For one kid, meeting his hockey hero could literally be in the cards.
A young Toronto Maple Leafs fan is hoping that his Halloween costume could score him a meeting with his favourite player, Auston Matthews.
In a video shared on social media this weekend, Grant Joseph showed off his son Grayson’s costume, with a twist.
Grayson didn’t just dress up as the Leafs captain, he dressed up as a trading card of the goal-scoring star.
In a clip posted by Grant, a country music singer, Grayson can be seen decked out in a Leafs sweater with a full set of hockey equipment. Around him is a cardboard box made to look like the frame of an Upper Deck trading card, complete with stats and information on the back.
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The cherry on top of the sundae, though, is a fake mustache to resemble Matthews’ own soup-strainer.
Grayson gives out a big “Let’s Go!” when his dad asks him to show off the costume.
While he’s thrilled to dress up like his hero, the youngster hopes to one day show off his costume to the Toronto captain in person.
“I hope I can show Auston Matthews,” Grayson says in the clip.
After his dad assured him that Matthews would likely see it online, Grayson added: “But I wanna show him in person.”
The clip was later shared by the official NHL Instagram account, which commented “Now THIS is a costume! #HockeyHalloween.”
On Sunday night, the post did catch Matthews’ attention. The Leafs star reshared it in his Instagram Reels while adding a flame emoji below the video.
Grant had tagged Matthews in the caption of the post while also giving a shoutout to the print shop that helped make the creative costume.
“You know what to do!! Let’s help Grayson meet @austonmatthews and show off his 1 of 1 hockey card costume!!” he wrote.
“Big thanks to @envyprintsofficial for helping us bring this to life!!”
Whether Grayson’s dream of meeting Matthews in person actually happens will have to be on hold for a little bit. Matthews and the Leafs are in Winnipeg Monday night to face the Jets after suffering an overtime loss to the Bruins in Boston on Saturday.
The Buds’ next home game is on Halloween night this Thursday.