Prince Harry drops the ceremonial puck during NHL game
By George Ramsay, CNN
(CNN) — Prince Harry and Meghan Markle watched on in Rogers Arena as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the San Jose Sharks on Monday.
The Duke of Sussex also dropped the ceremonial puck ahead of the game, fist-bumping captains Quinn Hughes and Tomáš Hertl at center ice.
“I actually had to tell him [to drop the puck] because he kept holding [it] and smiling,” Hertl told reporters after the game. “I said it’s time to drop it. It was a cool moment, for sure I will remember that one.”
Prince Harry and Meghan are visiting Vancouver ahead of the 2025 Invictus Games, which will be held in British Columbia.
The Invictus Games, founded by Prince Harry and first staged in 2014, is an international sporting event involving military personnel injured in service.
Previous editions have been held in the UK, the US, Australia, Netherlands, and Germany, while Canada will host it for the second time.
The Canucks won Monday’s game 3-1, improving to 13-5-1 on the season thanks to goals from Hughes, Sam Lafferty, and J.T. Miller.
Hughes also recorded an assist to take his points tally for the season to a league-leading 30 – the third defenseman in NHL history to reach that milestone in fewer than 20 games.
Prince Harry’s grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, also dropped the ceremonial puck during a game between the Canucks and the Sharks in 2002 – a trip to Canada that coincided with her Golden Jubilee celebrations.
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