Young fan's Halloween wish fulfilled as he meets Auston Matthews, jokingly challenges Ryan Reaves to drop gloves

By Anjum Rajonno

Modified Nov 01, 2024 06:23 GMT

Young Toronto Maple Leafs fan Grayson went viral this Halloween by dressing up as a life-sized Auston Matthews hockey card. Wearing a full Maple Leafs uniform and standing inside a large frame, he looked just like an Upper Deck trading card.

His dad, country singer Grant Joseph, posted a video on Instagram asking fans to help Grayson meet Matthews. The video caught the attention of the NHL’s official Instagram and even Matthews himself, who reshared it with a fire emoji.

The Maple Leafs captain has now met with the young fan and Grayson seemingly had the experience of a lifetime. In a video posted by the Leafs official socials, Matthews can be seen interacting with Grayson during their practice on Thursday.

When the young fan remarked that Matthews looked like him, the Leafs captain said:

“Yeah I do look like you. Your mustache is better, though.”

Grayson watched the Leafs squad practice on the ice as he called his Nana and told her that he met Auston Matthews. He had a fun interaction with Ryan Reaves and even challenged him to drop the gloves.

“Drop the gloves? Okay. But you gotta drop them first. I don’t drop first,” Reaves remarked to the young fan.

But when Grayson insisted, the Leafs forward did and the two had a pretend fight throwing fake punches. Auston Matthews gifted his young fan a special Maple Leafs jersey and took pictures with his family.

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Fans appreciate Auston Matthews and Ryan Reaves’ interaction with Grayson

The Maple Leafs shared the clip across all their social media accounts and fans were quick to react to the adorable post. They found Ryan Reaves’ interaction with Grayson hilarious and expressed the same in the comments.

Following are some fan reactions from X:

“‘Let's drop the gloves’ cutest and funniest thing ever. Well done, Maple Leafs👏”

“Okay but Ryan reaves is the best part here,” quipped one fan.

“This is awesome!! Good job TML, kudos to you. Making dreams come true!” wrote another user.

Fans appreciated the team’s effort in making Grayson’s dream come true. They also lauded the players for taking the time to interact with the young fan.

“It's things like this that makes me cheer for these guys, no matter what happens on the ice. Just awesome . 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏”

“This is so awesome!! Well done @MapleLeafs for making a memory for Grayson that will last a lifetime!! 💙” commented another fan.

Some even poked fun in the comments.

“Reaves finally dropped the gloves with someone!?!? It's been a minute,” quipped another user.

Meanwhile, Austin Matthews and the Leafs secured a 4-1 win over the Seattle Kraken on Friday at the Scotiabank Arena. They next face the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.