MUSKEGON, Mich. — A West Michigan teen's second home is on the ice, but a thief threatened his chances at doing what he loves.
The Muskegon Lumberjacks organization stepped in to save the young hockey player's week.
Micah Rinsema, 14, was forced to miss a hockey game this week, but the Lumberjacks made sure he wasn't going to miss anymore.
Rinsema was six when his cousin brought him to the hockey rink and the rest is history.
"I just like skating mostly and then I saw him play and I started to like the sport."
He plays for the Muskegon Junior Lumberjacks and had a game on Monday.
His family discovered someone stole his whole bag of gear from out of their car in their driveway.
"I was mad but stuff gets stolen a lot sometimes in my neighborhood so I knew we were going to get it back," said Micah.
"You know, the word kinda started to spread. He told the coach and the teammates," said his dad, Dan Rinsema-Sybenga.
Word spread to Andrea Rose, the Muskegon Lumberjacks' Team President, who knew something had to be done.
"He's the epitome of what you want your youth hockey player to be so it really wasn't a question. It was, how quickly can we get this done for him?" said Rose.
The team surprised the young player with new gear and equipment the very next day so he didn't miss any more games, including his first big team game.
"For him to be able to get on the ice that day, I wouldn't have imagined it so that was pretty cool," said his Dad.
Some of his teammates noticed the new swag.
"They said they want to get their bags stolen and get the same treatment," he laughed.
This experience, unfortunate at first, taught Micah something very valuable.
"There are good people in the world and there are bad people in the world and if something bad happens, people will want to help you."
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