Brushes with fame, hockey style
Brush with fame #1 - The Legend
The wife scored tickets to her company's suite at the Ice Palace (yes, I still call it that) to see them play the Penguins. Awesome, since we got none last year. Ironically, my boss offered me tickets to a suite for the same game, but we went with Lisa's. Then I find out Dave Andreychuk, a player whose 23-year I've followed since he was drafted by my Sabres in during my sophomore year of high school, is going to be in the other suite. Dangit! I found out when he was going to be there, and crashed the suite. He walked in during the 2nd period, bigger than life (unless life is bigger than 6'4"), and someone tells him "hey, there's guys here from Buffalo". He says "Who?", and we chat about Buffalo for a while. It turns out he owns a house by my old Middle School. He told me he married a woman from Cheektowaga, so I naturally (natural if you're a Buffalonian) asked if she was Polish. He said no, but turned to his buddy and said "This guy does know Buffalo." I told him I followed his career, but didn't like him playing for the stinking Bruins. He said "I totally understand that, but my dad was a huge Bruins fan, and I told him if I was ever a free agent, I'd sign with them." I can't blame a guy for that. We got pictures, signatures - hell of a great guy. Looks like he could play right now. #1 Power-play scorer of all-time, BTW.
Brush with fame #2 - The Rich
The wife then proceeded to score not only tickets to the next game, in the suite, but entrance to the suiteholder's party, to taste the new menu. There were a bunch of suits milling around, execs and suite holders, and a guy in really ratty jeans, a t-shirt, and a spikey haircut, milling around, looking kind-of lost. This, it turns out, is Oren Koules, producer of all the Saw movies, and new owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Naturally, I had to talk to him, so I sidled up to him at the bar, thanked him, and we chatted about an interview he did that morning on the radio, where he expressed his displeasure with the person selling him a house; said the guy better stop dicking around, or he won't buy. Turns out he was listening, he's a lawyer, and e-mailed him to bitch. The best part was the looks from people wondering who the hell I was, talking to this guy worth about a half a billion dollars.
Brush with fame #3 - The Funny
At the same event, they had a couple of players mix with the crowd, established player Michel Oullett, and newcomer Zenon Konopka. Despite his name, Zenon is Canadian, not Russian, Slovak or Czech. Konopka was covered with cuts and bruises, as he was in a couple of fights the night earlier, one of which led to his ejection by the worst referee in the NHL since I've been watching, Don Koharski. Lisa stopped Oullett and his handler, we talked about Jeff Halpern's injury, got pictures, etc. A few minutes later, I spotted Konopka, and went over and chatted with his handler, while he chatted with some patrons. Wisely I started with "Your boy Konopka got robbed last night, by that moron Koharski".
He replied "Thank You! He's been the worst for 20 years."
"I hope he's getting paid off; I'd hate to think he's that bad by accident."
Konopka, listening in, turned to me and said "Yeah, he's not exactly my favorite guy in the world".
So I owned the guy from that point, and they said they'd come by the table in a minute. They come by, we talk about the fight, Koharski, and stuff, and I tell him I met Dave Andreychuk the night before.
"You met Dave Andreychuk!?" He excitedly asks. I'm a little surprised, since Dave works for the Lightning, but again, he's new.
"You've never met him?" I ask.
"Wait, yeah, I did, a couple of years ago, playing for Anaheim. I checked Vinny into the boards by the box, and told him "I'm going to kill you!" Dave hears, and asks me "Where are you from?", (I guess surprised he didn't have a foreign accent)
"I'm from Niagara-on-the-Lake."
"Oh, I love it up there, with all the wineries" Andreychuk responds, like they're sitting down to tea. I would have loved to have seen Vinny's face at that point.
Zenon was sent down to the Norfolk Admirals, so here's hoping he plays himself back into the majors. What this all proves, as always, hockey is the greatest of all sports, with the greatest players.
The wife scored tickets to her company's suite at the Ice Palace (yes, I still call it that) to see them play the Penguins. Awesome, since we got none last year. Ironically, my boss offered me tickets to a suite for the same game, but we went with Lisa's. Then I find out Dave Andreychuk, a player whose 23-year I've followed since he was drafted by my Sabres in during my sophomore year of high school, is going to be in the other suite. Dangit! I found out when he was going to be there, and crashed the suite. He walked in during the 2nd period, bigger than life (unless life is bigger than 6'4"), and someone tells him "hey, there's guys here from Buffalo". He says "Who?", and we chat about Buffalo for a while. It turns out he owns a house by my old Middle School. He told me he married a woman from Cheektowaga, so I naturally (natural if you're a Buffalonian) asked if she was Polish. He said no, but turned to his buddy and said "This guy does know Buffalo." I told him I followed his career, but didn't like him playing for the stinking Bruins. He said "I totally understand that, but my dad was a huge Bruins fan, and I told him if I was ever a free agent, I'd sign with them." I can't blame a guy for that. We got pictures, signatures - hell of a great guy. Looks like he could play right now. #1 Power-play scorer of all-time, BTW.
Brush with fame #2 - The Rich
The wife then proceeded to score not only tickets to the next game, in the suite, but entrance to the suiteholder's party, to taste the new menu. There were a bunch of suits milling around, execs and suite holders, and a guy in really ratty jeans, a t-shirt, and a spikey haircut, milling around, looking kind-of lost. This, it turns out, is Oren Koules, producer of all the Saw movies, and new owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Naturally, I had to talk to him, so I sidled up to him at the bar, thanked him, and we chatted about an interview he did that morning on the radio, where he expressed his displeasure with the person selling him a house; said the guy better stop dicking around, or he won't buy. Turns out he was listening, he's a lawyer, and e-mailed him to bitch. The best part was the looks from people wondering who the hell I was, talking to this guy worth about a half a billion dollars.
Brush with fame #3 - The Funny
At the same event, they had a couple of players mix with the crowd, established player Michel Oullett, and newcomer Zenon Konopka. Despite his name, Zenon is Canadian, not Russian, Slovak or Czech. Konopka was covered with cuts and bruises, as he was in a couple of fights the night earlier, one of which led to his ejection by the worst referee in the NHL since I've been watching, Don Koharski. Lisa stopped Oullett and his handler, we talked about Jeff Halpern's injury, got pictures, etc. A few minutes later, I spotted Konopka, and went over and chatted with his handler, while he chatted with some patrons. Wisely I started with "Your boy Konopka got robbed last night, by that moron Koharski".
He replied "Thank You! He's been the worst for 20 years."
"I hope he's getting paid off; I'd hate to think he's that bad by accident."
Konopka, listening in, turned to me and said "Yeah, he's not exactly my favorite guy in the world".
So I owned the guy from that point, and they said they'd come by the table in a minute. They come by, we talk about the fight, Koharski, and stuff, and I tell him I met Dave Andreychuk the night before.
"You met Dave Andreychuk!?" He excitedly asks. I'm a little surprised, since Dave works for the Lightning, but again, he's new.
"You've never met him?" I ask.
"Wait, yeah, I did, a couple of years ago, playing for Anaheim. I checked Vinny into the boards by the box, and told him "I'm going to kill you!" Dave hears, and asks me "Where are you from?", (I guess surprised he didn't have a foreign accent)
"I'm from Niagara-on-the-Lake."
"Oh, I love it up there, with all the wineries" Andreychuk responds, like they're sitting down to tea. I would have loved to have seen Vinny's face at that point.
Zenon was sent down to the Norfolk Admirals, so here's hoping he plays himself back into the majors. What this all proves, as always, hockey is the greatest of all sports, with the greatest players.