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Tribune photo by Charles Cherney
When I wrote that a thug had stolen Kalan Plew’s prized hockey stick outside Wrigley Field on Jan. 1, I thought the story was merely strange.
By the time the saga was over, it had become off-the-charts crazy.
The original story found its way to North Carolina, where Robert Pappert read it with interest. The Charlotte dentist realized he had purchased Plew’s hockey stick from the thief in a Wrigley Field bathroom after the National Hockey League’s Winter Classic hockey game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings.
Pappert contacted me, and I helped reunite Plew, 14, with the game-used stick.
For his good deed, readers flooded Pappert with thank-you cards. The Blackhawks sent him autographed memorabilia, and a Red Wings player paid his way to a game.
We dubbed it the Miracle of Nice. 
