Alfie's 1000th game

The term "warrior" can figuratively be describes as "a person who shows or has shown great vigor, courage, or aggressiveness, as in politics or athletics".

Does everyone cheer for Daniel Alfredsson? Well, not if you're a Leafs fan. But, those that are a part of Sens Army know that even though there are haters out there, Daniel Alfredsson will always be a warrior.

Through the end of the 2009-2010 season, there were only 250 players that have played 1000 NHL games in their career. Daniel Alfredsson became number 251. However, only the 44th to accomplish the feat having played all of his games with a single team.

On April 10th, 2010, after playing his 1000th game on the road, a celebration occurred in the Senators first home game back. There was to be a special ceremony held before the game to commemorate the event.

Diane and I headed to the arena and met up with my sister to see if we could catch some of the players as they arrived at the arena. There was only one player left on the team that I hadn't met yet, but I really didn't expect him to stop. It was Chris Neil, and he was almost always one of the first players to arrive.

There were five of us waiting before the game and it was a gorgeous day. For some reason Neil was late to show up. Was he playing that night? Maybe he was going to be scratch and we wouldn't see him show up at all. A few players began showing up. Pascal Leclaire was nice enough to stop and sign for the others waiting. I didn't have anything for him to sign. After a few other players drove by, Neil showed up.....and stopped!!!! Wow, I couldn't believe it. I heard he had gotten a lot worse than he was before. He was nice enough to sign a couple of photos for me and let me take a picture with him.

It was great finally meeting Chris Neil, but we were all waiting for Alfie. Soon enough, a camera man came outside to wait for Alfie as well. This was great news because I knew Alfie would stop for sure. If he didn't, he would look like a total jerk on television. Sure enough, he stopped and signed and took pictures as well.

After all the players arrived, we headed to the Local Heroes located in the Scotiabank Place. When we walked into the arena, we looked at the seats and saw that each seat had been decked out with a "Alfie 1000th game" t-shirt.

I must say that the arena pretty awesome with everyone wearing the same colour shirt. It made me feel like we were in a playoff game. I really wish the Sens would pony up and give everyone a shirt for a playoff game a la Pittsburgh Penguins "white out". It makes the stadium look amazing.

The game had a great atmosphere. When the Sens took the ice, they all had their own number on their sleave, but all wore #11 on their backs. It was quite the site. Alfie's number was all over the arena... on the boards.... behind the net. Everywhere.

After a bit of game time, a special guest was shown on the jumbo screen. Olympic athlete and double medalist from the 2010 Vancouver game, Kristina Groves, was at the game! Those of you who know me know that I had to try and grab a picture with her. It wasn't hard at all. I went down to the 100 level and went near the box she was in and, much the same way with Gordie Howe, there was a small lineup beside the box for pictures and autographs. I didn't have anything for her to sign, but I got my picture with her.

Later in the game, my sister called me and told me that they had showed Cuba Gooding Jr. on the big screen. If you read my last blog entry, you know that I have already met him, but I figured I would try and find him and see if I could get a second picture with him. I quickly spotted him in a suite at centre ice in the 100 level. He was sitting his his bodyguard and stunt double. Unfortunately, they showed him on the jumbo screen also, and that was the end of me being able to get a picture with him. Now that everyone knew where he was sitting, it would be very hard to get near him.

I figured we should try anyways. We headed down to the 100s again to see if Cuba was in his box. Sure enough, he was....but, I did get a picture with this guy who happened to be in the same section.
Now, why is there a border around this photo you ask? Well, that would be because his people don't allow you to take a picture with your own camera. There is a photographer with him and you must then e-mail the person with the photo number they provide you, and ask for the photo.

Perhaps the best part of meeting the prime minister was seeing the look on his bodyguard's face when he asked Diane if she wanted a photo also and she told him no way.

It was a great game, unfortunately the Sens lost, but the game will be remembered more for the celebration that happened before the game.

Alfie is a true warrior and I hope he has many more games in him.

Sacrifice

In order to meet athletes, it is necessary to do one of the following: wait before or after a game, go to a practice, or go to the hotel the players are staying at. All of those things require time. Now, when waiting for other celebrities, there is no time frame. You could be waiting for hours and hours, or you could meet them with little waiting at all. Take the following as proof.

For those that are unaware, there is a movie being filmed in Ottawa called Sacrifice. It stars Cuba Gooding Jr. as a cop who gets involved in a dangerous heroin ring. It also has a cameo appearance by Christian Slater.

Now, I don't know if you know, but A-list celebrities don't usually come to Ottawa. I can only recall a few times over the course of my life where a movie has been filmed here. Most notably, a movie starring Pierce Brosnan was filmed in Gatineau. That being said, I had to try and meet these guys.

I headed down to the market where they were filming on Friday. More specifically, they were filming at St. Brigid's. This used to be a church but is now used as an Irish Community Centre. They were to film a scene outside involving a burning statue of the virgin Mary. I had already printed a few pictures of Cuba Gooding Jr., but had yet to get any of Christian Slater. I met up with my buddy Steve who told me that he would give me a picture to get signed if I tried to get one signed for him as well. If he only signed one, I could keep it. No problem. I arrived at around 4:30pm and met up with Steve who decided he should go and move his car in order to avoid a parking ticket. Within two minutes of him leaving, Christian Slater exited the church and walked to his trailer. I quickly walked across the street and asked if I could get a photo with him. "Sure buddy, no problem."

After Steve came back I decided it was best if he passed me the two pictures just in case something similar happened again. Within about a half an hour, Mr. Slater came back out of his trailer to go back inside to shoot. One problem - it was slightly raining. This is not good for photos, autographs, and in his case, costumes. Therefore, he quickly signed one photo for Steve and told us he was sorry but had to hurry inside. However, within an hour or so, the rain had stopped and Mr. Slater happen to come back outside and head to his trailer again. I can honestly say that he is one of the most down to earth guys I have ever met - especially for an actor. This time he had no problem signing Steve's other photo and my two photos. This is the one that I chose to keep.

Now, Friday wasn't a very warm day. After a great Easter weekend, it felt like winter again here in Ottawa. We thought it would be best to sit in the car and wait to see if Cuba would show up. We weren't sure if he was to be on set that day, but from the description of the scene, we assumed it was important enough for him to be there. Sure enough, around 7:00pm he arrived. A black SUV pulled up right beside his trailer, threw on its 4-ways, and out he popped. Steve and I ran outside to go meet him, but he had already headed into his trailer.

There were four of us that were waiting for Cuba to come out. One guy was pretty cool and then there was this other guy who felt the need to tell everyone who asked what was happening that Cuba was in his trailer and that we were waiting for him. Sure enough, the number of people waiting grew. We were now up to 9 people waiting. The director then decided it was time to tell us that we couldn't bother Mr. Gooding. I had the feeling that if we were still just four people that we would've been fine. When Cuba came out, we let him walk right by us and respected the wishes of the staff, even though he took his time and talked with some of the people that were hanging around the set including Kenny B from Hot 89.9.

It was now dark outside. Gun shots could be heard coming from inside the church and it was really cool to see how some of the things on set were run. After a few hours, Cuba came back out, jumped into the black SUV, drove about 20 feet to his trailer and got out and headed inside. Unbelievable. One of the ladies on set told us that he was getting ready to film the climax of the movie and that it was his wish to have that happen.

After another hour or so, he came out of his trailer and headed back into the church. We then though it was time to head to the other side of the church to see the scene being filmed. It was a bit tough to hear what was being said, but I found it really cool that a movie was being filmed right in front of us.

After the scene was done being filmed, both Cuba and Christian headed across the street to where everyone was watching and took pictures with everyone. It was cool to get photos with both actors in costume.
Unfortunately, Cuba didn't sign any autographs and headed back around the church to his trailer. Steve and I decided to follow him and waited outside. His stunt double Tierre came out after a little bit (one of the coolest guys on set), and told us that Cuba wouldn't be signing and that he had signed enough. We told him that he hadn't signed at all for us. Tierre took a photo from each of us and went into the trailer. He almost immediately came back out and said that Cuba was on the phone and that he didn't want to bother him. He appologized and gave us back our pictures.

Its amazing how similar Cuba and Tierre look.

After a few minutes Cuba came out and told us sorry and that he was done for the day. I quickly said please and that he hadn't signed for us at all. He asked if I was sure that I hadn't gotten an autograph in the last two days. I was sure. I told him he could even write to Brian if he was afraid I was going to try and sell the photo. He came to me and signed my photo and immediately left without signing for the other two guys. I was very fortunate that it turned out as good as it did.
We ended up being on the set for nearly 9 hours, but I can't wait to see the movie now that I have had the experience of seeing it being filmed and meeting the actors. I can't wait for it to come out next year!