Penguin sighting at Walmart

[Grave77Digger 1]

This is pretty cool. My wife and I were out at Toys R Us trying to find some stuff for my 2 year old. After walking around the store for an hour (30 minutes of it was me playing Guitar Hero ) we decided to just go to Walmart in Robinson. We are wandering around the toy section when my keenly trained ears hear a couple walking past behind me chatting. I hear a strangley familiar french canadien accent and I whirl around in time to see a rather nice looking dark haired girl trailing a taller guy in a hat pulled down low. At this point my hockey senses are a buzz... I look at my wife all crazied eyed wondering if she had heard or seen what i saw. She looks up at my like "what the hells wrong with you!?". I push her out of my way and stick my head around the corner... I see a really tall lanky dude dressed all preppy as hell. He makes a left turn into a back room where they are selling Christmas decorations. At this point I had no confirmation on who it was but I was pretty damn sure I knew. My wife thinks im going crazy at this point and im like... "Did you see the couple that just walked by? Did you hear the accents?" She was oblivious. Not only was she oblivious but everyone else in the store who saw them didnt have a clue. I tell my wife that I think MA Fleury just walked past us... But we needed to confirm it! We were both too damn star struck to go poke our heads in the room to see, so we stood there like idiots waiting for them to pop back out and then sure enough... it emerged... The Soul Patch... in all its glory.

My wife does what any young married woman would do and says "O my GAWD HEs SO FREEKIN HAWT!1!11". I look around in disbelief... could this be possible? Doesnt anyone have a freaking clue who this is? He wanders over to the posters and starts flipping through them with a christmas wreath in hand. He looked as though he was looking for a poster of himself. All the while this is happening people are walking past him lost in there little shopping haze. I jump on my phone and call my friends and tell them whats going on. There like "Duuude! you gotta get his autograph!" Then it dawns on me... im wearing my black Penguins Reebok practice jersey! My wife is begging me to go get his autograph but I just couldnt do it... Im a grown man... im not going to go up to some dude and his woman and have him sign my chest! To quote Brashear "Thats Gay!". We basicly followed them around the store waiting for somone to recognize him and it NEVER happened. I made eye contact with him while he was inline hoping he would come over seeing my Pens jersey but it never happened. I think the only other person who recognized him was the guy standing behind him in line. That accent is a dead give away.

Thats my story and im sticking to it.

[DarkStar50 679]

The coolest thing you did was not ask him for the autograph. He gets to have a normal day out and you still get the memory.

[hockeyshmockey10 0]

should have made your wife get the jersey signed, but she might have left with him

[Patrick67 1]

hockeyshmockey10: LOL

[cbettner66 0]

This is pretty cool. My wife and I were out at Toys R Us trying to find some stuff for my 2 year old. After walking around the store for an hour (30 minutes of it was me playing Guitar Hero ) we decided to just go to Walmart in Robinson. We are wandering around the toy section when my keenly trained ears hear a couple walking past behind me chatting. I hear a strangley familiar french canadien accent and I whirl around in time to see a rather nice looking dark haired girl trailing a taller guy in a hat pulled down low. At this point my hockey senses are a buzz... I look at my wife all crazied eyed wondering if she had heard or seen what i saw. She looks up at my like "what the hells wrong with you!?". I push her out of my way and stick my head around the corner... I see a really tall lanky dude dressed all preppy as hell. He makes a left turn into a back room where they are selling Christmas decorations. At this point I had no confirmation on who it was but I was pretty damn sure I knew. My wife thinks im going crazy at this point and im like... "Did you see the couple that just walked by? Did you hear the accents?" She was oblivious. Not only was she oblivious but everyone else in the store who saw them didnt have a clue. I tell my wife that I think MA Fleury just walked past us... But we needed to confirm it! We were both too damn star struck to go poke our heads in the room to see, so we stood there like idiots waiting for them to pop back out and then sure enough... it emerged... The Soul Patch... in all its glory.

My wife does what any young married woman would do and says "O my GAWD HEs SO FREEKIN HAWT!1!11". I look around in disbelief... could this be possible? Doesnt anyone have a freaking clue who this is? He wanders over to the posters and starts flipping through them with a christmas wreath in hand. He looked as though he was looking for a poster of himself. All the while this is happening people are walking past him lost in there little shopping haze. I jump on my phone and call my friends and tell them whats going on. There like "Duuude! you gotta get his autograph!" Then it dawns on me... im wearing my black Penguins Reebok practice jersey! My wife is begging me to go get his autograph but I just couldnt do it... Im a grown man... im not going to go up to some dude and his woman and have him sign my chest! To quote Brashear "Thats Gay!". We basicly followed them around the store waiting for somone to recognize him and it NEVER happened. I made eye contact with him while he was inline hoping he would come over seeing my Pens jersey but it never happened. I think the only other person who recognized him was the guy standing behind him in line. That accent is a dead give away.

Thats my story and im sticking to it.

i live in Beaver about and hour away and i had a similar thing happen - troy polumalu from the steelers was in cranberry at a pet store buying stuff for his dogs and he acted like he was just a normal guy shopping - most people didnt notice

also i was in a hotel in downtown pittsburgh - mariott and i guess the visiting hockey teams stay in that hotel?? anyways i was standing in the lobby then all of a sudden i saw this like 7 ft. tall guy walk in the room in a suit and he looked familiar. later on i realized it was andy sutton from atlanta - then soon some of the rest of the team started coming through the lobby - i saw the majority of the players from atlanta including hossa, kovalchuk, bob hartley and some others and i didnt talk to any of them.

there were other people in the lobby and they didnt even pay attention and didn't know who they were

i think thats why canadian hockey players love living in places like pittsburgh and other cities, they can go out in public down here and not be recognized/bothered, but they certainly can't do that up in canada.

thats what lemieux has always said he loves about pittsburgh - he can actually have his privacy.

[Flyerguy91 0]

ive got a similar story. Saw eric desjardins in subway 2 years ago when he had the broken ankle. I knew it was him for sure when i saw the crutches. My dad went over and said hi to him and told him i was a big fan of the flyers. He came over and shoke my hand and talked for a few then he headed out. pretty cool cat.

[TBLfan 25]

OMGWTFMAFBBQ!!!

*once again brought to you by gsbb, running joke on the board*

But anyway that's pretty cool.

[Chadd 916]

Joey Porter was in the same store a couple months ago grocery shopping with his wife and it turned into a zoo. They had to sneak him out the back door because people were following him everywhere.

[Chanimal 0]

I saw Brendon Morrison a couple of times, once in Whistler having dinner at the table next to us in Umberto's and another time in Harry Rosen. We were both shopping, I was on my lunch break, he was with his wife. I went up to him and just said hi. We had met several years ago when I was a freshman at Michigan. He attended a hockey team promo event at my dorm, Markley. When I saw him that day shopping, I showed him my class ring, and told him that I met him before back in AA, and wish him good luck with the rest of the season. He was a nice guy.

[JR Boucicaut 3791]

Mike Babcock was in the rink last week watching his kid skate, while he was on his laptop watching game film. Kids were pestering him for autographs - it was funny, because he was trying to cover up that lip bomb he had going...

[goobergo 0]

That's a great story, it's great that you left him alone. I can't imagine what some of those guys go through on a regular basis with crazy fans. On a side note my aunts' were at a bachelorette party in downtown denver years back and forsberg and deadmarsh came and sat at the table with them and just hung out. It goes to show that if you don't act stupid you realize they are just "normal...lol" people.

[KYHockey3 0]

my dad is good freinds with a guy who used to play college basketyball, then was drafted over michael jorden. well any ways, when hes at the college basketball games, kids and fans approach him and ask for autographs all the time. it seems annoying, especially when him and his kids are watching a game, but he doesnt seem to care. i guess he is used to it, but i would think all those autographs would be annoying after while

[Langenbrunner15 0]

I think it's classier to just say hello and start a small conversation with the player than the autograph..I think it makes the players to be at ease too. I've seen Elias, Madden, Danyko, Albelien, John McMullen maybe a few others a few times but haven't asked for an autograph. Although, i do have a few of their autographs, I feel much more pleased to have a converasation with them, and not just go out to get their autograph.

[jjtt99 0]

Autographs are passé. Now it's all about the photo! Now that would be an extra pain.

[AnthonyJTa 0]

that was pretty respectable of you. I ran into Corey Dillon at the mall nearby at a Sam Goody's... I spotted him in the store, and he eventually gets in line behind me, I nodded, and he just said "whats up, man?" like he wanted me to make a big fuss or something... instead, I just replied "Ah, not a lot... killing time on my lunch hour, you?" he was like "You know... the usual hustle & bustle" at THAT point, it was kind of hard to not chuckle. I pay, and turn out the store, and he just said "have a good one".

[JR Boucicaut 3791]

Yeah, just gotta be cool with them. Nick Lidstrom shops in my store all the time and once he bought a net. I looked at him and told him it would be a 4 beer job. He was like "Excuse me?" And I was like "It takes a couple of hours to string the net, it'll take you 4 beers to finish it off." He laughed and took the net - must've been driving the Escalade that day, no way he could fit that into the Continental GT.

[Smitty34 0]

I live in the bay area, and I've had a few Shark sitings.

I was at Safeway with my family, and for some reason, someone caught my eye. I turned around, and there at the other end of the isle was Vesa Toskala. I just looked at him, waived, and that was that...Very exciting.

Another time, I was at the movie theater, and I was wearing my Sharks jersey. What a coincidence that I ran into former Sharks color man, Drew Remenda. He actually saw us first and we had some conversation.

Most recently (a few years ago) I was sitting outside, waiting for a table at Outback Steakhouse to open up. I looked over just in time to see Tim Hunter walk inside. I didn't get any autographs ( I didn't want to bother Toskala or Hunter and I didn't come prepared with a pen or camera when I met Remenda). They memories are fun and everlasting though...that is what counts :) .

[Miserable 6]

I used to work at my uncle's gas station right near all of the stadiums in South Philly. I met tons of Flyers, Eagles, and Phillies. I never bothered them or made a big deal about them coming in since we wanted them to keep coming in. I usually wished them good luck in their season or something along those lines. Not a big autograph fan.

I think the biggest names I met where Eric Lindros and Reggie White. I was a little star struck by Reggie White, he came in while I had my back turned and asked for batteries. I turned around and there he was. I'm 6' and behind the counter is about 6" higher then in front of the counter and I still had to look up at him. Really big dude.

[flashgordon 0]

I had a doctor's appt on Monday morning, and before going into work after that I stopped into Just Hockey on Steels north of Toronto to get my skates profiled (long doctor's apointment ;)). As I'm walking around the store, I see another guy doing the same thing, presumably waiting for his skates as well. He's casually dressed (old jeans, running shoes, old sweatshirt) and looked like an average joe, only built like a truck. He's checking out the OPS, gloves, gear etc. He turns around and I am face to face with Paul Coffey. My brain didn't register at first, but I asked the shop guys and they confirmed it was him. I am not the type to bug a guy like that so I didn't talk to him. Others certainly did though, and he seemed really laid back and approachable. He was in fact waiting for his skates...I was tempted to ask "hey, where do you play? need and extra skater?". And as an aside, somehow I managed to leave the store not only with my skates, but with another new stick and a new pair of gloves as well.

[TheSnake22 0]

ive got a few from pittsburgh too... my brother is a manager at one the best jewelry store in the city and tons of steelers, penguins and pirates are in there all the time... hines ward, big ben, mario and his wife...

but the best story...

if you know mellon arena, there is an elevator that takes you from the bottom floor to the igloo club and to the press boxes. back about 5 or so years ago, right when mario was inducted into the hall of fame and before he made his comeback, im going to a game with my mother and we both step into the elevator to go up to the club and who is already in there but mario and this other short guy... my mom is about 4'11'' or 5 feet tall... mario is about 6'4'' off his skates... hilarious to see my mom looking up at him... she said hello and asked him about his time at the induction ceremony in toronto... he said he had a fun time and it was an honor and we got off on our floor... but the best part is that she completely ignored the other guy in the elevator, who just happened to be mike eruzione from the 80 olympic team... and not only that, we both knew had met him personally earlier in the year when he was the speaker at my high school hockey banquet, of which my mom is was the president of the club... she felt so bad that she didnt notice him that she wrote him a letter apologizing...

[KYHockey3 0]

lol....

dear mr eruzione ,

[saveourpens 0]

Dude, he's a regular guy. I hung out with Malkin's brother Dennis, really funny guy. If I'm lucky enough, I'll get to meet his little brother.

[sabre09923 0]

I've never, ever had the chance to see a pro outside of the rink... In fact, the closest I've ever came to seeing an actual pro anywhere was when I was at the game. Too bad, but hey, I don't exactly live in a suburb of Boston; I'm an hour away.

[Rustpot 1]

When Dino Ciccarelli (SP?) was on the Red Wings I'd see him driving out of the subdivision across the street where he lived. He didn't drive anything fancy

My girlfriend met Mike Illitch (Red Wings and Tigers owner) at a banquet of some kind

[cobrAA 0]

i was quiting the mcdonald parking lot here in Verdun( canadien pratice at the arena regulary.) arena is at 1 minute away from the mcdo. and who i see in his 4x4??

Benoit brunet! We both looked at each other and i was like... what the fuck i do? do i say hi or ask for something?? actually he was waiting for his order and was ready to quit the parking lot so i stop his car to let me pass. but like.. i was so suprising and wasnt sure it was him that i didn't move lol!

At the end, all i did was a little hi with the hand, just to tell him that i know who he is lol!

The funniest thing is that a see a canadien eating at mcdo in Verdun( very poor town in montreal)