New York Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello made for a pretty good wingman during Monday night’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
It wasn’t on the ice though. Zuccarello noticed a sign during the pregame warmups, requesting help with a prom date. The sign read, “Zucc! If you give me your stick, she’ll go to prom with me!!”
The fan, Vinny Mutone, got his help from the Rangers forward. Zuccarello skated to the bench, grabbed a stick, and told security to deliver it to Mutone. Mutone then got his date with his girlfriend Catherine De Pinho.
Catherine said yes to Vinny thanks to some help from #NYR @zuccarello36! pic.twitter.com/yY7w84Z2zh
— x – New York Rangers (@NYRangers) March 1, 2016
Zuccarello wrote on the stick, “Have fun at prom,” he wrote. “Treat her right!!” He also autographed the sign that Mutone used to get the stick.
“We didn’t think it was gonna work, but it did,” Mutone told the New York Daily News. “I almost cried a little bit.”
It gets even better for Vinny and Catherine thanks to #NYR @zuccarello36 signing the poster and stick!! pic.twitter.com/o57Qxgut9K
— x – New York Rangers (@NYRangers) March 1, 2016
“Gotta help a buddy out,” Zuccarello said after the game, via the New York Daily News. “Gotta help him get to prom.”
Mutone had been thinking of a way to ask De Pinho to prom, and knew that a Rangers game was the perfect way. “We both love the Rangers and we’re going to a game, so I thought I know the players like to be nice to the fans and stuff,” Mutone said. “So I thought about making a sign. I love Zuccarello. He’s my favorite player.”
It’s nice that at least one proposal worked out for a New York professional sports fan. Sunday, a fan asked Kristaps Porzingis to prom, where he politely declined.
