Give it to the Kid
Center Ice usually pulls the plug on their feed right before the three stars selection, but last night they kept it up long enough to see Pavel attempt to hand off his souvenir hockey stick to a lucky fan. Unfortunately, there were about a half dozen lucky fans waiting for that stick.
Jump to read who got it:
I cropped out the faces of the people involved, because I don't know the full story behind these fans. Maybe the lady was trying to get the stick for someone she knew. Maybe not.
CBS Detroit asked who deserved the stick. With all those kids around, it's hard to say. Based on the picture, Pavel seems to be making eye contact with the kid who was eventually awarded the stick once the usher stepped in, so it all worked out.
So what could have been done differently to avoid such an awkward scenario? Well, first of all, it would probably be a good idea to have the players hand the stick out in a random area instead of the same place every time. Fans know where to be to get free stuff from their favorite players, so tossing the stick over the boards at random could help. Then again...
Those are Ducks fans, though, so not a fair example of humanity as a whole.
And no matter what, it's bound to get ugly there at some point, but luckily Detroit isn't Chicago, so we don't have lowlife scum stealing from kids to make a few bucks on ebay.
The point of this post is a call to all NOHS readers to not be "that guy." Or gal:
Don't take a souvenir that will make a kid's day just so you can get a cheap thrill. In fact, try to be the fan that catches a puck and hands it to the nearest kid. Those people are awesome. Guys like the tool at the 2009 Winter Classic are a waste of oxygen.
Don't be that guy.
If they did at at random, calling seats, etc, it would be impartial and ultimately fair. However, that probably means less kids would get sticks. If the goal is to get the sticks to kids, then they should only allow kids in those areas after the game, or they should do something with the tickets, say when tickets are purchased, applying a kids label to the ticket. These tickets can then be itemized and called out to give away the free stuff. It's awful how ugly people can get. These illustrations are just the tip of the ice berg. Sad truth is, most people are generally just not very nice at all.
Those sticks aren't even game used... Or auto'd. Let the kid have it, but you better believe if they were, I'd be knocking out everyone small than me to get one.
i couldn't believe that lady was trying to take the stick away from that kid last night!! whenever i'm at a game & players start tossing pucks over the glass, i make sure there are KIDS in front so they can get it, but there is always some asshole in the crowd.
Actually I've noticed that the FSD Center Ice feed regularly shows the 3 Stars, but for most of the opponent feeds they do cut off pretty quick.
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I actually saw that last night after the game ended, glad the usher stepped in and took the stick from the old bitch and handed it to the kid nearby. Maybe people chosen at random by seat number or choosing kids walking in the concession area would be a better solution?
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@thebiglachovsky like a PA announcement saying that the person seated in row X seat Y has won the stick of star #2? that would work.
@Twig Yeah either that or have an usher approach them in the third period and bring them into the tunnel or to the bench.
Ducks fans might as well get as much as they can :P. Yeah that kid was wearing a Dats jersey so I would say alls fair. I'm actually against players being allowed to hand off their sticks just because of stuff like this. Except under special circumstances (cant remember who but that goalie to hit a puck at a photographer and gave him his stick) or its directly handed to an individual.
