......21 To Win

I have to be honest right off the bat on this one, I didn't always like Peter Forsberg. He seemed a little arrogant and egotistical to me. Not to mention he was constantly being compared to Joe Sakic. I could never deny that he is a great player, I just didn't think it necessary to say Joe should be more like Peter or vice versa. To me, they are two very different kind of players. Anyway, this is a story about the night that changed my mind about 'ol Foppa.



It was January 4th, 2002, Heather and I were outside of the Pepsi Center waiting for players to come out.....AGAIN. Most of these guys were great each and every time we met them and we just couldn't get enough. Back to my point, Peter came out and...SURPRISE SURPRISE, he was signing autographs. He intimidated me a bit since I always figured he just had perma-attitude. Heather asks, "Are you going to ask him for a picture?". I could feel myself staring at her like she had just spoke a different language, "No...there's no way he'll do it and I don't want to not like him even more". He was getting closer and I held out my program for him to sign. I'm not well under the circumstances of beautiful men all around me, so it started to become my thing not to remember what was happening before I met these guys. The next thing I know he was right in front of me and out it came, "Can I have a picture with you?". He smiled and kindly obliged! I turned to give my camera to Heather and put my stuff down somewhere. I turned to him to find him eye level to me with his famous grin, "You ready?" he asked as I fell into those ice blue eyes and groaned, it was all I could do. Heather snapped the picture and I was a changed person.



Reading this as I go, I feel a bit shallow for the reasons I changed my mind about Peter. It definitely is a "had to be there" situation. I had heard stories that he was shy or whatever and then came to believe these stories that night. He was VERY sweet then and each time I met him afterwards. I think I just might have jumped to conclusions too quickly with him.



I promise to not be stuck on the Avs stories. I was forced to change my opinion of Brendan Shanahan, Jeremy Roenick, and Trevor Kidd to name a few. I love all hockey players no matter what, but here's just one last image of #21.



Until next time.....enjoy all the "GUNH" material!!

The Captain, Part 2

Angels come in all different shapes and sizes; sometimes they're dogs that save you from a fire, sometimes they're a good samaritan who helps you out with a flat tire and sometimes, just sometimes, they take the form of a parking lot attendant named Lindy.

On January 15, 1998 Christina & I went up to see the Colorado Avalanche play and as our norm we got there crazy early to watch the players dirve in. Sometimes they even stopped and signed autographs, hence the reason we always got there hours early. Christina was always hoping that Joe Sakic, the captain of the Avs, would stop and he never did. He was (still is) her very very favorite player and every time we went to a game she left disappointed. Joe never seemed to have the time to stop before or after.

So that fateful day we were standing behind the barrier and got to talking to the parking attendant, Lindy. He was a friendly chap and soon Christina was telling him about Joe and how he was the only player she had yet to meet. Lindy picked up an orange cone and, using our sharpie, wrote "JOE PLEASE STOP" and set it by the player entrance. Joe drove in, passed the cone but didn't stop. It was a nice try and one that actually got him in trouble with the parking lot boss. Oops.

After the game we were milling around by the player parking lot and here came Mr. Joe Sakic. Everyone started hollering at him as he's stowing his gear into the back of his SUV. Lindy went wandering over to him, talked to him a bit and then damned if Joe didn't start walking over. Christina lost her mind! She couldn't believe it! Her hero was walking towards her!!! The other fans were grouping around getting autographs and asking for things like sticks and a skate (he said no) and a couple people asked for a picture. His response was "Sorry, no time." This whole time I'm zipping around like a stalkarazzi, snapping pictures left and right when suddenly I hear, "HEATHER I NEED YOUR HELP!!!" Joe had reached Christina and in her panic she had dropped all her hockey cards. She scrambled to pick them up and Joe stood by patiently as she did. He signed a Sakic card for her (an expensive one, to boot) and then she asked if she could have a picture. "Okay," he said. "But just one."

How cool is that? Everyone else was told no but for her, his number 1 fan, he totally had the time! As you saw in the shot below, she was terrified!! Sadly, I snapped the picture a split second too soon to get the beautiful smile that spread across his face. After she thanked him, he walked away then looked back over his shoulder and gave her a look that I can only describe as Approving. He just looked so happy that that girl was such a huge fan of his. The phrase has been immortalized now and is always capitalized: The Approving Look.

The only other thing I remember about that night is walking back to the car and Christina said, "I'm gonna scream! I'm gonna puke! I'm gonna pass out!!!" Halfway home it overtook her and she let out a scream. But she didn't puke and she didn't pass out. And she gained the greatest memory of her sports hero.

And the weird thing is - we never saw Lindy again! That's why we totally believe that he was an angel sent to make Christina's greatest dream come true!

The Captain

I feel bad because my first post should have been about this guy, but Rachel Bolan just does something to my mind! So, now we have #19...two time Stanley Cup Champion....Conn Smythe Trophy Winner in 1996....2001 NHLPA MVP and Lady Byng trophy winner for sportsmanship....2002 MVP for the Gold Medal Winning Canadian Olympic team....The Captain of the Colorado Avalanche...JOE SAKIC!!!!! He has been my hero since the Avs came to Colorado in 1995. The sad part is I didn't get to meet him until years later.



It was an interesting night...January 15th, 1998. I like the way Heather tells the story. I'll try the short version. We went up early for the game as we always do and ended up talking to a friendly parking lot attendant. He swears that he had nothing to do with Joe signing autographs but Heather and I know the truth. At the end of the game, we went out to the parking lot to get some autographs. After getting to meet players such as Mike Ricci, Stephane Yelle, and Adam Deadmarsh, we thought that was it. We continued to talk with the parking lot attendant anyway just in case. Pretty soon I saw Joe...I could spot that man from miles away. When I shouted to him, the nice man walked over to him and soon Joe was walking to the other side of the lot to sign. I was so excited that I ran and when I got there blanked out everything else that happened. I DO remember yelling "Heather...I need your help" as I had dropped all my trading cards on the ground. I remember feeling very embarrassed and looking up to see if Joe was watching me make a spectacle of myself. I saw him signing an autograph and looking back at me with a smile. Most of the people around were just being dumb saying things like "Can I have a stick" or "Joe, give me one of your skates". I was the last one he came to and I just asked for a picture....he kindly obliged. So the picture was taken and we laugh to this day about how terrified I look in the picture. I was completely in awe meeting this man..it's not just the looks (although he is BEAUTIFUL). He is a great person, father, husband, man, and an AMAZING player!
I've met him a few more times after that at luncheons, practice, after or before games and such. He's always very polite and appreciative. I had him sign a picture of my niece standing next to a post of him. I put the picture out for him and he smiled real big...it made me feel good.



I could go on for days about him, so I'll stop here...for now! Maybe just one more picture....



The one and ONLY #19-Joe Sakic...thanks for reading!!