NHL All-Star Madness: Period 2- Skinner Signing & Red Carpet ~ east coast sports chick

After the events of Thursday and Friday got us all amped up, we set out to continue the madness on day 3 of 4. The Caniac Girl Trio got reduced to duo with a sudden bout of sickness, but we managed to keep the excitement level just as high with our red carpet plans just hours away! Now that we had time, daylight, and gorgeous weather, we took the opportunity to see what was going on at the booths lining Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh. There was an outdoor rink set up that alternated between youth hockey groups making appearances and being open for guests to skate throughout the day. Local vendors, crafts, a beer garden, and plenty of fried stuff were out there, too. We wore our Skinner All-Star shirts to support our baby Cane, but also because we knew he’d be at one of the player appearance locations for autographs at noon. We got to the line (which was already pretty long) around 10:45a, and attendants started warning people just behind us that they may not make it to the booth within the hour. The wait honestly wasn’t that bad as we chatted with the Caniac couple in front of us about the team, our season, favorite players, previous All-Star experiences, upcoming Cool Bars… there was a lot of time to kill, but at least we were surrounded by fun, friendly hockey-loving people! Just before our new friends in front of us got to the young one, he took a phone call which seemed to last forever, but finally our turn had come. He was very sweet & humble as he thanked us for our congratulations and signed our shirts. First mission of the day: accomplished!

After grabbing a quick lunch, focused on our only other mission for the day, we decided to forgo the rest of the downtown festivities to grab a close spot at the RBC Center red carpet event. After recovering from the shock of paying $20 to park where we normally do for $10, we snagged a spot right behind the rail and proceeded to wait for the next 2.5 hours for things to get started. A band from a local military base kept us entertained and was later joined by mascots from around the league, who, in all honesty, were very amusing. We were starting to get over the reflexive anger at the sight of rival jerseys/logos at this point after being around them so much the past 2 days. (All-Star weekend = condensed prolonged exposure therapy? Psych & hockey worlds colliding!)

Two and a half hours later, looking back toward the buses when the boys arrived, I realized how big the crowd was and how extravagant the event had gotten. What I expected to be a short runway for the guys to walk down rather quickly as they went right into the RBC Center had turned into a full on 90 min broadcast including multiple stops for interviews, pictures, and plenty of time for autographs! Greatly exceeded my expectations, especially of player/fan interaction, and was possibly one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had, being literally about a foot away from these amazing athletes. It didn’t quite hit me as I was standing there holding a puck while Danny Briere signed it for a Flyers fan 2 people deep behind me or taking pictures of Mike Green and Jonathan Toews (my non-Canes hockey crushes) having to lean back a little to get them in frame, because they were so close… it wasn’t until after we got home, calmed down a little, and uploaded the pictures that I realized what had just happened. Hell, I still don’t know that I’ve fully grasped it yet! The shock and excitement kept me up till 3a, scrolling through pictures and rewatching the event (which I had thought enough ahead to DVR!), which did not bode well for my energy level on Sunday. I knew the giddy energy would take over, and I could recover on Monday, though!

Here are the guys! (Ladies, if you ever doubted that hockey players could be hot with all the fighting, broken noses, etc, scroll through these pics and get back to me…)