Hanging out with the Canucks

Imagine that one morning you are told you get to not only meet the Vancouver Canucks, but also play Nintendo Wii, hang out, and eat dinner with them the next evening for charity? Imagine that happening to a girl who has been a hardcore Canucks fan since 1989, who was there at the games in the '94 playoff run, who still to this day loves her team very much despite all the heartaches. Well, it happened to me. (heads up - this is going to be a long post).

Through the kindness of others, I attended the Sports Celebrity for Charity Gala supported by the Canucks that raises money for the Special Olympics. It's truly a wonderful event where you get to interact with the players, bid on an auction, and then break bread with some amazing athletes. An incredibly worthy cause, and the Canucks organization is commended for supporting it. A big hand should go to the players too who show up with such enthusiasm and spend much of the day with a special needs child. This year, my (former) crush Mason Raymond was the spokesperson.

My first thought was, what do I wear?? I pulled out my Herve Leger bandage dress, boyfriend jacket, and some sky-high platform booties. Classic quilted Chanel bag on my arm.

And from my pictures, you can see the Chanel wasn't the only piece of arm candy I had ;). My friend Kat (@KatArnett) said it was just like Hump Day Hunks, but in real life!

Below: It's Peanut Butter Burrows time!! Really happy Alex is back in the lineup, and even more happy he's standing here with me

The evening started off with some Wii-ing (is that a word?) with Mason and Jeff Tambellini. Mase and Jeff were both really sweet.

Above: Mason and I after our game of Wii

Below: Jeff Tambellini playing Wii Archery with intensity

I got my official pictures taken with Ryan Kesler and Kevin Bieksa, then Henrik and his two trophies, and finally with Lu and Mase. I apologize I don't have these pictures scanned yet but I'll do another post with them. Ryan was a lot of fun to be around - I tried to convince him to get teammate Alex Burrows on Twitter but with no success.

One of the funnest things I did was play table hockey against Swedish defenseman Alex Edler. I was worried that I would suck, but then I ended up beating him. I couldn't stop smiling. =)

Below: I love how Alex is smiling here!


Below: This is definitely my fave picture, with Alex Edler

For dinner, the celebrity guest at our table was Peter Schaefer. He was really funny and had lots of entertaining stories to tell. I have some funny group pictures of our table with Peter and Raffi Torres.

One of my highlights of the night was getting to know Danish forward Jannick Hansen a little more. I really enjoyed our conversation, and I really hope he flourishes this year on the third line because he really deserves it.

Below: Really glad I got this picture with Ryan at the end of the night

Below: Ryan Kesler

Below: BC native Dan Hamhuis

Not pictured here but I also met Sami Salo and Alex Bolduc. Sami looked good and I tried my best not to unintentionally hurt him.

All in all, it was an incredible night, and I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to attend.