Mark Messier Day is gone and behind us. Along with NHL Trade Deadline Day. Man what a cluster yesterday. Lots of standing around and waiting for something to happen. On Sportsnet, Cory's network, it is treated like a party. They had the Hansens Brothers on and the Deal or no Deal girls to announce the trades. It was a good show. Lots of fun. Cory and Gene did live hits all day long. Darren Pang did lives for TSN all day long right in front of the Oilers door. Everyone trying to outdo eachother and get the big scoop first.
It looked like we were going to get thru the deadline and not have to do any chasing or running around but BLAM right at deadline Ryan Smyth was traded to the Islanders. Heart and Soul of the team traded on Messier day. Like a punch in the gut to all the Oiler fans. Needless to say it was like throwing a hand grenade in the room and everyone runs off trying to find Ryan. Of course they were harassed at home and no comment was the norm.
We went live a couple of times during the day. The picture on the right is a shot of our 4pm live from the bowl of the rink. Lot's of work for about 3 minutes of airtime. I shared with you in the last post about all the rumors of celebrities that might be in town for the big game. None of them showed up for practice that day. Some old time Oilers did, but no Hollywood types. I still have game time to get a brush with greatness shot. I have my camera ready for anytime. Cory is still trying to get his holy grail. A shot with Wayne Gretzky. We were determined to get it today, but we were set back when we heard that he was not going to be here til later. He was too busy trading half his team away.
Speaking of trading away, here is a pic of Georges Laraque, former Oiler and now former Coyote, now a Pittsburgh Penquin. Traded to a contender. Nice...
So we get to game time and it is a who's who of Oiler greats in the building. Now you can see Gretz in the pic above, but the guy with his head the shot blocked out Fuhr, Kurri is in there somewhere, Coffey was close by also. It was crazy. Marty McSorley, Dave Semenko, Kenny 'The Rat' Linesman, and Dave Hunter were also around.
It was, as I was discussing it with Mark Sholtz, a power summit that when they were all together lead to a tremor in the force. It was amazing to just walk around underneath the bleachers and everywhere you looked was a Oiler great. Glen Sather was there also. Of course everyone's favorite punching bag Gary Bettman was there too.
Gametime finally came and we rushed upstairs to the press box to get good seat for the ceremony. We tried to sit at center ice but got booted. We then opted to position ourselves on the catwalk so when someone takes a pic of the banner being raised that we would maybe be seen in the background. I am always thinking. They ran a great video of Messier and all the things he has accomplished and then the moment arrived when he came out on the ice. CARRYING THE STANLEY CUP. Fricking awesome.
There was a bunch of speeches and then Messier took the stage and spoke. Lots of tears and great memories. I almost got the man tears going, but since I did not have any real attachment to this team and Messier it was just a peripheral man tear occurance, not a legitimate. If you know man tears you know what that means, if you don't, you really aren't a man in touch with his feelings.
Anyway, the ceremony was great, about an 45 minutes worth. The Oilers were wearing the throwback jerseys in honor of Messier. They all wore number 11 in warmups. Of course that is so they can sell them later to idiots for big bucks. Speaking of memoribilia I heard that in Messier's dressing room they had four 8 foot tables full of stuff that he signed while he was here. They had sticks, pucks, shirts, pictures, you name it they had it for him to autograph. We estimated that there was probably around 2 million dollars worth of stuff. Amazing.
So Cory, knowing what he does, managed to get a few pics put on those tables. Remember the pic of Mark at the podium in front of his Mark Messier Trail sign from the last blog? I gots a few of those signed and a pic from the Heritage Classic for Jay Carton, of the Edmonton Carton's. Hauser, one of them is on it's way pal. Enjoy. Merry Christmas my friend, Merry Christmas.
For each person who came to the game they gave out a miniature replica of the Messier Banner, with of course the obligitory Rexall logo on it. Gotta make money somehow right? So Mr. Hauser that is coming your way also. I always take care of my boys.
It was a long day, but not a bad day at the office with lots of things going on. Wait, did Chris get his brush with greatness pic. Was he shut out? No way my friend, I got two. First off, I managed to shoot a picture of Steve, the guy who carries the cup. I was willing to settle with that. Not a bad get. Really. He has his own Mastercard commercial, he gets to spend all his time with the Stanley Cup, and he is a nice guy. Not bad.
Then as I was walking away I saw this dude doing an interview with the Phoenix station. Phonenix? Is there anyone, other than Canadians who know who he is? Well, is there anyone in Phoenix, other than Canadians, watching Coyotes hockey? I guess I have a point. So anyway, Cory walks by and we grab the camera and each snap a pic with the frontman for Canada's greatest band, the Tragically Hip. That's right the man who sings for one of my favorite bands. I was geeked. This is the one I wanted, not Cuba Gooding, although that would have been good, Gord Downie. Sweet. I will leave this long post with a pic of me and Gord. Cory is over there at the Brush with Greatness picture of the week.
Messier Jersey Retirement one on Vimeo
Messier Jersey Retirement two on Vimeo
