The move mirrored that of Queen Elizabeth II, who also released the puck in 2002 against the same teams.
Prince Harry followed in his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II's, footsteps on Monday night. The 39-year-old son of King Charles III and the late Princess Diana attended a NHL hockey match between the Vancouver Canucks and the San Jose Sharks at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada.
Harry was joined by his wife, Meghan Markle, who was spotted in the stands wearing a black Bleusalt Crew Top and cheering him on. The father of two took to the ice via a black carpet to drop the ceremonial puck between the opposing team captains of the Canucks and the Sharks. The Canucks won 3 to 1.
Making this exchange even more special is the fact that Harry's late grandmother did the exact same thing in 2002 for the same teams. At the time, hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky presented the late monarch with the puck.
Harry and Meghan's trip to Canada is in honor of the next Invictus Games -- the event Harry helped start for wounded service men and women to compete in the sports tournament. The next games will take place in Vancouver and Whistler in 2025.
Elizabeth died in September 2022 at the age of 96, while Harry and Meghan stepped down from their roles as senior members of the royal family officially in 2021.
Following the release of their Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan, and Harry's tell-all memoir, Spare, in January, the couple have been more estranged from the royal family than ever.
Earlier this month, Charles rang in his 75th birthday, and Harry chose the occasion to break six months of silence with his father.
According to royal expert Katie Nicholl, Harry and Meghan called Charles to wish him a happy birthday and sent a singing video message from their children Archie, 4, and Lilibet, 2, to celebrate.
"I think the fact that there has been a phone call and there has been some contact is a breakthrough, because there hasn't been any of that for six months," Nicholl told ET. "We're told this is hopefully going to lead to another conversation in due course."
Nicholl noted that "Harry made sure to include his wife and his children as well, and I think that's going to go some way in thawing some of those, well, pretty frozen relationships."
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