flames v. slugs: post-postgame (aka: the staal report)

Since I realized FAR too late that I could feasibly ATTEND the game in buffalo, I settled for what I do a few times a week and listened to Peter Maher call the game online. Being that it was hockey night in Canada, I decided to multi-task and also watch the pens/leafs game with the sound off. I must say that, although it’s always a pleasure to listen to my team throw away a lead and lose a painful non-effort in shootout [rob kerr made a good point that the flames should play 3 forwards and 1 defenseman in OT cause lord knows when it goes to shootout we’re boned]. Either way, listening to the game sucked, but I quite enjoyed watching my boy jordy score a his first hattrick…

Here’s the story. About a year ago, I worked on a job with Jordan Staal [i wrote a really short post about it, back in the day, called make 'em wait, which i still think is pinch-his-cheeks cute]. It was a commercial for GM –one of the Olympic spots. The spot had various GM vehicles coming down an assembly line, tended to by a factory worker. Then an athlete comes down the line (kinda dumb, but hey --i don't write 'em). Jordan represented the future of hockey, obviously, but we also shot bobsledders and a downhill skier. We were filming at the GM plant in oshawa, and for weeks I had to liaise with Jordan, his agent & the Petes in order to nail down schedules that included shooting, traveling & a wardrobe fitting. When he showed up at the plant, I met him at the gate, heckled the safety video with him, and walked him in to set. I chatted with him a bit throughout the day –floored at how smart, mature and unflappable (yet witty and genuine) he was. At 18, I found him much more together than the four “frat-boy” twenty-somethings that came out representing the canadian bobsled team (but don’t get me wrong, those guys were also really good dudes). The director, known to be a bit of a screamer, tore a strip off jordy for not standing perfectly still (as instructed) on camera. I didn’t see it go down, but Jordan told me about it when he was sent back to holding for a break. He brushed it off like a pro, stating “whatever... I get yelled at all the time.” Later, I found out that while he was on the conveyor belt, (perfectly still), he saw that his stick was about to knock over a lamp. Instead of breaking equipment, he moved ever so slightly to avoid collision. The director threw a fit. The first assistant director explained that nobody on the crew (even the lighting techs) saw the potential disaster, calling jordan a “smart, observant kid" who clearly knew, without looking, exactly where the blade of his stick was...

a skill that jordy proved tonight.