Originally Posted by pylon
As far as NHLers go, I have met quite a few through business, but the most I met is when I played on team VW at the Gretzky and friends Golf tournaments in 02 and 03.
First year was in Edmonton, played with Ryan Smyth. Not the sharpest tool in the shed, but a super nice guy. At the draft party the night before, I was the captain of our team, and we were mingling around trying to decide what players to select to play on our teams at some bar in Edmonton. There is a table with Jim Peplinski, Lanny, Charlie Huddy, Ryan Smyth and some Oilers exec. I am level 99 blitzed and start going off about Charlie Huddys 80's afro. Jim Peplinski starts laughing at Huddy, Huddy looks pretty ticked. Somehow I talked Peplinski into letting me wear his Stanley Cup ring for a picture.... It probably would have fit around my wrist.
Heading down to the the wrap up party at the Hotel Mcdonald, the elevator opens, and there, is standing all by himself in the elevator.... The Great One. I said "Oh, don't worry, I'll wait for the next one", he laughed and said "Get in." Just made stupid small talk, and told him his tournament was the experience of a lifetime for a fan. He shook my hand and thanked me for coming. Playing in front of galleries was a crazy experience. But awesome.
The next year I played with Kelly Hrudey. He has A LOT of female fans. We had a whole gallery of puck bunnies that followed our foursome. Kelly is just as nice as he seems on TV. He bought a car from us, and it had a bunch of problems, and after having to shuttle it back and forth to his house about 5 times, he asked me to come in for dinner with his family, because he felt bad for all the time I was running back and forth. I politely declined.
The coolest thing was this though... he traded in a BMW 7 series, and it had a factory carphone in it. He forgot to erase the phone book. The numbers in it were insane... Gretzky, Roenick, and about a dozen other mega star NHLers. I called him and asked him if he wanted me to erase it...He laughed and said ,"Yeah, that's be a pretty good idea I think."
/coolstoriesbroseph
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