Heavenly day for Gazette contest winner

A devoted Habs fan, I naturally spent most of my time elbowing members of the press to get close to Kovy, Komisarek, Markov and Price, but occasionally ventured beyond my comfort zone to hear from stars such as Dan Boyle, Joe Thornton, Patrick Kane and Patrick Marleau (who gave up a trip to Disneyland with his kids to replace Pavel Datsyuk).

Of course, I made time for the unfairly talented Ovechkin, who looks as crazy in person as he does on the ice. 

Naturally I avoided Tomas Kaberle from the Leafs – even I have my standards.

Most of my prepared questions were left unanswered due to my inexperience in outshouting the veteran reporters, so I trailed Cabbie of “Cabbie on the Street” fame to start with because of his ability to get one-on-one interviews with players and to add some humour to the event. His stock question to each player was whether they practiced yoga, to which only Getzlaf and Thornton admitted.

Some additional tidbits I picked up at the event:

• Watch for Western Captain Thornton to give Cabbie the “C for Cabby” shout-out if he scores on Sunday!

• Cabbie’s pal Gerry Dee did his part to bewilder Keith Tkachuk by pronouncing his name “Tee-Ka-chuck” and demanding to know why his nickname was “Seesaw” despite Tkachuk protestations to the contrary.

• When asked about any special moves we might expect from them, most players responded by saying they’d been practising some nifty dekes and dangles. I was impressed by Kovalev’s understated response: “I haven’t practised any special moves – I have enough moves in my body to do what needs to get done!”

• Joe Thornton, when asked for his reaction when he hears the name Tim Thomas, said, “I just smile – I enjoy watching him play.” Definitely not how Habs fans react when they hear that name.

• Dany Heatley failed to provide the correct answer when asked what 4 to the power of 0 was. But no one seemed to notice but me.

• My coach Dave Stubbs got Ovechkin to admit there was nothing he could do to beat Kovalev for fan support in the skills competition, but kudos to Alexander the Gr8 for at least wearing the same shirt as me to the event.

• Capped by Vinnie Lecavalier’s press conference and an unexpected visit from Sidney Crosby, the day was overwhelming – many thanks to the Gazette for an unbeatable experience!