Midway through March of 1974, the Atlanta Flames were in the final stretch of a pedestrian season. The Flames had a big-name coach, Bernie Geoffrion, and a promising young center, Tom Lysiak, but it's not as if they were a major attraction when they visited the Vancouver Canucks on a Monday night at Pacific Coliseum.

Perhaps the most notable aspect of the evening was the impact it had one of the young fans in attendance, a kid from nearby Burnaby, British Columbia. He was at the game with his father, Marijan, who had immigrated to Canada from his native Croatia.

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