Every time Jason Zucker glances at the tattoo on his left wrist, it’s a reminder to be grateful for everything, to turn his heartache into the greater good and … to “SHOOT MORE.”

The Minnesota Wild winger’s committed relationship to routinely helping the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital any way he can stems from a special relationship he had with a child battling a rare form of bone cancer.

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It’s why Zucker is holding a Wild kickoff party Tuesday night at 612Brew in Northeast Minneapolis (there are only a handful of tickets left) where all proceeds go to the Children’s Hospital and why Zucker plans to kick off a season-long “Give 16” campaign Tuesday where all proceeds also go to the Children’s Hospital.

By fate, Zucker met eight year old Tucker Helstrom in December 2015 when he made a hospital visit with teammate Jared Spurgeon.

Tucker’s favorite player just so happened to be Zucker. He loved Zucker’s speed, and was so excited by the fact that his first name sounded like and was spelled almost like Zucker’s last name.

From the moment Zucker walked into Tucker’s room, a friendship between “Tuck and Zuck” was kindled.

“He had done many visits before, but I remember Jason coming home from that visit and it being so different for him,” Zucker’s wife, Carly, said. “When he was talking about Tucker, it was easy to see this was somebody that had impacted him.”

Zucker visited Tucker often, playing Xbox and delivering gifts. When Tucker had a leg amputated a month after their meeting, the Zuckers were the first non-family members to visit.

Tucker always offered unfiltered opinions of Zucker’s last game, telling him he needed to backcheck harder and shoot more. Finally, Tucker quit telling him to backcheck and instead persistently told him only to shoot more.

On June 29, 2016, Zucker signed a new two-year contract with the Wild. At home in Las Vegas, he got word that very day that Tucker’s cancer had spread to the brain. He had only a few days to live.

Zucker booked a red-eye for that night and rushed back to Minnesota. He arrived at Tucker’s home on June 30 and still didn’t fully comprehend the gravity of the situation.

This would sadly be their final meeting.

At his bedside, Zucker gave Tucker a hug. Tucker gave Zucker “knuckles.” In the days preceding, Tucker had been practicing his autograph to make it look identical to Zucker’s.

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When he finally thought he got it perfect, Tucker took one his Hopkins hockey cards – a picture of smiling, happy, healthy boy with a hockey stick – and signed the back for Zucker with the No. 16.

As Zucker was saying goodbye, Tucker’s mom, Dana, put the card in Tucker’s hand. Tucker handed it to his friend.

Zucker left the house, sat in his car and cried with his now-wife, Carly.

Two days later, Tucker passed away only nine months after being diagnosed with cancer. Three days after that, Zucker had a tattoo artist capture Tucker’s exact signature on the back of his left wrist with the inscription, “SHOOT MORE!”

“I mean, man, he was nine years old, so this hits you differently,” Zucker, 25, said. “There are too many sick kids all over the world, and with [my step daughter] and a baby on the way, the tattoo just reminds me that the only thing to care about is health. I think about him every day. It’s just a reminder to be thankful for what you have, to be happy where you’re at, and to be grateful for everything.”

Zucker, by the way, heeded young Tucker’s advice last season by shooting a career-high 172 times. The dividends were a career-high 22 goals and 47 points in 79 games.

But Tucker’s lasting imprint on Zucker has been his devotion to the Children’s Hospital.

Zucker has helped organize a number of fundraisers and auctions since Tucker’s death, and inside the eventual Kyle Rudolph End Zone being built at the hospital will be a section called, “Team Tucker’s Locker.” It will be a dedicated hockey area with lockers and hockey-related games, like bubble hockey.

At Tuesday night’s event, celebrities like Wild teammates Spurgeon, Tyler Ennis, Charlie Coyle and Devan Dubnyk are scheduled to attend, as well as former Wild Mark Parrish, former Viking Chad Greenway, Rudolph, the Vikings tight end, and Tucker’s mom, Dana.

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The crowdfund “Give 16” campaign will also kick off.

Fans are encouraged to donate money throughout the season in any denomination of Zucker’s jersey number, 16, whether that’s $1.60, $16, $160.

There are several fun “Give 16” ideas Zucker plans to introduce throughout the hockey season. He also has a grander project in the works for the Children’s Hospital that he hopes to announce soon.

“It’ll be a season-long thing, and hopefully years and years down the road,” Zucker said. “We’re very excited for it. We have a lot of cool things planned, and [Tuesday] is a neat way to kick off the season and get fans excited just as much as we are.

“I just think the Children’s Hospital is an amazing place. These kids are in a tough situation, and they’re always battling through something, and whether they’re feeling better or not, they’re sitting in a hospital room on Christmas and all these holidays. So I just want to keep doing things to lift their spirits and, if we can have some fun, awesome.”

Zucker wants to continue to entrench himself in the Minnesota community.

“It’s amazing how people can come in our lives and change it,” Carly Zucker said. “It was a very sad situation, but I think Jason was meant to meet Tucker. There’s no doubt Tucker changed Jason’s life in a very good way.”

(Featured image courtesy of Jason and Carly Zucker)