In high school, circa 89, I worked a fish and chip restaurant in the Glamorgan area. Captain Scott's at 37 st and about 45 ave. The couple who owned the place were from Korea, and the husband had no English at all but loved hockey and loved the Flames. One day Mike Vernon walked in - I think his parents lived in the area. I told Gil, the owner, that's Michael Vernon, and he kept staring, but wouldn't believe me. I went out in the dining area under the pretence of cleaning something and talked to Vernon for a bit, just as he and the people he was with were packing to go. I told him how the owner was a big fan and Flames, Michael, and Vernon was about half his English vocabulary. He didn't say much, just sort of nodded as he left. Couple days later, in walks Mike Vernon, Lanny MacDonald, Jim Peplinski, Joel Otto and Colin Patterson. They sit and eat and have the couple join them for about an hour, Yuna, Gil's wife having to translate the whole time. They signed the Mike Vernon poster that Gil had hung in the office, but moreso they brought a 45 year old Korean military vet to tears.
|