I was opening up the newsroom
mail when I came across an invitation with my name on it from Coca-Cola to
attend its Future Stars hockey camp in Val-Belair. According to the invite, I
would have an opportunity to skate with Wayne Gretzky and other NHL stars.
Whaaaaat?
Incredulous, dumbfounded and
dazed, I slapped my face to regain my senses and hurried to my boss’s office to
ask whether I could attend. It was June 17, 1993, and my Program Director, Ian
McLean, said, “go for it and get some interviews”!
On June 28, 1993, I hopped
into a company vehicle with my hockey equipment and a company tape deck and
drove to Val-Belair. We were two entire dressing rooms crammed full of star
struck journalists. Organizers gave us a quick speech about being careful not
to injure the NHL stars and then we were out on the ice. Granted, ice time was
limited because of the large number of journalists, but I got out there four or
five times.
Denis Savard, Rob Niedermayer
and a pile of fellow journalists were on my team, playing against Wayne
Gretzky, Jaromir Jagr and more fellow journalists. After the match, there was a
reception where I interviewed Wayne Gretzky and Denis Savard. Jagr told me he
did not feel comfortable enough to do an interview in English, but he very
kindly signed an autograph for me.
I remember being amazed at
how gracious The Great One was in the face of a ludicrous tornado of attention
sucking up every second of his time. He was gracious during our interview and
while posing with me for a quick photo.
I still have the jersey
Coca-Cola gave us for the scrimmage, not to mention the memories and the thrill
of meeting Wayne Gretzky. He was the real thing.
Yeah, I played hockey with
Wayne Gretzky; that’s just the kind of crazy stuff that would happen when CHOM
was home.
