Which NHL player have you met

[zetterdawg 0]

I played in a reasonable popular band in Canada, grew up in a big hockey town, went to university in a big hockey town and I've been to a couple hockey camps, so I've been fortunate enough to meet and talk to a lot of hockey guys. I'm surprised that most of them are actually just normal guys.

Toronto Sun Party (we played there)

Nik Kyprios (sp?)

Mats Sundin

Tie Domi

Don Cherry (a great guy, took my name on a napkin and followed up with a package of signed stuff for my handicapped brother in law - he's classy, it's an act on TV)

Played at Brian Savages (MTL)

Vincent Damphousse (signed my buddies MTL jersey with a huge "F***IN' A!" hahah)

Brian Savage (wife was smokin!)

Most of the Canadiens at that point(not a huge fan, sorry don't remember all the names)

Scott Stevens through his parents

Ken Dryden

Wayne Gretzky at a hockey camp (nice guy, spent 15 minutes talking to me)

Joe Thorton, Marleau, doug murray and most of the 2008 sharks

Jamie Baker

Manny Legace (one of the only wings)

Gary Suter

Sergei Makarov (plays in sj)

David Maley (camp)

Bernie Nicholls (camp - for some reason has a helmet that cheli autographed, didn't understand why)

Jeff Odgers

Tom Pederson (teaches in bay area)

Rob Zettler

Alexander Korolyuk

Jeff Norton

Doug Gilmour

Eric & Brett Lindros (when they were young)

Kirk Muller

Players I wish I would have met - SteveY, Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Lidstrom, Howe.

Chelios - He was doing a Meijer signing in Battle Creek. Saw him on his way out after getting stuff signed earlier. Chatted for a few min. Pretty awesome guy.

Met Maltby in the store I work at in Grosse Pointe, as well as the Wing's goalie coach...he was picking up a pizza for Howie

Met Abs and Helm at the Hockeytown store a while ago. Justin was cool and real down to earth. When I moved over to Helm he said "gimme a few to warm my hands up" and we chatted about school and hockey. He was awesome.

Helm has to warm up his hands because he can sign an autograph 2 times faster than any other player.

[Jocke 53]

Markus Näslund at a hockey school in Timrå, Sweden, when I was younger. Me and around 15 other boys my age faced him on the ice. He beat the c**p out of us

Edited January 21, 2011 by Jocke

[Broken 16 381]

Draper- Hero

Chelios- ZERO

Coffey- Hero

Dino- HERO

Vladdy- HERO

McCarty- Hero (he was really cool)

Probert- Hero (with a few zero tendencies)

Broduer- Hero

Slave Fetisov- HERO

Dave Andreychuk- zero

Sheldon Kennedy- zero at the time... hero now that I know what I know

Primeau- zero

Cleary- hero (loves F bombs more than any human I've met)

There's more. I gotta get back to work. : /

[sputman 1,268]

Was in front of Danny Heatley in line on a flight to kKelowna from Calgary, the boarding pass lady came up to him and asked him for an autograph, he didn't even speak to her he just signed it..she thanked him and walked away. After the flight at baggage claim he was giving me this look like "I know this dude recognizes me but I'm really hoping he doesn't come talk to me right now" Danny Heatley: definitely a ZERO

i guess those videos of him on youtube aren't that far off, eh?

that's unfortunate.

[Kira 451]

I have a couple of stories to share with you.

I have a very dear friend named Julie, who, unfortunately, is confined to a wheelchair. She had a wonderful picture of her with Jiri Fischer that she had always wanted him to sign, but could never get done. A couple years ago at camp, one of the volunteers asked if she had the picture with her. He took it to Jiri, and he signed it for her, along with the words, "Sometimes, life is better than we think it is. " When he brought the picture back to her, she and I both were in tears. It was such a sweet and wonderful thing.

A couple years before that, she was close to getting Scotty Bowman to stop and talk to her, but he got mobbed by people. He looked at her and said, "Maybe tomorrow I'll come out." She said it was okay, and didn't think about it. A few minutes later, someone tapped her on the shoulder and said, "He wants to see you."

"He who?"

"Mr. Bowman." He had gone over to where Julie and her husband had parked their jeep and was waiting for her. They sat and talked, just the two of them, for about 15 minutes. She said it was the thrill of a lifetime. I guess good things do come to those who wait.

[irishtemper14+25 11]

Growing up, sometimes my family would take a little "mini" vacation and go to the Embassy Suites in Livonia...mainly during the winter so my siblings and I could swim in the indoor pool. My dad worked as a manager at the local Jacobson's and it was right around the time that Gordies book came out ("And Howe") and Gordie had been coming into the store a lot to have book signings so my Dad got to know him. So around this time we went to the Embassy Suites for a weekend and the first time I met him was riding in an elevator with him...I was timid and can't remember what I said. The next morning we went downstairs to the restaurant for breakfast and Gordie was sitting by himself, we invited him to join us and he did...I was in awe the whole time, the best vacation I had ever taken while being like a mile from my house lol.

That Christmas I got a puck signed by him and his wife...he was the nicest athlete I ever met.

I also met Scotty Bowman at the target near my house when he was shopping...my dad was like "Jimmy you see that guy, you know who that is?" I responded by sprinting up to him and saying how much I loved the wings, and I don't remember what he said but he was nice and not upset that this little kid (me) was bothering him.

[Finnish Wing 110]

Raimo Helminen - the humblest man on Earth.

Edited January 21, 2011 by Finnish Wing

[Rick Zombos Ghost 82]

Rick Zombo is a relative so i got to meet quite a few of the 90s era wings.

[taxijim 11]

I'm old school so some of the guys I have met played a while ago. In the 60s I met Abby MacDonold who at the time was with the Hawks who was from my home town & was having a few drinks with an oldtimer neighbor....very nice guy. In the 80s I met both Bobby Hull & Gordie Howe at promo events.....you can almost feel that there's greatness in the room with these class guys..... Gordie was very soft spoken & pleasant & Hull seemed like the kinda guy you could have a few beers with & a lot of laughs. Also in the 80s I met Oilers Ken Linsman,Paul Coffey, & Marc Messier at a bar after a Wpg. Jets game. The "Rat" was always moving on the prowl, Coffey seemed to not want to talk to anyone, but Messier came over to us & talked for about 45 minutes laughing about the game & a fight he had during it. It was such a good time I didn't even bother asking for an autograph....didn't want to wreck the moment....he was a mean player but you couildn't meet a nicer guy. I'm from Darren Helms hometown & met him a few times (actually a lot of times when I used to own the corner store & he was 5 or 6 years old & would come in fully dressed in his hockey equipment with his mom....I remember he would always stop to look at the movie rentals & his mom would be yelling "Darren get over here". When he brought the Cup home in 2008 to our local arena at the rec center, it was truly a great day & I got him to sign my #43 jersey.

[hokeychik22 17]

former wings-

dmac, maltby, saw gordie from afar( would love to actually meet him and ask about the guy in my profile picture. the guy posted is my cousin and gordie and him had a few fights(one in the nhl-was a pretty even fight i heard, the other in wedding reception-gordie broke his jaw)kocer, chelios,avery-he was a pretty nice guy, despite what people say,downey,leino,lebda,jason williams

current-

justin,pavel-he is very nice,draper-met the most,flippula,darren,hudler,miller,hank,ericsson,jimmy, babcock, kind of sorta jakub kindl

other-

smolinski, does minor league count(the fraser teams and port huron teams)

want to meet-

redmond, hull, my cousin lou fontinato,rafalski(my uncle i know work with his dad, scotty bowman

drawing a blank right now. but i think this is it.

Chelios - He was doing a Meijer signing in Battle Creek. Saw him on his way out after getting stuff signed earlier. Chatted for a few min. Pretty awesome guy.

Met Maltby in the store I work at in Grosse Pointe, as well as the Wing's goalie coach...he was picking up a pizza for Howie

Met Abs and Helm at the Hockeytown store a while ago. Justin was cool and real down to earth. When I moved over to Helm he said "gimme a few to warm my hands up" and we chatted about school and hockey. He was awesome.

darren said the same thing when i went up to him, or said it under his breath.

Edited January 21, 2011 by hokeychik22

[Selliria 76]

Steve Yzerman. And do I really need to tell you if he was a hero or a zero?

My best friend's dad is a high up at Sun Microsystems. I guess they sell computer software to the Red Wings organization so he's met a lot of the players and has become good friends with a few over the years. He rented a suite that had Yzerman's Junior Hockey All-Star jersey on the wall. As I was looking at it, Yzerman walks in to say hello to my friend's dad - and then comes to say hello to me. He stuck around for awhile and watched some of the game with us. I found out later that my friend asked her dad to do it for a Christmas present for me.

Best hockey game ever.