Hallowed Hockey House in the 'Hood - Pt. 2

7:01

The place is packed on Wayne Gretzky Tribute Night, and of the jersey-wearing throngs, half are sporting Team Canada jerseys and the rest Gretzky jerseys. Lots of Oilers, lots of Kings, a few Rangers. No St. Louis Gretzky jerseys, though; an episode the Great One and his fans are likely equally eager to forget.

7:30

Opening act speakers include Lanny McDonald, Grant Fuhr and a surprisingly funny and talkative Kevin Lowe. Gretzky is ushered quietly to a table in the VIP area, where he signs autographs and appears to tear up just bit as the video screen displays some career highlights. Lots of those to choose from.

7:45

Wayne makes his way backstage, and the energy in the room builds. He comes out to a great roar, and has a sit-down chat with an interviewer. He precedes the chat by encouraging the audience to not scream for a few minutes while they chat. For the most part, we oblige.

7:52

Wayne discloses some good tidbits about the opening ceremonies hydraulic lift failure at the Torch-lighting ceremony. He said that he had heard so much talk in the media about some big surprise that might be part of the ceremony, he wasn't sure if this was maybe part of something that he didn't know was going to happen. They torch bearers all had in-ear communication, and Wayne thought to himself, "Oh-oh,", when he heard the producer say, "Is there any way we can hand-crank that thing?"

8:15

After even more autograph signings, the Great One is escorted out. We all return to our regularly-scheduled eating and drinking. Some around me have taken that open-bar opportunity a little to seriously!

9:00

Back to the Saskatchewan Pavilion for some great rock music by Saskatoon's Ultimate Power Duo. We sure do have some great up and coming bands in our province - more on that tomorrow...

/Les at the Pavilion