WATCH: Despite Illness, Canton Student Takes to the Ice

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Ask anyone around Canton about Canton boys’ hockey team manager Matty Marcone and chances are they’ll know who he is. Nicknamed “The Mayor” because he knows everyone and everyone knows him, Tuesday night became an unforgettable evening for the high school senior, his team, and the Stoughton Black Knights.

For a brief moment, the score didn’t matter when Stoughton played the Canton Bulldogs at Asiaf Rink in Brockton. What mattered was the opportunity for Marcone to take the ice for the first time.

Described as a lover of hockey and talented player in a letter from the Canton hockey team, Marcone has never been able to play for the Bulldogs because of a health issue known as dyskeratosis congenita and a learning disability. Diagnosed in 2012, dyskeratosis congenita is a rare genetic disorder that causes premature bone marrow failure at an early age. There is no known cure.

The disease means that Marcone has been limited to the bench rather than the ice; that all changed, however, when the team decided to find a way to allow him a chance to play one shift.

The team and his parents tried to make it a surprise according to Hockomock Sports, but word of the plan began to leak out when the local hockey community, friends, and classmates began to tweet #ShiftForMatty began to trend on Twitter.

Despite their rivalry, Stoughton High School gladly accepted the chance play against Marcone. Wearing the same jersey worn by his brother and a C pinned near his left shoulder, Marcone led the Bulldogs to the ice and was announced with the starters, allowing him to have an opportunity to stand with his friends and teammates, according to Hockomock Sports.

After Stoughton scored in the opening moments of the game, Marcone jumped on the ice at center for his shift. Winning the faceoff, Marcone released a quick wrist shot near the post, scoring on his first shift, and tying the game at 1-1.

The goal even got noticed by the Boston Bruins, who tweeted ”Congrats on the big goal, Matty! @CantonHSHockey #oneshiftformatty”

In the end, Canton would win the game 8-1, not that the score was the top priority that evening. What was important was one moment in the beginning of the game where fans and players, wearing Stoughton’s orange and Canton’s green cheered for a dream becoming a reality.

After the game, Matty’s father John Marcone told WBZ, “Oh it was awesome and then he came over and it was right there, jumped into the glass. “It was definitely cool.”

“He’s in inspiration without knowing it,” Canton coach Brian Shuman told WBZ. “He’s just so humble, and inspirational, and so kind, and he makes other people around him better.”

Photo Credit: Canton High School Hockey