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. Buy Stan Smith NZ . Bradley is one of eight players selected to the team who also played in this years World Cup in Brazil. The MLS all-stars will compete against German giants Bayern Munich in Portland on Aug. Adidas NMD New Zealand . Down 2-1 after Rick Nash scored on a penalty shot, the Oilers ran off four unanswered goals in the remainder of the second period on the way to a 6-3 victory on Sunday. http://www.nmdshoesnz.com/adidas-stan-smith-cheap-nz.html. As each game passes (each has played close with the exception of last night) it becomes clearer just how evenly matched these two teams are and how one mistake, or one bad inning, is likely to sway the result. Adidas NMD Womens NZ .com) - Minnesota Vikings fans would surely concede Teddy Bridgewater is not Peyton Manning. Adidas Alphabounce NZ .Y. -- The New York Islanders were merely content with a lopsided victory. RENTON, Wash. -- So much for concern that running back Marshawn Lynch would be absent from the Seattle Seahawks minicamp. Shortly after the first day of minicamp began for the Super Bowl champions on Tuesday, Lynch strolled from the Seahawks locker room with his No. 24 jersey pulled over a hooded sweatshirt. Lynch was just a spectator, spending most of his day chomping on sunflower seeds and chatting with teammates. But he was in attendance, avoiding the potential of being fined nearly $70,000 for skipping the mandatory team workouts. "We expected him to be here and he was here," Seattle coach Pete Carroll said. Reports surfaced last week that Lynch might consider not attending the practices in hopes of getting a higher salary for the 2014 season. Lynch signed a four-year contract before the 2012 season. He is scheduled to make $5 million in base salary this season plus per-game roster bonuses. Carroll declined to discuss any conversations with Lynch about his contract. "There is nothing in our conversations about that, the business side of it that well talk about," Carroll said. "There is no reason to. We havent talked about other guys in that regard so were not doing that now." Lynch was not available to speak as he sat out the practice with a sore ankle, according to Carroll. Lynch had not been present for Seattles organized team activities and because of a sore ankle, Carroll said it would be unlikely his running back would be on the field during minicamp. Seattles plan is to make sure Lynch is healthy for the season opener against Green Bay on Sept. 4, which will be a very light load of carries during training camp and the preseason. Even though the Seahawks staff at various times during the off-season has expressed getting more carries for reserves Robert Turbin and Christine Michael, Carroll reiterated that Seattles run game begins with Lynch. Lynch has rushed for at least 1,200 yards in each of the past three regular seasons. Hes gotten at least 285 carriies in each of those three seasons and last season during Seattles title run finished the year with 366 carries combined between the regular season and playoffs.dddddddddddd. That was the fourth-most combined carries for any running back since 2009. "We have rested him a lot in the off-season. He takes a big pounding during the year. It takes him a long time to get his body back to where he doesnt feel the rigours of the season thats past," Carroll said. "In this case its unique but he is a unique player and he has a unique role on our football team, so we have to do what we have to do to take care of him." Lynch could have faced significant fines if he decided not to attend minicamp, but he has shown previously he does not enjoy losing money through fines. Last season, Lynch begrudgingly began speaking to the media during the playoffs in an effort to avoid hefty fines from the league. That included memorable sessions during Super Bowl week where he answered questions for about 20 combined minutes during three days of league-mandated media availability. "Marshawn has really been the guy for us and we love everything about the way he plays and what he brings to this team. Hes never taken a step backward at any time for us in all the years hes been here," Carroll said. "From the day we went after him and got him we had sights on him becoming the player that he has become and he has never disappointed us. Hopefully hell be really healthy and ready to go at the season start and if we have accomplished that with this off-season that will be very successful for him and for our team." NOTES: LB Bruce Irvin, who had hip surgery in early June, was the only player not in attendance. ... Rookie WR Paul Richardson was a full participant after being limited in recent off-season workouts with a sore shoulder. ... Veteran DT Kevin Williams was a full participant one day after signing his contract with the Seahawks after spending his entire career with Minnesota. ' ' '