During Media Day, Oilers TV (the in-house production team for the Edmonton
Oilers) came up and asked me for an interview. Some other camera crew
came up to me and asked me to describe a bobble head of Drew Doughty
wearing a cowboy hat and playing his hockey stick like a guitar. I have no
idea what that was all about.
I then continued to interview
several more players before
heading out, including David
Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins,
Gabriel Landeskog of the Colorado
Avalanche, Andrei Vasilevskiy of
the Tampa Bay Lightning, Patrick
Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks,
and Auston Mathews of the Toronto
Maple Leafs.
By now you’d think the day was over, but I still had one more thing left to
do. We headed over to Fan Fest for the last shoot of the day. At Fan
Fest, I shot the most “talkative” interview I’ve ever done with the
mascots Gritty and SJSharkie.
First, I interviewed the host mascot, SJSharkie. He was
very funny and interactive. One of the things he did was
pick me up and walk all over the place. Another
question that I asked was if he was planning
to eat anyone at All-Star weekend, and he
pointed to me.
Next up, I interviewed the troublemaker of
the NHL, Gritty. He was very good, but we
had to cut because a man kept getting in
the background of the shot.
Gritty went over to him and gave him crap,
just like you would expect Gritty to do. Both
mascot interviews were very fun, and it
was probably one of the favorite segments
I’ve ever done. That marked the end of day
one.
The next day was my biggest day yet - it was red carpet day. As soon as I
arrived, some people recognized me and were shouting my name whenever
I walked by.
The first person I ran into at the red carpet was Jon Root, the San Jose
Sharks in-arena host. He was serving as the host at media day and on the
red carpet, announcing the players as they arrived. We took two pictures
together - one normal and one funny – which he posted on social media.
As we were about to shoot my red carpet intro, I heard a group of boys with
Sharks jerseys on shouting my name, so I headed their way and they asked
me a few questions. They were extremely nice and wanted to keep talking,
but I had to get back and shoot my introduction.
Once we shot the introduction, it wasn’t long until the players started
arriving. Most of the players returning from
last year recognized me. Some players were
even waiting in lines for an interview with
me. Sadly, some players were forced to
move on and I didn’t have a chance to talk
to them. The interviews I got were pretty
fun and memorable, though.
I discussed investment strategy with Henrik
Lundqvist of the New York Rangers, and
Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers
agreed to let me manage his money!
I learned that the most famous person on Steven Stamkos’ (of the Tampa
Bay Lightning, of course!) Phone is Wayne Gretzky, and that his phone
number apparently has a lot of 9’s in it.
I found out that Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators is better looking, a
better dancer, and does pretty much everything better than PK Subban. Oh,
and, I got a lot of the players (and Coach Cooper) to do the ‘floss’ with
me on the red carpet!
After the players finished coming through, I just had to shoot a quick
closer, and I was done! With my work complete, I could relax and
enjoy the rest of the weekend. We headed back to the hotel for a
quick change before returning to SAP Center to enjoy the skills
competition.
Saturday was completely free, so we headed over
to Fan Fest to check out the fun and interactive
exhibits. We did a little souvenir shopping, grabbed
lunch, and then headed back to the arena for the
All Star Games.
This year was a lot more work than last year, but it
was also a lot more fun. It was great to see some
of the players again, and many of them are getting
to know me. It was a new experience to have fans
recognize me on the street, too. Some even asked
me to stop and take pictures with them! I’m so
thankful that I had this opportunity. Who
knows, maybe they’ll ask me to come back
next year, too? I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
Editors comment:
I have witnessed some of the biggest NHL stars in the
league go out of their way to seek Wyatt out when they see
him. This past summer we were all at a media meet and
greet at Florida Hospital Center Ice covering a camp that
the NHLers were participating in, the biggest star there
turned out to be Wyatt Ross. From Patrick Kane to Auston
Matthews they all came over to talk to him. Giving him the
first interview and posing for pictures with him.
Wyatt( 10 years old) has a bright future ahead of him which
ever direction he chooses. We here at Florida Hockey Life
Magazine wish Wyatt as the best and are thankful that he
finds time to write these interesting articles for us.
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