Unlike Oilers goalie Mike Smith, the kids from Crescent View Academy saw Nazem Kadri coming.
“Those that endure the most,” Crescent View senior-to-be Jenayin Wazwaz said with a knowing smile before Avalanche-Edmonton Game 2 at Ball Arena,” are rewarded the most.”
Wazwaz is biased, mind you. With good reason. Kadri, the Avs center who notched three assists during a 4-0 rout of the Oilers, is a relative.
“A few of my friends were coming up (recently), giving condolences, like, ‘We’re sorry this is happening. That shouldn’t be happening to anyone, let alone someone you’re related to,’” recalled Wazwaz, one of a group of 10 students from Crescent View, a private Islamic school in Aurora, on hand to watch the Avs snatch a 2-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup’s Western Conference finals.