Ryan Dempster loves hockey. He also loves pranks. So, when he blends the two it turns into a great story, one which he shared with NBC Sports Chicago's David Kaplan.
“I love going to hockey games, I really do,” Dempster recently told Kaplan. “That was a thing, as seasons would kind of overlap, if there was a moment where if I could get from a day game over to a Penguins game, I was going, if we were in Pittsburgh.
“If we’re in a city and it’s hockey season, can I make it to a game, can I go to a morning practice and watch these guys skate?
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“I actually remember one time going to a Blackhawks game against the Kings, and Sean Avery was a friend of mine, and I just decided that day to wear a Captain America costume. So I’m sitting behind their bench and I’m just all over him. I mean I’m just burying him.
“He was dating Rachel Hunter at the time, from that ‘Stacy’s Mom’ music video. I’m saying ‘I don’t care if you are dating Stacy’s Mom, I’ll still whip your tail. Let’s go Avery, you’re a bum!”
Hockey players, known for interacting with fans — whether it’s giving a puck to a kid over the glass, or chirping back at a heckler — wouldn’t miss an opportunity to dish with this rowdy fan.
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“He’s given me the ‘C’mon, get down here, let’s go.’ And he didn’t know it was me.
“So after the game I’m still full uni’d up. And I rode it out, they were trying to kick me out of seats and I’m like, ‘I’m Captain America, I sit wherever I want.’ And I make my way down to the locker room, the Kings locker room, and he’s taking his skates off, and you see him lock eye contact with me. And this is a beeline, this is not a conversation, it’s fisticuffs. And I peel the mask off and he’s just like, ‘Oh my god, are you kidding me? That was you?’
“So as people know, I’m a bit of a clown, and that was a bit of a clown moment.”
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