What is it Like to be From a Small Town that is Home to an NHL Star?

[chatty4756]

Jake muzzin is from my city of woodstock ontario. Population 40000, they have his jersey hanging up in a few different spots around town. Seems like a likable guy from the stories people have told about him and we are the same town that bobby hull played some of his junior hockey with

 

[High Flying Birds]

Dunno if Victoria is considered a small town, but the Benn brothers aren't liked at all. By all accounts they were bullying **********.

Quarter of a million people. Not really. Jamie always strikes me as awkward and shy rather than bullying but teenagers who are full of themselves can be something else.

 

[Stud Muffin]

I hear Nothing about Michael Ferland in my town, pretty much like he never happened.

 

[Stud Muffin]

Jake muzzin is from my city of woodstock ontario. Population 40000, they have his jersey hanging up in a few different spots around town. Seems like a likable guy from the stories people have told about him and we are the same town that bobby hull played some of his junior hockey with

40000 is a small town?

 

[McRpro]

People's opinion on what a small town is varies greatly. To me a small town in under 10k.

No NHL players, or even one time fringe prospects from my small town of 2000 people. Closest would be Heart and Giroux but that's a 2 hour drive away.

 

[frederixx]

They take Guy Lafleur very seriously in Thurso I tell ya

Really? I do not recall that. But village stinks big time.

 

[Stud Muffin]

Michael Ferland---Swan River, MB
Population: 3500

Wow seriously didn't expect to see anyone from swan on here, and of course your a Flames fan.

 

[Unlimited Chequing]

I hear Nothing about Michael Ferland in my town, pretty much like he never happened.

As evident from the fact you spelt his name wrong

 

[eddytheeagle20]

Former Captital Mike eagles is from my hometown and went to highschool with my mother.
we got a jersey of his (those blue caps ones) hanging over a display at our rink.

a couple towns over is home of flyers great randy jones hes got a arena named after him.

 

[Dondini]

We just played in cupar sk for a senior provincial game the hometown of Eddie shore. It was cool to see all the stuff on display in the lobby. Legend foresure

 

[Bruins4Lifer]

Come on people, small towns are places with under 10,000 people. 100,000 people isn't a small town by any means.

People's opinion on what a small town is varies greatly. To me a small town in under 10k.

See in Saskatchewan, people would call a place like Humboldt, SK with a pop. of 6000 people a BIG town.

A small town here is <1000 people.

 

[Phil McKraken]

I'm from Örnsköldsvik where Peter Forsberg, Markus Näslund, the Sedins, Victor Hedman and some other NHL:ers come from. They all have a pretty low profile and people tend to leave them alone. Tobias Enström is an exception, I have to say I wasn't surprised he got assaulted here, because he and his brother (who plays for Modo) can be pretty obnoxious when out. I'm not saying it was right but I wasn't surprised to hear it either.

 

[Tripod]

Glen Murray is from my hometown, Bridgewater, Nova Scotia.

He was well known throughout the area as a kid growing up with great potential. Not only in hockey, but everything. He was the best hockey player, but was also a baby at times and would get upset if guys were not passing to him enough. But he was also the best soccer player and best swimmer in the area. Also top 2-3 basketball player. He also held the province high jump record and 4x100 track record for awhile. He would do long jump, high jump, 100, 200, 400 as well. He also would win cross country running events.

Essentially, if you did anything associated with sports in the area, you knew who he was. Because he was always the guy you had to watch, beat, or try and shutdown to win. He never got into baseball because he was into swimming in the summer. But in pickup games, he would crush the ball. Not surprising, he was an all around athlete that was good at everything.

He is the only NHLer drafted from the area and the town was proud to have one of their own make the NHL. It drove people crazy to see announcers say he was from Halifax, which is 1 hour away. He was born in Halifax, but lived in Bridgewater his entire life. He was only born in Halifax because no one trusted the little local hospital...lol.

He has his name on the local rink, and every year, top high school hockey teams square off in the Glen Murray tournament.

http://valley.goalline.ca/news.php?news_id=1422414

 

[Sam Spade]

Not NHL, but Turlock California is pretty much a shrine to Colin Kaepernick especially since he went on to play for the hometown 9ers. Every single fast food and mom&pop restaurant has photos/helmets/jerseys/autographs of his everywhere.

I bet they don't anymore.

 

[mjlee]

I'm from Örnsköldsvik where Peter Forsberg, Markus Näslund, the Sedins, Victor Hedman and some other NHL:ers come from. They all have a pretty low profile and people tend to leave them alone. Tobias Enström is an exception, I have to say I wasn't surprised he got assaulted here, because he and his brother (who plays for Modo) can be pretty obnoxious when out. I'm not saying it was right but I wasn't surprised to hear it either.

Yeah, have friends from Ö-vik and they claim that Forsberg et al don't receive any special attention and are more or less ordinary citizen, except for their houses. Näslund and Forsberg received more attention when they ran MoDo (almost in to the ground). Wasn't Enström assaulted not because he's Toby Enström but because he's a an idiot and not because he plays in the NHL?

 

[Tripod]

View attachment 93877

 

[PALE PWNR]

As a resident of New Jersey idk what small town means. There are people everywhere. It's a big deal when Mike Trout is in town though but he's also MVP of baseball twice and runner up 3 times. I don't think Johnny Hockey is around all that much, seeing as he plays for the Flames that makes sense. But his dad's a really cool Guy! And I don't think Bobby Ryan is either. I doubt he would get recognized by most though.

 

[Tripod]

As someone who's spent a lot of time in Hearst, Claude Giroux is seen as a big deal there. The town even (not sure if it still does) has a sign mentioning he's from there.

Here is the sign:

View attachment 93879


Fwiw, I sell NHL hats across Canada and sell to a gas station in Hearst. The ALWAYS get me to send a bunch of Flyers hats in their order. Essentially Toronto and Philly are the top 2 selling teams in the area.

Just thought I would share.

 

[REGGIE DUNLOP77]

I'm from the same city as Grant Fuhr. The population is like 30,000 now but when I first met him, it was around 15,000, but my uncles used to go to school with him back in the day.

Have gotten to meet him twice, once as a kid when we had a ceremony to honour him after the naming of the local arena. I remember him skating around but didn't really know who he was as I wasn't big into hockey at the time. It's a pretty neat thing to see his mask on the wall though (until someone stole it - but I'm sure Grant gave them another one). From what I remember, there wasn't alot of people there when he came to do an autograph session after the arena ceremony ended. He was chatting with people and such. Is a nice guy, he always seem to be smiling.

The Edmonton Oilers autograph signing (when I went in 2008) at West Edmonton Mall though was insane. There were alot of long lineups...

The second time, I met Grant Fuhr was at the Canadian Brewhouse (small city). He went around the entire bar, stopping at each table, greeting people, and when he came to our table, he offered to shake hands with me, and he was nice enough to sign my jersey and to take a picture with him.

Edit:

Here's the program from his ceremony. Interestingly enough, a small town nearby named their arena after Glenn Hall and has a mural of him in a Blackhawks jersey with leather pads. Didn't think we'd have two HHOF goalies. (Edit: found out Glenn Hall lives there - that makes sense now lol)

Had the exact opposite experience with Fuhr,,,i was inline for autograph at card expo in Toronto,he was very late,never said a word,i said hi and something about his great play,never even looked up just sign and on to the next,he left alot of people standing in line,

Certainly not a star but Paul Woods of the red wings was my buddies neighbor ,we used to stand in his back yard and watch him workout in summer and than do them same things,,than go play road hockey and pretend we was Salming or Sittler or Palmateer if we was in net,,fun times

 

[KingTux]

Really? I do not recall that. But village stinks big time.

They named the arena for him, they made a statue in front of the city hall, there's a big ass street (well for Thurso size ) named after him and theres a a billboard for him when you enter the city. Not bad for a town of 2500 people.

And it doesn't stink as much as it used too

 

[Phil McKraken]

Yeah, have friends from Ö-vik and they claim that Forsberg et al don't receive any special attention and are more or less ordinary citizen, except for their houses. Näslund and Forsberg received more attention when they ran MoDo (almost in to the ground). Wasn't Enström assaulted not because he's Toby Enström but because he's a an idiot and not because he plays in the NHL?

I remember when we had cousins visiting from Stockholm. The first thing they asked was where Peter Forsberg's house was, and they were surprised when we had no idea. To this day I have no idea where any of them live, except for Victor Hedman's folks.

 

[Kamiccolo]

Not an NHL star, but I went to high school with Brad Malone. He was really really good, and when he got drafted by the Avs the entire town was going crazy.

Him and Ryan get spotted at a popular bar called Mike's in Miramichi. Usually are pretty friendly and are lady killers there.

Hype has died down now that he busted, but for a long time it was buzzing. I bet if he made it and was good it would be more.

 

[Takuto Maruki]

Maybe not 'small town' but more like a 'small, rich bedroom community' but most people don't care that Brent Seabrook grew up in Tssawassen, BC. At least, in my experiences.

 

[MXD]

Are you from Maple Ridge?

You're comparing F1 drivers and MLB players in general, to hockey players that have won the (arguably) highest achievement in hockey. That's not too surprising.

Let alone the other variables.[/QUOTE]

There were not many F1 drivers from Canada, you know...

 

[FrozenJagrt]

Waterloo region isn't small and thus there isn't really any mention of the players from this area. Not a lot of them make their homes here either. Interestingly, Todd Bertuzzi is from Sudbury but has chosen to live here, and Eric Lindros spends a lot of time here for business matters