HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2017-03-22, Page 44 Huron Expositor • Wednesday. March 22. 2017
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Seaforth been a die-hard LA fan
Huron Expositor Since Gretzky played in 88'
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Government of Canada.
n 1988, 1 was a young blond
haired hellion of a toddler
playing with mini -sticks, I
don't think I could ice skate at
the time, yet those incapabili-
ty's didn't stop me from devel-
oping an addiction to hockey;
what a time it was when the
Great One morphed from
orange and blue to California's
lone NHL franchise.
This trade changed U.S.
hockey forever. On Aug 9,
Wayne Gretzky, Marty McSor-
ley (Gretzky's body guard) and
Mike Krushelnyski were sent to
the Los Angeles Kings in
exchange for Jimmy Carson,
Martin Gelinas, and according
to several media sources $15
million in cash.
As well, a slew of King's first
round picks were given up.
The trade will go down as the
most blockbuster deal in NHL
history.
I'm guessing it must have
caused a stir in the Canadian
media because the attention
inspired me to become a King's
fan and I've been one ever
since.
So yes, we won the Stanley
Cup in 2012 and again in 2014
for all those calling me a band-
wagon jumper, you can sim-
mer those comments down to
a dull roar, I've been a fan
since 1988.
What a suiting era to win the
championship, my Daughter
Gay was born in 2012 and my
wild brazen son Grayson
entered the world the same
year they hoisted their second
Cup in three seasons.
Is it weird and a little hockey
obsessive that I remember my
children's year of birth through
those roads to glory?
It's been a rough journey for
us since then, currently the
boys in black and grey are six
points out of the wild card with
12 games left in the season, if
we don't start a streak now our
hopes for the playoffs are slim.
To succour our chances,
we've added future Mall of
Column
Shaun Gregory
Famer, Jarome Iginla to the
line-up and the neat part is
that he has decided to wear
No. 88 in his rst game to hon-
our Gretzsky who was traded
that year.
Great, right Shaun?
Actually this would be all ne
and dandy, however Iggy and
myself go way back, about a
decade ago to be exact when
the goal -scoring scraper wore
the C for the Calgary Flames.
I guess you can say we have
unsettled business.
is is when I packed a hockey
bag full of clothes and jumped
on a Greyhound and drove
halfway across the coun- try to
enjoy a life in the Rocky Moun-
tains of Ban , Alb.
It was a usual weekend for
my friends and I who were
from Australia, Quebec, and
other parts of Ontario. Banff is
a tourist town, so several peo-
ple travel there to work and
snow- board. We decided we
would take the house party to
our favourite bar.
e bouncers were all our
friends, which meant we rarely
paid cover charges.
In the bar we mingled and
for some reason that night it
was rather busy, the place was
packed.
Inside the establishment,
there were pool tables and the
one and only punching
machine, this amazing piece of
equipment measures how hard
you can allegedly punch.
With a few brews in us and
egos in full e ect seeing as we
were all in our early 20's, we
wanted to see who had the
hardest punch.
My friend Manny always
beat us and that day didn't
change the outcome; he
smoked us, to my recollection
he scored an 800, which is
pretty high. He knew how to hit
the machine so perfect and he
weighed more than us, that's
my excuse for always losing to
him.
A couple of older gentleman
joined in the fun, the machine
was pelted left and right.
Laughing and telling jokes with
our new friends, we all had
drinks and repeatedly punched
and punched.
The bar was in the basement
with not many windows and
most nights were rather dim.
I decided to use the restroom
and our new friends did the
same.
The bathroom was probably
the most lit; this is when I
could see these new friends a
lot better. To my surprise, I
looked at one of the guys, "hey
you're Jarome Iginla."
He chuckled and replied,
"Yeah I get that all the time."
We went back to the bar and
had a couple drinks and kept
»the punching consistent.
I could not stop looking at
him and I think the people at
the bar started to notice as
well. Now people were taking
pictures and circling around
us. I looked at him said, "dude
you're Jerome."
He then admitted to me who
he was and that he just wanted
to have fun and keep it quiet.
And of course, I respected
his decision, celebrities are
just people. They bleed the
same blood as we do.
As the drinks progressed, I
guess we thought we were best
friends with the man who sits
34th for all-time points in the
NHL.
Iginla may have been a stud
of a hockey player and a per-
son always willing to drop the
gloves, but the punching
machine wasn't one of his
strong suits. We all beat him,
almost every time at that. And I
could tell it was bothering him,
my friend Manny didn't make
it any better, after realizing that
he was competing with a
superstar, he would scream
every time after beating him,
"oh ya, beat you again Jarome."
As the night unfolded Iggy's
appreciation of our company
was dwindling. He ended up
taking his frustrations out on
me. At the time I wore big hats.
I don't remember how it
, played out but Iggy and I
started talking back in forth
and he startlingly poked fun at
how big my hat was. Long story
short, voices were raised and I
was thrown out the bar. Well,
that's my celebrity story. Sign-
ing out on this beautiful Sun-
day afternoon, Shaun, AKA the
guy who forgives Jarome Iginla
and hopes we can move on
from that episode, and wants
to welcome Iggy to the Kings.
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