Elgin-Alexander Fraser

Three-year-old Elgin-Alexander Fraser died Saturday night, within hours of watching the Ottawa Senators reach the Stanley Cup finals.

The little boy spent his last hours at home, nestled between family and friends on a mattress on the floor in front of the television, doing what he loved – watching the Senators play hockey.

That night, he saw them win. Two hours later, as his mother and father tightly held his hands and told him they loved him, he softly closed his eyes.

Elgin died of a rare form of childhood cancer called neuroblastoma, and had captured the emotions of thousands who raised funds to fight cancer at charity events for him.

“He went peacefully,” said his father Hamish Fraser, adding that his son loved hockey “more than anything,” and was the Senator’s biggest fan.

Two days earlier, Senators centre Mike Fisher visited Elgin at home, and watched a movie and played cars with him, because he was too weak to play hockey that day.

His father said he talked to Elgin on the phone Thursday afternoon when Mr. Fisher was there and asked Elgin to ask Mr. Fisher if the Senators were going to win the Stanley Cup.

“Okay, Dad, hold on,” said Elgin over the phone.

“Mike,” said Elgin, “You’re going to win the Stanley Cup, right?”

“We sure are buddy,” said Mr. Fisher.

“Dad, he said yes,” said Elgin excitedly, recalls Mr. Fraser.

On Sunday, Mr. Fisher said he was thinking about Elgin before the hockey game on Saturday night.

"The impact he had on me was incredible. With the things he went through and how well he handled them,” said Mr. Fisher. “I was blessed to spend some time with him. He's in a better place, for sure."

Elgin was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nervous system, when he was nine months old. He went through a flurry of treatments, radiation, chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant and went into remission. But in January, the cancer came back, and growing tumours took over his stomach and vertebrae.

On Wednesday, Elgin attended the hockey game with his father and mother, Victoria and eight-month-old sister Alysston.

Decked out in his red Senators jersey, a sawed-off hockey stick clenched tight in his hand, he watched the game.

“He didn’t take his eyes off the game,” said Mr. Fraser.

Afterwards, Elgin met with some of the Senators players, including Mike Fisher, Ray Emery and Chris Phillips.

Elgin’s funeral will be held Thursday at 4 p.m. at the Carleton Place Arena.

“If Elgin has touched anybody’s lives, they are more than welcome to be there,” said Mr. Fraser. “We would be honoured.”