Fake Jake’s journey with the Wolves saw him travel a little more than
1,500 kilometres across the province, going from The Pas to Winnipeg,
then briefly to Steinbach and Landmark before returning home to
Thompson.
Contay, who happens to run the team’s social media accounts, first
picked up Fake Jake from the hotel in The Pas on Jan. 12 and
immediately began posting photos of the beloved stuffed animal on the
team’s Instagram.
“I tried to put myself in the feet of a seven-year-old kid who lost his
stuffed animal. He’s probably sad and terrified,” he says. “So, I
thought it would be kind of cool if he could kind of watch what was
happening to get the stuffie all the way back to Thompson.”
A little more than six hours after being picked up from the hotel,
Fake Jake arrived in Winnipeg with Contay and the Wolves, who
initially weren’t sure why a stuffed animal had joined them.
“At first, they were a little bit confused and were like ‘What’s
the deal with this stuff animal?’ But once I explained to them the
story, they felt and understood what Ben was going through.”
The Wolves embraced Fake Jake, bringing him to all their games,
which included one in the nearby community of Landmark, and
practices over the course of three days.
“He was like an extra member of the team. He hung out in the
change room the whole weekend and came to all the games,” says
Contay, who shared photos and stories of Fake Jake’s time with
the Wolves on the team’s Instagram.
Fake Jake also accompanied the Wolves on their team outings,
which included a trip to downtown Winnipeg, and a pre-game meal
at a BBQ restaurant in Steinbach. He also managed to squeeze in
a video call with the Scaddan family and Jake, the real family
dog.
“Whenever the kids did something, like when they went to the
mall, they would take him there. He really was a member of the
team,” says Contay. “He basically became our mascot for the
weekend … and the team really got a kick out of it.”
After an adventurous weekend in Winnipeg, Fake Jake made the
roughly eight-hour drive home to Thompson, where he was
returned to Ben by the Wolves captain Joey Hall.
“It makes me super happy. It’s a tough world out there and
doing a little bit something extra to brighten up a person’s
day, it makes you feel good. It’s a feel-good story,” says
Contay.
The Scaddan family says they are grateful for not just
receiving Fake Jake, but for everything, the Wolves did while
they had him.
“For this to happen, it’s pretty neat. Obviously, we didn’t
mean to forget Fake Jake, but it just kind of turned out the
best way possible,” says Marc.
“The guy [Contay] who was behind the [Wolves Instagram] page
and behind all the posts and everything, he was a stranger to
us. It’s really cool that he did that for us,” says Karin.
As for Ben, he says he’s keeping Fake Jake pretty close by
these days.
