I got a letter from my dad this week - and inside was a blast from the past.

It was a 21-year old napkin that I feared had been lost forever. That doesn’t sound like much, but to my 10-year-old self it was, aside from my space-themed Lego, the coolest thing I had.

Here’s the story.  My mom had gone back to school in Toronto when I was a kid, and one night she went to the Fox and Hound pub on Bay Street.

Then, she saw some men she recognized as players for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who had just beat the Calgary Flames 5-3.

Because she’s the best mom in the world, she grabbed a napkin, moseyed on over and got their autographs for me.

It says: “Jan 22/97. To Jonathan, Best Wishes.”

I can’t make out all the names anymore, but I can clearly see the signatures of the Leafs’ biggest stars at the time: Mats Sundin and Wendel Clark.

(Fun fact: I had the chance to interview Clark last year. Cool guy.)

This was manna from heaven for a kid who studied hockey stats harder than his actual schoolwork.

I kept the napkin in a scrapbook in my closet for years, and then I went away to school, and then left Ontario for good to start my career.

I thought the napkin had been lost forever - but the other week my dad was going through some old boxes and found it. So that was a really cool surprise.

Next time I’m in Toronto again, I’ll have to stop by the Fox and Hound and see if Auston Matthews and co. have the same taste in nightlife as their predecessors.