The NHL's Stanley Cup Final begins this weekend, and all eyes will be on the game's greatest star: former Erie Otter Connor McDavid.
Scores of Erieites have watched the Edmonton star progress from a teenage phenom to an international star. 
But perhaps no one had a better seat than Bob Catalde, who hosted McDavid during his years in the Gem CIty.
 
"We watched him advance from quite frankly, a boy, a 15-year-old young man, to the grown man he is today," Catalde said.
In 2012, Catalde met the teenager, welcoming him into his family's home.
It was a natural fit, and it didn't take long, Catalde says, before he realized just how talented McDavid was.
"I never doubted for a second that he would transition to the NHL the way that he has. I always explain to people who don't follow hockey, or who don't know who he is or what number he is, 'Just turn on the Oilers or turn on the Otters back in the day, and you will know who he is immediately.' His style of play and his skill set is that much greater than any other players'."
McDavid ignited hockey fever in Erie, Catalde watching every jaw-dropping goal.
It's been almost a decade since McDavid was drafted away to Edmonton, raising the hopes of a title-starved city.
But while his focus is on the next four games, Catalde says, Erie is never far from the star's mind. 
"He loves Erie," Catalde said. "He has returned a few times without making any major announcements, just coming to visit. He wants to come back. Every time he comes back, he goes to the Erie insurance Arena, I sneak him inside, and he has said more than once, 'Once an Otter, always an Otter.'"
Just four victories stand between McDavid and the Stanley Cup, an honor Catalde says McDavid has more than earned.
He's watched years of hard work and can't want to see it all pay off. 
"He has sacrificed so much of his personal life, so much of a teenager's life, a young adult's life," Catalde said. "For him to finally do this, knock on wood, it would mean the world to him and me and my family and to his family. I don't think I would be able to control my emotions, quite frankly."
 
Catalde says he plans to go to games in Florida and perhaps in Edmonton too, hoping to see McDavid hoist the cup.
But he won't tell his friend which games he's coming to, saying McDavid is so kind that he would devote attention to making sure the Catalde family was cared for.
Catalde says the only focus should be on the cup.