PART SIX: THE INTERVIEW
The next morning was my last one at my parents’ house until Christmas. My mom knew that so she made breakfast for me - chocolate chip pancakes. I got ready quickly so I would have time to enjoy them, but before I knew it, it was time to go.
When I got to the UC I realized that Dylan had parked next to me, because he was just getting out of his car when I arrived. We walked in together and by then going in and meeting up with Brad and our fellow interns seemed like a routine to me. The only thing that wasn’t routine about it was that we didn’t always know exactly what we would be doing when we came in.
“So what do you think we’re doing today?” I asked Dylan.
“Who knows? I hope it’s something good, though.”
After a couple minutes, every intern was there and Brad was too. He finally explained to us what we would be doing and it both made my day and ruined it at the same time.
“As I told you yesterday, today you all will be working more with the media side of things. As you know, the Hawks are always talking to the media, whether it’s post game or post practice interviews, Blackhawks TV videos, NHL specials, or even the annual Blackhawks conventions. Here at the UC, we have people whose jobs are to talk to the players in situations like this, mostly for practices and games. Today, you all are going to find out what that’s like. You each are allowed to choose one player to interview. There will be cameras around to film these interviews so that you can get a feel for what it would be like to have a media job like this. If you do a good job on your interview, we will edit the film and it will be posted on Blackhawks TV for the fans to see.”
At first, I was extremely excited. I would get to interview a Blackhawk! More specifically, I would get to interview Patrick Kane! And that’s when I realized how much of a problem that would be. If I got as tongue tied around him today as I did yesterday, I would be in big trouble.
I didn’t necessarily have to interview him, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to have a good talk with who I saw as the most inspirational player on the team about my favorite sport. It would have to be him.
I thought this all over as the other interns talked, clearly really looking forward to their interviews. I was spacing out, stuck in my own little complicated world, and Dylan seemed to notice that I was the only one who wasn’t talking.
“How cool is this? We actually get to talk to the players! Best day ever!” he exclaimed, getting my attention.
“Oh, yeah, it’s awesome. A once in a lifetime opportunity that I’ve always wanted,” I answered unenthusiastically.
“Well if you’ve always wanted to do this then why don’t you seem happier?”
“Because I have to talk to Patrick Kane, and I don’t know if you remember yesterday, but that wasn’t even a real conversation and I screwed it up. How am I supposed to have a whole interview with him?” I worried.
“Just focus on the game you know well. Think about the sport and all the things you’ve wanted to ask him. Maybe if you focus really hard on the things you want to talk to him about, you’ll forget about the other stuff and you’ll get through it easier,” Dylan suggested. I wasn’t sure if his advice would help or not, but I didn’t have much time to wonder about it. Before long we were going into the locker room after practice to do our interviews.
When I got in there, I watched everyone else go to their players they had chosen to talk to. Puck Bunny had chosen Andrew Shaw, which wasn’t surprising to me. He was one of the many players she had attempted to charm the day before. Alex, the most outgoing intern in the group, had chosen Jonathan Toews. Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith had also been chosen. Dylan chose Corey Crawford, and then there was me, extremely reluctant to make my way over to Kaner. I took a deep breath finally and went over to him.
“Hey, you’re the girl who kept me hydrated yesterday!” he commented, and I couldn’t believe he remembered me. That wasn’t necessarily a good thing though. He could have only remembered because I made a fool of myself.
“Yeah, that was me,” I answered nervously. Was it extra hot in there? I felt a little warm.
“So what’s your name?” he asked. I was thankful that I remembered it.
“Lena. Lena Stratton.”
“Well it’s nice to meet you, Lena.”
At first, I stuttered a little bit and I had trouble forming coherent sentences, but it did get better. I started talking to him about his best and worst moments and I asked him all of the questions I had for him as a fellow hockey player. It got a lot easier with time, after I got used to being so unbelievably close to my favorite Blackhawk. By the end of the interview I had realized how enjoyable it was to talk to him and from what I could tell, he seemed like a pretty nice guy.
“Okay, well I think those are all the questions I have,” I lied, after I noticed that most of the other interns had wrapped things up. “Thank you so much for talking with me.”
“Anytime. But I actually have a question for you, if you don’t mind,” Patrick said. Oh god, he wanted to ask me something? He actually had something extra to say besides just answers to my questions? I lost my cool again.
“Ask away.”
“Why’d you choose me?” he asked, glancing at all of his teammates that had been options for me.
“Well, this is going to sound really cliché and cheesy, but you’re kind of my inspiration,” I rambled. “As a hockey player myself, I’ve always looked up to you, and I just wanted to learn from you.” Once again, I felt extra warm. I wondered if Brad would let me go outside in the freezing cold for a minute to cool off…
“You have no idea how cool it is to hear that,” Patrick told me, and I looked away as I felt the blood rush to my cheeks.
Luckily, I wasn’t the last one to finish. There were still two other interviews going strong when I got done, and everyone else was mingling. Dylan found me and I quickly found out that he had been watching me.
“So how did it go with ‘your inspiration’? Did you learn anything from him?” he asked, unable to hide a smile.
“You were spying on me?!” I raged.
“I couldn’t help myself, I had to see how you were doing. It seems like things went well until the end there.”
“Was I really that bad?” I wondered.
“Well, your cheeks are still pink,” Dylan noticed, and he laughed.
“Hey, don’t laugh at me! You can’t possibly tell me you weren’t nervous to talk to Corey Crawford.”
“Well, yeah. It’s nerve racking to talk to your favorite player, but I’m not hopelessly in love with him, so.”
“I’m not in love with Kane. I’m in love with what he can do on the ice though. I play the same position as him on my college team, and it’s really intimidating to be asking him questions about him and his game. I wanted to get as much advice from him as I could, but it was also a crazy rare experience that I didn’t want to screw up,” I explained.
“I know what you mean. Corey’s my favorite player, and I’m a goalie too, just like him. I get all that, I’d like to get some tips from him too and learn from what he has to say, and I think I did. But at least I didn’t blush at him.” Of course, he had to get in one more comment about how much I embarrassed myself.
“Oh yeah, I forgot that you’re a hockey player too. You’re really a goalie?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I don’t know. You just don’t seem like a goalie to me.” He honestly didn’t. He seemed too small to be a goalie. Not that I doubted his skills, size wasn’t always everything in hockey, but I would have never pictured him in goal.
“Well, I am. I’m not bad, either. Maybe I can prove that to you if we ever get a chance to get on the ice and play during this internship,” Dylan said. That would be really cool, to be able to play on the United Center ice. That was a long shot, though. We had already met and talked to our favorite players, that was a big enough deal.
After everyone was done with their interviews, Brad revealed who he thought had the best interview. He explained that he had decided to choose one winner to have their video put on the website, and the winner actually was Dylan. I was kind of surprised that outspoken Alex hadn’t won, but I was happy for Dylan at the same time. Overall, when I went home, I felt that the day had been a successful one.
As soon as I got back to my parents’ house, I had to pack up my things and head back to the apartment Tess and I shared. We had hockey practice. I said my goodbyes to everyone, including Puck, who I wished I could take with. Everyone seemed a little sad that I had to go back, but I didn’t really understand why. I wasn’t very far away, and I’d be back on Christmas Eve, which was only four days away.
I had to get to practice as soon as I got back to the familiar area that I lived in, so I had to tell Tess about my day while we were out on the ice. Once again, she was amazed at the incredible opportunities I was getting, and my teammates were too. They had known that I had gotten the internship, but they hadn’t heard much about it. I spilled all the details during the practice and we weren’t quite as hard working as we should have been. I knew it was my fault, but I couldn’t go for a whole two hours without mentioning anything to anyone. It had been a big day for me.
When Tess and I got home, we both took the quickest showers we had ever taken in our lives in order to catch the Hawks game. Even though I was spending every day at the UC with the players, I knew I would never get tired of them.
“You talked to him today,” Tess reminded me when we found Patrick on the TV screen.
“I know Tess, I was there,” I chuckled. The game went well. The Hawks won against the Phoenix Coyotes. Barely, but they made it through, and Patrick even scored a goal.
“I bet he scored that for you, now that he knows he’s your inspiration,” Tess joked. I knew it wasn’t true, but I thought about how cool it would be if it was. A lot had been accomplished in my internship so far, and I was really grateful for it. I just needed to get through every day slowly and take things one step at a time.