cathybites | (no subject) (Reply)

The NHL, as they do every year, recently had some of its star players in town for the annual pre-preseason media tour. This involves going to some fancy shindigs, meeting the press for interviews and photoshoots, and hanging out at the NHL offices. Most of it is inaccessible to fans, but there are a few events for fans to attend, and I was ~~stalker~~ lucky enough to go to two of them at the NHL store. (Lucky in the sense that I a) have a job with a very relaxed atmosphere in regards to taking breaks; and b) have late hours this week anyways because of Fashion Week.)

On Thursday, Brad Richards and Henrik Lundqvist had a Q&A session.

Hank was literally blinding people with his beauty.

Being a ridonkulous Rangers fan, I had to be there. The really cool thing about these Q&As during the media tour is that the NHL offices and the store are in the same building, so there are always random players wandering around. During the session, the following players popped in and out and around the store: Marty St. Louis, Corey Perry, Tyler Myers, James van Riemsdyk, and somebody said Claude Giroux and Shane Doan were there, but I didn't see them.

Pictures of the session.

On Friday, it was Jonathan Toews and Steven Stamkos' turn for a Q&A.

I was kind of hoping, considering they're EANHL cover boys, that they'd be playing against each or something - Toews and Kane did that last year and it was hilarious - but no. Stamkos was playing in the store when I got there, but I think Toews was running late. Andrew Ladd and Erik Johnson were also around.

Stamkos also announced that he would be playing the part of Jeff Spicoli in an upcoming remake of Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

(ok, I lied about that last part.)

Pictures of Stammer and Tazer making ridiculous faces.

After the session, I had about an hour before I had to go into work - and I work right across the street from the store - so I decided to go for a walk, and...well. I'll just c&p what I emailed to a friend:

I just came out of the NHL store, and I had about an hour before work, so I was just going to go for a walk, so I started heading downtown, and I saw two guys and a lady standing at the curb with suitcases, and I saw one of the bags said 'Detroit Red Wings' and I looked up and the guy with his back to me was on the phone, and I'm staring at him and thinking, 'I THINK I RECOGNIZE THAT ODDLY SHAPED HEAD.' and I walked a little past them, and kind of hung back and waited for him to finish talking on the phone and went up and fangirled all over him. I DON'T REMEMBER WHAT I SAID BUT HOPEFULLY IT WASN'T TOO RIDICULOUS.

I MET PAVEL DATSYUK AND NOT GONNA LIE IT WAS KIND OF MAGICAL.