Meeting Bret in Germany

May 13, 2001 by Oliver Wockenfuss

This year I was lucky enough to see some world class icehockey in my hometown of Hannover / Germany because the Icehockey World Championships took place there. I bought a combo ticket for both the semifinals, the game for 3rd place and the final game. That gave me the opportunity to see Bret Hedican, my favorite NHL player, playing live in two games. After the semifinals were finished (where Team USA unfortunately lost to Suomi), I immediately went to the hotel where Team USA and Team Sweden were staying. I waited in front of the hotel for the players' arrival. After half an hour, the first player arrived. It was Mr. Hedican. I went over to him and introduced myself. Inspite of having lost the game, Bret Hedican was so nice to me. I told him that he played a good game, which was actually true, and asked him for an autograph. He proposed to personalize (a Trading Card) for me. Unfortunately I only had a card picturing him in a Canucks jersey but he told me that such things doesn't matter for him. We shook hands and walked into the hotel.

After 20 minutes and several other players, he came out of the hotel again. I approached him one more time and asked him if he knew whether Rick DiPietro will be coming out soon or not. He was still very helpfull and told me that Rick went to bed earlier. Then he also went to bed.
After that experience with Bret Hedican, I can just say that all NHL players should be as nice and friendly as Bret is.
I also met some players of Team Sweden and I have to say that they were much more unfriendly. They had also lost but I don't think that this is a reason for a player like Tommy Salo to be so unkind. I asked him for an autograph and he told me that he is not Salo. This behavior is not right because I was the only fan waiting for autographs.

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