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October 19, 2002
OTP Crew Interviewed on CBC
By Matt Petersen
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EDMONTON -- Greetings from the northernmost stop of
the trip, and I feel silly now for griping about the
cold in Calgary. Standing outside the Skyreach Centre
makes Calgary feel like Palm Springs. But that didn’t
stop some of the faithful from walking around in short
sleeves and mocking the Californians for wearing
mittens (hint, hint: yours truly).
For the second game in a row we were seeing the
Bruins, and for the second game in a row we saw a
bunch of Bruin jerseys, although not as many as in
Calgary. Edmonton had such a different feel than
anywhere we’ve been so far. The seats were completely
full (the Oilers went into the contest 1-2-1-0), the
fans were loud, and we were in the best seats we’ve
sat in -- 11th row at the elbow, hanging over the ice.
Unfortunately, the fans weren’t rewarded for their
passionate showing. The “Oil” lost out after coming
back from a sloppy start (falling behind 2-0), and
tying the game in the third period with only five
minutes remaining. Minutes later however, Boston
rookie leftwing Ivan Huml deposited a slapper past
shaky netminder Tommy Salo from the nearside slot for
the win.
Taking advantage of our choice seats, the three of us
headed down to the lower club level for some chow
after the first intermission. Joe, fresh off his
moratorium of eating game food, gobbled down a sausage
and a Coke for the friendly sum of 7 bucks Canadian. I
had a rubbery cheeseburger, and garlic fries (not bad)
along with a Coke for roughly 12 bucks. By far the
most reasonable fare of the trip. We sat in the myriad
of tables and seats on the level, and absolutely
stressed about our engagement with the Hockey Night in
Canada folks after the game.
That’s right, Jeff and I were requested for the post
game show in the belly of the arena, and were a little
nervous. We were to be interviewed by post-game guys
Scott Russell and (former Shark
and King goalie) Kelly Hrudey and that meant instant
publicity for the film and the site. So we were a
little sick with anticipation. After getting nasty
looks by the staff and some of the players (Jeff and I
were in our jerseys), we followed Oiler forward Anson
Carter for the final segment of the show.
Everything went great in the beginning. I made a goofy
remark that the Sharks haven’t had a goalie worth a
darn since Hrudy, and Jeff talked about his times
going to games as a kid. Long story short, we didn’t
plug the site (it was item number one on the to do
list!), and we felt like fools.
The hiccup didn’t take away from our time in Edmonton,
albeit short lived. The people were fantastic, and it
was a an exclusive spot on the map that we were
anticipating getting to from the outset. Sitting in
the house that Gretzky built was a thrill, and they
had amazing photo’s from the team’s glory days hung
all over the place.
It’s too bad we’re about to leave Canada. Even though
we’ll be back, the experience we’ve had here is why
the trip was conceived in the first place. There is a
very unique feel to going to a hockey game in Canada.
Maybe it’s the chill. Off to (equally cold) Minnesota,
home of the Wild...
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as they embark on their quest to set a World Record
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CBC Interview
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