Autistic hockey player beaming after first goal in final rec game

MURRAY — Hockey isn’t all that different from life.

A simple ‘goal’ can make a world of difference.

Nobody knows that better than Breckin Basham, who has adored the game since he was 4 years old.

“(It’s) probably like the greatest sport ever!” exclaimed Basham, now approaching his 16th birthday.

His mom, Candis Taylor, said hockey had become an outlet for him.

“He’s on the autism spectrum,” she said. “He has a really hard time in school. He gets bullied a lot.”

Basham said the sport had helped to channel his emotions.

“Basically sometimes I get angry, so I just like shoot the puck and, like, think of it as the problem, and then I’m like shooting it away, so I’m brushing it off, just getting rid of it,” he explained.

Still, his long-held objective of actually scoring a goal in a league game had eluded him.

He’d never done it.

“His coaches have told him, ‘Breckin, just keep at it and you’re going to get it one of these times,” Taylor said.

The family had already had Tuesday night circled on their calendar for a long time, since it was the end of Basham’s recreation league season.

“It was his last night,” his mom explained. “He’s aged-out now of playing rec.”

It may now be a night the family will never forget.

“(The puck) just like came back to me, so I just ‘shapshotted’ it and the goalie was getting, like, screened, so I just made it in,” Basham said.

Basham finally scored.

“He shot it right in!” his mom exclaimed. “It went right past the goalie!”

Cellphone video captured the shining moment, as well as the ear-popping cry and roar that echoed from his family across the ice.

“All of us just got really excited—it was awesome!” Taylor said.

The family said Basham’s aunt had promised him $50 for his upcoming trip to see the Las Vegas Golden Knights if he actually scored a goal in the game.

“I think it was actually pretty good,” the teen beamed.

Basham still has a rec league tournament and two more years to play the sport with his high school team, his mom said, so opportunities remain for him to add to his tally.

This goal, however, will forever be remembered by the family as a moment on the ice that brought fire to the soul.

“Yeah, we were so excited,” Taylor said. “It was awesome!”