Everyone who knows me, knows that I’m all about Geno.
Most have dubbed Jordan Staal to be “my boy”.
Some even connect me to TK because of my love and support for grinders…
If it is understood that I am 100% Geno, Staal or Kennedy, then I want to make it clear that I am 110% Marc André Fleury.
Everyone has their own reason for supporting the pens. There are those who were born into it, some who thought it was a cool logo, others who follow a specific player. We all have our reason.
The flower is my reason.
I grew up in a hockey family. My grandfather was a prestigious Dman back in the 40’s and was on his way to the NHL when my grandmother became pregnant. Back in the day it was difficult to make a living and support a wife and 3 kids by playing hockey, so he was forced to give up the NHL and choose a new career. (Although he STILL plays 3 times a week, and with an artificial hip none the less) My grandpa wore the number 2, which most captains and high ranking defensive players wore at the time.
My father is my hero. A strong, passionate, intelligent, short tempered man who loves the game. As a left winger and a huge Chicago fan, it only makes sense that he wears the number 9 in support of the great Bobby Hull.
And in combining the two most important men in my life, my connection with the number 29 was born.
Now you might be wondering to yourself how a person grows up in Leafs/Sens nation idolizing a Habs fan and a Hawks fan and turns out to be a diehard Pens fan?…
Well every winter my entire family gets together and rents out an ice rink for a massive game of shinny. Afterwards we head back to the house, have some food and drinks and pop on the world juniors.
This was the year of ‘02/’03 and I walked into the living room to see a young Marc Andre being profiled on the screen. During the World Juniors Fleury wore number 1, not 29, but still something about this guy immediately caught my attention and as I sat there and watched I thought to myself “This guy is going to do great things”.
From then on there was no turning back. I followed Marc Andre’s career into the 2003 entry draft and watched him go 1st round 1st overall to the Pittsburgh Penguins.. Fate, like Maxime Talbot, has a funny way of coming through in the clutch.
Since becoming a Penguins supporter it has been a tradition for me to sew my own playoff shirt/jersey in celebration of making it to the post season.
For those of you who dont know this yet, I will be attending the Guins game tonight at GM Place here in Vancity. If you didnt know I was going to the game, you will probably also be unaware of the struggles, scams, and heartbreaks I went through in order to obtain this ticket.
I wont get into the details because the point is that I, in fact, HAVE a ticket. But it has to be said that my Vancouver dream was quickly turning into a nightmare.
After a LONG day of readings and piles upon piles of homework I decided to checkout the waterfront area and grab a pint or two at a bar, maybe meet some interesting people along the way.
….i cant make this shit up……
As I walked along the mainstreet of waterfront I noticed an interesting place on my left called Steamworks that self advertised itself as a good place to watch Canucks games… I kept on walking to explore more of the area and eventually decided to stop in a smaller place just down the road. There I made my first Vancouver connections with a Flames fan and a guy from Columbia who’s never even seen snow before. We had a few pints, did a few shots, talked about hitting up a hockey game sometime, and then parted ways when Columbia could no longer handle his alcohol and had to head home..
It was still early, just past 10 o’clock, so on my way back to the skytrain I made a split second decision to check out that place Steamworks that had caught my eye earlier.
I sat down at the bar and ordered a round. I was about half way through my pint when a waitor came upstairs and announced something to the bartender that would soon change my life.
“Marc Andre Fleury is here.”
Immediately I stood up and questioned the waitor. Noticing my Penguins bag, he laughed and replied:
“Yes!! He’s here right now! Feel free to get up and take a look around for him.”
I didnt need telling twice. I got up and casually strolled through the bar. At the top of a flight of stairs I ran into another waitor who asked if he could help me with anything. I said:
“Actually, I’m looking for Marc Andre Fleury. I’ve been informed that…..”
I trailled off. As I glanced down the stairs, there he was. MAF in the flesh sitting next to Brent Johnson right in front of my eyes..
“Nevermind. There he is.”
I was shockingly calm as I walked down the stairs towards my hero, as if he were an old friend I was there to meet up with. I stopped beside them and appologised for interrupting their drink. I introduced myself and expressed what an honor it was to meet them and have the opportunity to shake their hands. I told MAF that he had been a big inspiration to me and showed him my pens tattoos. He seemed pretty touched by the 29 on my forearm, so I was overjoyed when they were more than happy to take a picture with me. As I went for my camera Marc Andre started laughing and said “Wow! Even the bag!”.. The two of them got a real kick out of my Pens gear.
I shook their hands and said my thanks again. Wished them luck with their respective recoveries and, of course, with the season in general. My final words were:
“I hope you enjoy Vancouver.”
…..I know I have.
…..Nuff said.
number of view: 830Tags: Brent Johnson, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Marc Andre Fleury, Maxime Talbot, ShutYour5Hole, Tyler Kennedy
this is soooo good i don’t know whether to cry or wind my watch … your life is now complete … very touching story about your dad and gpa
hope you have a blast at the game tonight
this was my dream.
meeting MAF was on my bucketlist and everything haha.
oh my god. you are soooo lucky!
i think i would act like a total fan girl if i ever met them lol.
thank you. i was actually shocked at how calm i was able to be.. especially considering i was nearly smashed at the time..
although i will admitt that when i got back to the bar i burst into tears. haha people were great about it. i guess my story got around the pub and everyone wanted to buy me a congratulary drink.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
[...] medals to show for it. I had the opportunity to meet Vicky when I was a young girl. She has been a near MAF like inspiration in my hockey life. Vicky ranks in the top 15 in career points at the World Championships and Olympic [...]