Which NHL players have you met and how were they?

[drivesrf]

Saw this on MSH and thought it would be fun here for all of us wannabe NHL'ers. Just curious which NHL players (past and present) you have met and how were they? What would you say about them wall BS'ing in the locker room?
Here is my list:

Zach Parise: Awesome guy nice as hell
David Clarkson: Could be the nicest guy ever
Patrik Elias: Eh, not the most friendly
Petr Sykora: Pretty nice
Ken Daneyko: Nice guy
Grant Marshall: Very Nice guy
Bruce Driver: Eh
Anssi Salmela: Not the most friendly
AHL goalie for the Penguins Mattias Modig: Very nice

Click to read more...

 

[TickleMeYandle]

I've met a bunch of the coyotes, both at their charity carnival and at practice on monday.

By far, Shane Doan was the kindest. He took time to talk to my kids, ask their names and shake their hands.
I've been making signs for Antoine Vermette in French and holding them up at warm ups before every game. As soon as I said bonjour to him, he knew who I was. So that was pretty cool.
Jason Labarbera was nice.
Paul Bissonnette was nice, I took a pic with him.
Taylor Pyatt was nice, I told him he's the reason why my 7 year old daughter watches the games. He was with Radim Vrbata at the time, Vrby teased him a bit.

The STH meet the team night is coming up. I hope to meet Smith, Yandle, Whitney....I think the are the biggest names missing from my jersey still.

 

[Blackie Dammit]

I met Mike Keane at the Winnipeg Airport when he was with the Moose in his last season, he sat at the table next to me at Tim Hortons, super nice guy, we started talking about the 99 Stars SC run and he let me try on the ring, that was cool.

 

[Kesid]

I did interviews with some NHL players and usually they were amazing, especially Jiří Tlustý, Tomáš Káňa and Vladimír Sobotka. Lot of guys were okay too like Petr Sýkora, Radko Gudas, Martin Havlát, Ondřej Pavelec or Petr Nedvěd.

I had a chance to talk with Markus Naslund and Jacob Markstrom and they were pretty funny

In the other hand some guys were like they own the whole world, which is too bad Dominik Hašek, Jaromír Jágr, Michael Neuvirth and Tomáš Vincour to name a few.

 

[Capathetic]

Met Mike Green last summer...I asked what type of curve he used and he said here find out for yourself...then gave me one of his sticks he used from practice. Its the sakic/p92 for those wondering. Now that is a cool dude.

 

[ArrogantOwl]

I've met Brian Propp and Bernie Parent. Parent was in a bit of a rush so I didn't bother him too much, however I had short conversation with Propp. Was a nice guy, talked about the WC and such.

 

[hlaverty06]

Dainus Zubrus, such a dick hahaha joking aside he is definitely nott he friendliest guy in the world.

 

[MoonlightGraham]

I've only met 3, very briefly at the Canadiens blood drive 4-5 years ago.

Mark Streit: nice and polite, but seemed like a quiet guy.
Josh Gorges: nice as well, he looked a bit uncomfortable and intimidated but that was only a few days after he was traded from San Jose so that's understandable.
Michael Ryder: very friendly and funny, joked around with him a bit.

 

[Ozz]

Tim Thomas was kind of a dick, so now despite being on my 2nd favorite team I have to hate on him whenever I can.

Sid was nice and talked to me for a couple seconds while in a large crowd of people trying to get at him. He signed for me and shook my hand.

Geno was even better. Said some words to me as well, shook my hand, and after I got the one item I was really hoping to get signed he asked if I wanted anything else done. So I had him sign my Pens jersey.

Tony Amonte was a nice guy back in the day. Met him at a signing session and he was expressing his displeasure about the store restricting which cards you could have him sign (and trying to hawk them at a premium to anyone who didn't have that one)

Bobby Orr I met about 21 years ago so I don't remember much, but he was nice to everyone who was there to meet him. Signed endlessly for no charge.

Ryan Kesler was cool, we shot the **** for a few minutes at a 2K Sports meet & greet I was at, while they were trying to get things set up. Turco was there as well and walked up next to me while checking out game demos. We chat about them for a bit and he seemed cool to me.

Patrick Eaves was a funny guy. Met him recently at an in-store signing session. I jokingly invited him out to play that night w/my team and he took interest in it and we started talking a bit. Didn't rush us out of the way or anything, but took a little joke and made it into fun conversation. This was right before he got his jaw smashed.

Datsyuk was a real nice guy. We were outside the Joe at the player exit one night just killing time, and he stopped to sign for everyone who was there. He also gave a stuffed animal to a toddler who was there w/her dad, which I thought was a very nice thing to do. I'd imagine he keeps one or two on hand in case he sees little kids outside like that.

Chelios - met him at a local signing event and presented him with the "You're uglier than Ricci" photo to be signed. He laughed at it and said he hadn't seen it in a while. Shook hands, took pics w/me and my girl, ate Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.


That's all I can remember...

 

[michaelshu]

is it relatively easy to meet NHL players over there?
please share more!

 

[TickleMeYandle]

Depends on the team, schedule, etc. I know when we were at the practice there were some visitors from Canada there, they said you can never get that close to the players. But I've found that there are opportunities enough if you look for them, at least for the coyotes.

 

[Stickmata]

Joe Thornton
Jonathan Cheechoo
Jeremy Roenick
Douglas Murray
Patrick Marleau
Christian Ehrhoff
Pavel Datsyuk
Dan Cleary
Steve Yzerman
Nicklas Lidstrom
Tomas Holmstrom
Brad Stuart
Johan Franzen
Henrik Zetterberg
Todd McLellan
Mike Babcock

but the best ever was...

Bobby Orr (at Game 1; U.S./Russian Challenge Cup back in 1980 at MSG)

Only one of them was kind of a *****; his name rhymes with Hairhoff. JT is awesome to meet and is great with the kids. Cheechoo and Roenick were also really cool.

 

[JoeCool16]

I've met Burrows when I was helping at an autograph signing, and he was incredibly friendly and polite,
and Kirk McLean when I was a kid. Don't remember much about him, but I know that he signed autographs for hours, for free, and took time with each person to have a quick chat.

 

[vapor11]

A few years ago when I was working at a hotel they had a celebrity dinner and Curtis Joseph came thru..I saw him standing outside the banquet room mingling with others..I couldn't refuse so I went up to him and shook his hand and said hello..Nice guy..not much bigger then I was

 

[Einzakin]

Hung out with Price and Diaz in Ottawa, cool ****ing guys. I am a huge Leaf fan too so normally I wouldn't like them.

Saw Hartnell be a goon/****** at the club to chicks lol. Giroux,Timonen,Campbell were all there but didn't really see or talk to them.

 

[bp spec]

Met Peter Regin and Sebastian Erixon at a hockey camp a few summers back. Nice guys, especially Regin.

 

[r3cc0s]

grew up with Cote
built a fence with my neighbor Durno

 

[nukethewhales]

Oooh, boy. As a ref in the GTA, I've had a few share of run-ins. I got called up to work as a linesman for a huge Peewee AAA tournament on an emergency basis, so I was way out of my league, but in one tournament, a number of NHLers were there for their son's games:

Mark Recchi, fresh off his Cup win/retirement: terrifying. I made a questionable call and he chewed my face off.

Wendel Clark: awesome, awesome guy. He coaches his son's team and usually hangs around the arena I work at. Usually has time to stop and chat and isn't hot headed.

Scott Niedermayer (my favourite player): super, super nice and humble. I was star struck when I met him between games so I acted like an oaf when talking to him. His son is a fantastic hockey player too.

Todd Bertuzzi's son, Tag, was also there.

Tie Domi: Piece of garbage. Long story.

Tyler Seguin: grew up at the arena I work at, so he comes back during the summer. Doesn't really talk, as I don't have breasts. Was nice seeing him bring the Cup back to the arena during his day.

PK Subban: also grew up in the same arena when he played in the GTHL. See him a lot during the summer, really nice guy.

 

[SauceHockey]

Oooh, boy. As a ref in the GTA, I've had a few share of run-ins. I got called up to work as a linesman for a huge Peewee AAA tournament on an emergency basis, so I was way out of my league, but in one tournament, a number of NHLers were there for their son's games:

Mark Recchi, fresh off his Cup win/retirement: terrifying. I made a questionable call and he chewed my face off.

Wendel Clark: awesome, awesome guy. He coaches his son's team and usually hangs around the arena I work at. Usually has time to stop and chat and isn't hot headed.

Scott Niedermayer (my favourite player): super, super nice and humble. I was star struck when I met him between games so I acted like an oaf when talking to him. His son is a fantastic hockey player too.

Todd Bertuzzi's son, Tag, was also there.

Tie Domi: Piece of garbage. Long story.

Tyler Seguin: grew up at the arena I work at, so he comes back during the summer. Doesn't really talk, as I don't have breasts. Was nice seeing him bring the Cup back to the arena during his day.

PK Subban: also grew up in the same arena when he played in the GTHL. See him a lot during the summer, really nice guy.

I really want to know the story now

 

[kdb209]

I ran into Jamie Baker in a Home Depot near San Jose during the offseason in the mid 90's.

I just did a quick hello and he proceeded to spend about 20 minutes excitedly telling me all about his home remodeling projects.

 

[flomarilius]

I've met the entire florida panthers roster minus Wolski, Barch, and Smithson. Incredible guys all of them who show as much love as they can to their fans. Outta the whole list I will say Matthias was probably the nicest as me and him chatted for a few minutes about twitter. Kulikov is right up there with him, kinda funny to talk to him because we're the same age and the conversations are about normal everyday people things.

 

[Triple Deke]

Most recently, went to the bar to celebrate my friends' bday. Saw Glencross after Flames home loss (vs Philly). "Birthday Boy" got a pic with him and chatted briefly about trade deadline. Really nice guy. (Interesting to note that he went on his 7 game goal scoring streak after that chance encounter!)

Also met Cale Hulse long time ago while volunteering at the hospital.
Humble guy. Very friendly. Unfortunately I did not get to see his smoking hot wife.

 

[goalie29]

Last year I met Roberto Luongo at a signing at The Hockey Shop in Surrey. Super nice, soft spoken, jokey.

I met Mike Keane at the Winnipeg Airport when he was with the Moose in his last season, he sat at the table next to me at Tim Hortons, super nice guy, we started talking about the 99 Stars SC run and he let me try on the ring, that was cool.

Cool! I went to elementary school with him, and he played hockey with my twin brother for a few years as a young kid. He was focused on hockey big time even then.

 

[noobman]

Joe Thornton was a nice guy but he spelled my name wrong at an autograph signing. Of course I was so excited to meet an NHL hockey player that I didn't realize this until I got home.

 

[flogpro2252]

My son and I got to meet some of the Jets on Saturday at a Timbits tourney. Jets had an open practice then signed some autographs afterwards...He met and got autographs from:

Ondrej Pavelec
Chris Mason
Mark Flood
Grant Clitsome
Alex Burmistrov
Claude Noel (got a pic with him too)

All were super nice to him and he had a nice little conversation and high five from Chris Mason after my son told him he dressed up as Mason for Halloween...FWIW my son is 6 and was absolutely star struck...it was one of those things he'll remember forever i'm sure.