebec reporter said there is sentiment in Quebec that the NHL looks more favourably on Seattle than Quebec City when it comes to future expansion.CINCINNATI, Ohio -- The Cincinnati Reds used a well-rounded effort to end their losing streak on Saturday. Jay Bruce homered and drove in three runs and the Reds snapped a three-game losing streak with a 6-5 win over the Phillies. Todd Frazier also homered and the Reds played strong defence, throwing out two runners at the plate to end innings and overcome homers by Marlon Byrd, Carlos Ruiz and Jimmy Rollins to send the Phillies to their seventh loss in eight games. "Talk about a complete game," first-year manager Bryan Price said. "Those two perfectly executed relay throws were a big deal. We had a lot of good things, defensively and offensively." Centre fielder Billy Hamilton, second baseman Brandon Phillips and catcher Devin Mesoraco teamed up to throw out Byrd at the plate to end the sixth inning and Ruiz to end the seventh. "Those are fun plays," Mesoraco said. "Those are always my most fun plays. You certainly dont want to give up the doubles to get into that position." Alfredo Simon (8-3) allowed seven hits and three runs with three strikeouts in six innings. Jonathon Broxton pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Aroldis Chapman pitched the ninth for his eighth save. The Reds wasted no time snapping their 17-inning scoreless streak, scoring in the first inning. Hamilton drew a leadoff walk, stole second on the first pitch to Skip Schumaker and hustled to third on Schumakers groundout to Rollins at shortstop, setting up Bruces sacrifice fly. "As a team, you need the small things," Bruce said. "Those are what lead to the bigger things." The Phillies answered with Byrds two-run homer in the second, his ninth of the season. Frazier led off the bottom of the second with his team-leading 13th homer of the season, giving him home runs in three of his past four games. Frazier sparked Cincinnatis fourth-inning go-ahead rally with a single to right field and stolen base. Zack Cozart drove him in with a sinking line drive to right-centre field that Ben Revere got a glove on with a diving try before the ball trickled away. Cozart went to third on Ramon Santiagos single and scored on Hamiltons sacrifice fly. The Phillies threatened in the fifth, getting runners to second and third with one out, prompting manager Ryne Sandberg to pinch-hit John Maybberry Jr.ddddddddddddfor starting pitcher Roberto Hernandez. Hernandez (2-4), is 0-3 in seven starts since his most recent win on May 4, allowed four hits and four runs with three walks and two strikeouts in four innings. He also hit a batter. Bruce followed Brandon Phillips fifth-inning leadoff walk with his fourth homer of the season and first since April 20 against the Cubs in Chicago. The homer was his first in Cincinnati since April 3 and the 100th of his career at Great American Ball Park. "Thats one of those things I knew was coming," Bruce said. "You just have to keep on keeping on. Ive been trying to keep the same approach. It felt good to put a good swing on a pitch I should have driven." Ruiz led off the sixth with his second homer of the season, and Rollins hit a two-run shot in the seventh, his eighth homer of the season and second in two days. Byrd was thrown out on a double on Domonic Browns double to right-centre field. He collided with Mesoraco, prompting umpire crew chief Tom Hallion to ask for a review to make sure Major League Baseballs new rules governing plays at the plate werent violated. "I cant give you an educated response because I dont know what the rule is," Byrd said. "I was waiting for a lane. I was going to slide outside and get my hand in" When the replay confirmed the initial ruling, Sandberg came out of the dugout to argue, which is automatic grounds for ejection. The umpires tried to wave him back into the dugout, and Hallion ejected Sandberg when he persisted. "My argument was the catcher blocked the plate before he had the ball," Sandberg said. "Byrd almost twisted his ankle with indecision. It has gone against us three times with different scenarios. Everyone wants to know what the rule is." Notes: Reds 1B Joey Votto will begin an injury rehab assignment with Triple-A Louisville on Sunday. Votto hasnt played since going on the disabled list on May 21, retroactive to May 16, with a quadriceps strain in his left knee, the same knee on which he had two surgeries in 2012. ... Bruces walk in the third inning was his first in 16 games since he was walked three times by Milwaukee on May 1. ... Sandbergs ejection was the first of his managerial career. ... Rollins needs six hits to pass Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt and become Philadelphias career hits leader. ' ' '