It has been a tradition for 50 years and as dozens of children got the opportunity to meet their on-ice heroes Monday.

The Montreal Canadiens visited both the Montreal Children's Hospital and St-Justine's.

Habs players, including Max Pacioretty, Dale Weise, Andrei Markov, Tomas Plekanec and Alex Galchenyuk visited several different wards including the neo-natal ward and the post and pre-operation ward.


Daniel Pilkington, 16, had a particularily special visit with Pacioretty, Galchenyuk and Mike Weaver.

The teenager is a young goalie who is recovering from a collapsed lung.

He was on painkillers after recently coming out of surgery, but certainly brightened up when the three players came into his room.

“First Pacioretty told me, asked, if I'd like to go up in shootouts against Galchenyuk, and I was like, ‘No.’ And then he asked me if I would go against weaver and I was like, ‘Yeah’” he said.
 

 

The players considered it a special visit this year, because the tradition of visiting sick kids in hospital was started by Habs legend Jean Beliveau a half century ago.

For many of the current players, Monday’s visit held extra meaning after Beliveau's funeral last week.

“Every year you come back and I guess you forget how meaningful it is. Obviously it's a bit more magnified this year with Jean Beliveau… him being the player that started this. It kind of puts things into perspective and makes you really realize how special this event is,” said Pacioretty