We had a pretty jam packed weekend go by, so I’m just getting around to my thoughts on the 2006 NHL Draft that took place in Vancouver on Saturday. In a sense, I think we were milking the very last ounce of hockey goodness before summer takes full effect. Regardless, for $5, this event was well worth the time and very little money it took to get in. The frosty beverages were still outrageously over priced.
Granted that I could have really used my binoculars to see him, but I saw Gretzky[wiki]. He came on stage to announce their pick in the first round, and that’s when it hit me. All the way up in the second level of GM Place, I realized that all these guys walking around in suits were not just the business of hockey, but very important people in the history of the game.
Gary Bettman[wiki] is a real human being, not just some CGI character that the NHL brings on the TV from time to time. The same goes for Wayne Gretzky. He’s real, too, albeit from a distance. And Ovechkin[wiki] is really from Russia because his accent made it really difficult to understand the name he announced when the Capitols sent him up on stage to do the honors. Without all his hockey gear on, he seemed just like a happy go lucky kid, just bouncing around from corner to corner of floor. The trophies the players get are very, very real, and are some of the most impressive pieces of hockey history that I have come into contact with yet.
After the Canucks made their pick in the first round, over half of the place cleared out. It made sense being that the next pick for the local favorites wouldn’t be coming again until the third round. We made our way towards some seats closer to the floor until we were directly behind one of the benches. We were just off to the side from the families of these young players that were being swept off to their dreams.
It was really exciting to hear when players were being traded along with swapping draft picks. People were screaming for some teams to pick this guy, trade some one from this team to that team, etc. It made the announcements of teams swapping fourth round picks for sixth round picks seem boring.
I did quite a bit of recording for the podcast, so I don’t want to get into too much detail. There’s a lot more that speaks for itself there that documents the experience. Rebecca already made her post and you can check out some pics on my Flickr as well as hers. Might be some duplicates, but oh well, that happens.
Overall, it was a really good time. There were high points and long points. By the end of the night, the die hards were all that were left. I don’t know if that includes us, but we stuck it out till the very end.