Miles Wood is enjoying his rookie season in the NHL with the New Jersey Devils. Like most young hockey fans his age, he grew up admiring Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals. He is a little bit different because most young fans don’t threaten their favorite players.At 11-years-old, the forward sent a hilariously threatening letter to his idol. He promised physical repercussions if the superstar didn’t give him an autograph.His dad told Devils All Access what his son wrote: “If you don’t sign this and send it back to me, when I make it to the NHL, I’m going to give you a big body check.”Wood’s statement is pretty aggressive for 11, but it got his point across. The kid’s belief in himself manifested 10 years later as he has made it to the NHL like he promised and got to face Ovechkin on the ice.

Remembering the boy’s letter, and trying to reduce the chances of that promised body check, he sent over an autographed photo to the visitor’s locker room ahead of tonight’s game. That token should have smoothed everything over between the two men.

Jersey prevailed 2-1 and the younger forward had a chance to meet his childhood favorite. So, in one day he got a win and the signed photo he wanted for a decade. Not bad for a day’s work and now he will have that monkey off his back.

Sometimes having a plan helps, what helps even more is having the skill to execute said plan more than 10 years down the line.