The Eurolanche book (7.)
Eurolanche will be gradually publishing the entire book about its history via its website throughout the summer.Godfather Peter Budaj
The very first group event organized by Eurolanche was the meeting with Peter Budaj in summer 2008. I used my first successful contact with Peter way back in 2007, when the Fan Club didn’t even exist. I called Peter following the 2007-08 season and asked if he’d like to meet the first Eurolanche members in his hometown of Banska Bystrica, where he spent all his summers. He didn’t hesitate. We agreed on a date, I sent a group invitation to all members and Eurolanche’s first group event was good to go.
It was an event of utmost importance and significance for me personally. members at once. On one hand, I was pretty nervous, but couldn’t wait on the other one. Thinking back, it were great times. Part of the group travelled less than three hours from Bratislava. We spent two hours with Peter. Then we went back home. Easy and simple. It can’t be compared with the organization of a Eurolanche Invasion, but it was memorable nonetheless. We were honored and humbled that Peter even found the time for us. No one could force him to sacrifice two hours he could’ve spent with his family and friends, whom he meets only rarely during the season, if he even meets them at all.
From a personal point of view, I can see a significant change in myself after 10 years of the Fan Club’s existence. I don’t want this to sound shallow, but I think it would be natural for anyone. Nowadays, meetings with players are almost like a routine for me. I’m not nervous anymore, I’m not shaking internally, and I don’t have butterflies in my stomach. I can talk about anything with anyone. I see the same transformation when I give interviews about the activities of Eurolanche. I’ll talk about the first one, during which I almost fainted, later. I wouldn’t shy away from going live on CNN now. As I’ve already wrote, I think the same goes for anyone else in any aspect for his life. You can’t gain experience any other way, only when you work hard and when you work long. Although it becomes almost like a routine, you need to remain responsible. But back to first Fan Club meeting with Budaj.
Seven Eurolanche members met in Banska Bystrica. Lukasz from Poland (who spent two days at my place), Norbert from Austria and I travelled from Bratislava. We met with two Martins (one from Slovakia and one from the Czech Republic), as well with Peter and Palo, hockey memorabilia and autograph collectors. The group was in a good mood, full of anticipation and excitement, because no one’s previously been to a meeting with an NHL player, who’d only come for us.
In case you’re interested in the unabridged, colored PDF version of the book, contact us at eurolanche@eurolanche.com. The physical copies are all sold out.
Peter arrived on time, just like to our last meeting a year ago. I didn’t want to get him into an awkward situation, which is why I asked the rest of the group if they could wait in another part of the restaurant for the first couple of minutes of the official interview. I was worried that if more people were present, Peter would get uncomfortable and would carefully choose his words as not to say anything unofficial, which would be interesting for us. I was wrong. After the first questions, Peter realized that the others are waiting for us elsewhere and told me to call them to join us. He didn’t have any problems with any of the questions and also said some interesting things off record, which we couldn’t and didn’t want to publish in the official transcript of the interview. This meeting and all the future ones with other NHL players only prove that NHL players are really laid-back people and don’t mind interacting with their fans. This is why they don’t mind talking about things their PR managers wouldn’t be too happy about.It’s about mutual trust.You’re told something you know you aren’t supposed to tell it to no one else and that’s how it’s supposed to stay. If a player sees that it’s like that, then he doesn’t have any problems talking about any interesting experience or behind-the-scenes information during future meetings. Bringing Eurolanche to the level that it can get to this type of information and gain the trust of players took years of hard work. This isn’t just my work, as credit goes out to all participants of these confidential meetings. I’ve never heard of someone misusing this type of information, or that someone gave it to the media.
The interview with Peter continued in a similar relaxed manner. I’ve split it up into three parts. In the first one, I asked him questions from readers of one hockey message board, in the second one, I let Peter describe every player for the ProHockey magazine, and in the third one, the entire group asked him their questions. We asked about the recently-finished season, changes in the team, his thoughts on his first playoff games, but also about various other topics like soccer, or about the NHL in general. One of Peter’s answers on one of these questions shows his character and kindness, something not every NHL players has. Peter described how the players interact with fans waiting for their autographs in the US.
“It’s all voluntary [to give out autographs]. When we’re playing on the road, we have a fence around the bus, so I can think about giving autographs or not. At home, fans can wait for us at the parking lot exit. We shouldn’t stop by them, but I stop every time. One policeman warned me that someone can jump under my car and sue me, because I have no business stopping there. Some spend a lot of time waiting there.“
Peter, kudos to you, even after all these years. Not only me, but other Eurolanche Invasion participants as well tried what you’ve describe to us in 2008. Not every player was like you, it wasn’t always easy to get autographs. We knew that you’d always come when we were waiting for you.
Peter describing each Avalanche player with in a few sentences was a big part of our interview. As I’ve already mentioned, I had an agreement with the ProHockey magazine that they’d publish it in all its language editions. It was a great achievement for me personally. It was the first and, up until today, the only time I was credited as the author of a regular ProHockey article. It was the first time the magazine mentioned the Eurolanche Fan Club on its pages.
From Peter’s brief descriptions, I still remember how he described Cody McLeod, who just finished his first NHL season: “The joker of the team. He sometimes does incredible things. He’s rather nervous on the ice, he gets into the game, but he’s a good player, strong, from a family of farmers. He would die for the team.“ I think this description fits McLeod even today. It’s a shame that he couldn’t play out his entire career in Colorado, the odds were against him.
After answering a vast amount of questions, it was time for autographs and signings of various souvenirs we brought with us to Banska Bystrica. Again, I have to stop here, because I feel incredibly nostalgic just writing these sentences. I remember how proud and happy I felt in that particular moment. Back then, we thought Budaj had a serious shot at being Colorado’s starter for many years to come. And this goalie, an NHL starter, wasn’t only our countryman, but also our friend. What else could we have wished for?
Two important moments of Eurolanche history happened on that day following our meeting with Peter. First of all, Peter became the godfather of Eurolanche. Peter ‘christened‘ the plaque reading „EUROLANCHE CHRISTENING“ with ice from the waitress, who wasn’t overly excited that it fell on the floor and caused a minor flood. We laughed about it with Peter. After Eurolanche was officially ‘christened‘, I gave Peter his own small plaque as an honorary member. We only made a similar plaque once when we gave it to our friend Jody in Colorado at the beginning of the Eurolanche Invasion I. It’s a shame that we forgot about the idea of honorary membership, but you’ll find the names of those who helped us during our ten years of existence in this book in the Shootout section.
Peter was delighted with his position as godfather and it was apparent that the gesture really made him happy. In that moment, our discussion drifted towards the topic of a possible trip to Colorado.I wasn’t the only one interested, as both Martins also expressed their interest. Peter volunteered to help us with game tickets if we really were to go to Colorado. We were really moved by Peter’s willingness to help. With everything agreed upon, we began to fulfill our dreams in a couple of months. Who knows if we would undertake the journey to Denver if Peter didn’t promise his help? It was a key moment in the history of the Eurolanche Invasion project.
We ended the meeting with photos – several individual and one group photo, which was taken by a passing by nun. A memorable photo, which could be titled And this is where it all began.
The season of the Colorado Avalanche: It was a season of high hopes. At the end of the regular season, just before the start of the playoffs, Peter Forsberg return to Denver. Avalanche brought Adam Foote back via trade. They signed Ryan Smyth and Scott Hannan during the off-season. There were high hopes for goalie Jose Theodore, as well as Peter Budaj waiting in the wings. Paul Stastny was the leader of the team. Joe Sakic was breaking records. Colorado finished 6th in the Western Conference with 95 points. They beat Minnesota 4-2 in the opening round. They had no chance against the Detroit Red Wings, losing in four games while also suffering a 2-8 blowout in the final game.
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02/08/2018 - 21:51
