TAMPA, FL – The rains played nice and held off just long enough for fans to press in for a glimpse of the blue-chip hockey greats as they paraded in their tailored suits down a short red section of Old Water Street Sunday afternoon.
“It’s my first time on the red carpet,” said the Sabres’ Jack Eichel. To hear and to see all these fans like this is really exciting. Good times!”
“This is my 5th time on the red carpet,” said recent Stanley Cup champ Sidney Crosby. It’s as exciting as ever to see all these fans and be a part of all this.”
PHN was fortunate to get a second chance to talk to two returning All Stars. In 2016 at the Nashville All Star game, we spoke with hometown goalie Pekka Rinne and then- Predator James Neal.
“It’s awesome that all these fans showed up,” said Rinne. “I’m very fortunate to get to do things like this. It’s pretty special.”
“It’s fun and an honor to be here,” said Neal. “It’s exciting to be representing my new team the Vegas Golden Knights. Some of the fans are actually here!”
During that 2016 All Star weekend in Nashville a star was born; John Scott became the darling of the hockey world for a few glorious days and drove off into the sunset in a new SUV that Gary Bettman had to present him the keys for after the NHL tried to ban him from contention as MVP. This year the sentimental favorite was of course New Jersey Devils’ Brian Boyle, whose brave decision to continue to play through cancer treatment has won him the admiration of hockey fans everywhere, especially in Tampa where he played for 2 1/2 seasons before being traded at deadline in 2017.
“It’s just great to be back in Tampa,” said Boyle. “To see all the support I still have from the fans here, it’s just amazing.”
And if there was a antagonist to be named at the games it would certainly have to be Brad Marchand, who competed as an All Star despite having just begun a 5-game suspension – his 6th “time out” of his career. Marchand did a remarkable job hamming it up for fans at the Skills Competition and on the Red Carpet, perhaps trying to regain some obviously lost popularity and get his nose out of the corner with the fans.
“Well, they love me if I’m on their team,” quipped Marchand as he took out his phone and took a short video of us. I wonder if it will ever be released.
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