An Afternoon with the Boys

Today was the Kings annual "Meet the Players" party, an event held for season ticket holders to get their first player photos and autographs of the season. This is another one of those events Nadine's husband, John, has absolutely no interest in, so I get his ticket. Thank you John!!! I owe you a beer next home game...

Denie didn't go either, owing to her dislike for standing in long lines. So I headed over to Dodger Stadium all by my lonesome, determined to visit with my boys Sully and Drew and tell them in person just how much I love them both. OK, so I didn't actually use the word love, because that would be kinda stalker-like...but I did find nice things to say.

I decided to get in Drew's line first since he's already one of the most popular players on the team and one of the newest, which means all those fans wanting a truly complete collection of team memorabilia would be targeting him. My instincts were right...his line got shut down twice during the day due to high demand, until they could be sure to get everyone through. After an almost 2 hour wait, I got my moment.

I had been in contact with my Facebook buddy Ed in London, Ontario earlier in the week. Turns out he's Drew's uncle, and Ed's a good sport so he gave me permission to do a little name drop. When I told Drew Ed wanted me to say hello, he asked how I knew him, I told him about his Facebook fan club, etc. We both agreed Ed is a super dude, and I let Drew know how much I love watching him play. Great kid!!!! Absolutely could not have been nicer. Still makes me smile thinking about it....

Luckily John Zeiler was in the same area with Drew. Nadine and I have met him several times before, and he's always very nice. He put a hell of a hit on Colorado's Adam Foote at last nights game, which almost involved a stretcher to get Foote off the ice. Not good! I like a hard hit as much as anyone, and I don't think Zig was trying to hurt anyone, but he skates like a banshee and I think he was a little late putting on the brakes. I told him I hope he doesn't get suspended for any games (the league automatically reviews penalties like that and sometimes chooses additional discipline), and he just smiled and agreed. Looking at this pictue, I'm always amazed how aggressive he can be on the ice...total cutie pie that he is!

The next line I joined was Sully's. His booth-mate was Kyle Calder, also a nice dude. Then again, all hockey guys are really nice. Sully is one of the quietest players on the team, at least around big crowds of people. He's a little less reserved one-on-one. He never says a lot, but when I told him I spent all summer reading hockey blogs and praying he would get re-signed, I got a polite thank you. That's almost like getting an "I love you too" in Sully-speak. And few people can work the backwards ball cap and look cute, but it works for me...

With my mission accomplished and a flight to Seattle leaving in a couple of hours, I headed out to the airport. Gonna be a long time before any more hockey news...December 1, if you can believe that!! The next game is Saturday, 11/28, but I'll be in Portland, OR helping little miss Addison Offerdahl celebrate her first birthday. Very few things can make me miss a hockey game, but she is absolutely one of them.

Thanks for a great day boys!