Sea Wolves surprise their ‘toughest fan’ after MS Coast boy gets hit with hockey puck
Two members of the Mississippi Sea Wolves made a house call to check in on one of their biggest fans after the Biloxi boy was injured during a hockey game Saturday at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum.
Cooper Diaz, 5, is no stranger to Sea Wolves games. Sarah Diaz, Cooper’s mother, said their family goes to almost every home game.
On Saturday, the Diaz family went to the game to celebrate a birthday of one of Cooper’s friends — and the boy had been excited about the party for a month.
Sarah said a puck flew over the glass and hit Cooper about midway through the first period of the game.
“We don’t normally sit by the glass, but we did last night because there was a group of us,” Sarah told the Sun Herald on Sunday.
Sarah said fans and Coliseum staff immediately took action when everyone realized Cooper had been injured.
“We had one fan run to give us her towel to stop the blood. There were other fans that ran up to ask how they could help,” Diaz said, adding that Jeremy Forehand from the Coliseum met her at the top of the stairs to help get Cooper medical attention.
Cooper, however, was not concerned about his injury.
“Cooper was not fazed at all that his head was rushing blood,” Sarah said. “He was just devastated we had to leave.”
The Diazes rushed to a nearby hospital emergency room, and Cooper insisted on watching the live stream of the game the whole way there and home. Cooper wound up receiving eight shots and four staples in his head.
“The best part was that he made home in just in time to see the overtime win on TV,” Sarah said.
On Sunday, Sea Wolves players Joe Pace and Yiannai Liarakos made a surprise visit to see Cooper and brought him a hockey stick and Sea Wolves sweat shirt.
“He loves the Sea Wolves, so to meet them was a dream come true,” Sarah said, “but the fact they came to his house was even better. He knew immediately it was Joe Pace when he stepped out of the truck.”
The Sea Wolves said Cooper is “definitely their toughest fan” and Sarah said the team and fans have been checking on her child, who on Sunday was running around the house in his new sweatshirt.
“Everyone has ‘their’ team but not every team treats their fans like this,” Sarah said. “We will forever be Sea Wolves fans.”
This story was originally published February 12, 2023 at 8:12 PM.
