How I met, and got glowered at, by Zenon Konopka

by Sharkridingbear on Nov 30, 2011 5:51 PM EST

So I sauntered into the Royal Oak on Wellington a few Mondays ago to play a little sports trivia with some friends. We’re kickin’ it old school like Dr. Dre, why yes Mookie Wilson did hit the ball that went through Buckner’s legs, no that’s not just a racist nickname, and one of my buddies who is our server and a Habs fan says "Hey man…. You know Zenon Konopka is sitting up at the bar eh?" So I was like "has he just been hugging his drink in the corner all night and providing no momentum to his trivia teammates?"

We chuckled, kept trivia-ing, but as the game ended my server buddy came back up (he was serving Konopka as well) and said "Hey you're a Sens fan do you wanna meet Konopka?" Zeno isn't my fave Sen by any stretch and I never know what to say to athletes (you gotta straddle the line between "I have a monster sponer (sports boner) for you" and "sorry who are you again?") but I figured sure I'll tell him good luck and that I'm a big fan of the team and carry on my merry way.

So my buddy drags me up to Konopka and says "hey Zenon, my buddy here is a big fan of the Sens and wanted to meet you and to ask you if you were just going to hug your way around the..... next..... game you guys have". First off: totally blew the joke. Second off: this is Zenon Konopka:

So a couple seconds of awkward silence with me with a serial killer awkward grin plastered on my face, and he started chuckling and then started talking about how he'd broken his nose 17 times and had over 800 stitches before and telling stories of stepping on pucks and getting knocked out. What struck me as odd was how much he treated fights like anyone else treats points. "You know you gotta take of yourself and your body if you're gonna hit 30 fights a year! I had 25 last year, but I'd like to get back to 30+ again this year you know!" (insert medium meat-head accent, but not too bad).

Overall, I like Zenon Konopka. He's a nice guy, he likes to talk a lot about fighting.... but I guess that was why I was talking to him in the first place right? at least he's not a dinkus like Emery.

Anyone else got good meeting players stories?

This FanPost was written by a member of the Silver Seven community, and does not necessarily reflect the beliefs or opinions of the site managers, editors, or Sports Blogs Nation, Inc.

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Hahaha

“I’d like to get back to 30+ again this year, y’know” killed me.

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by DarrenM on Nov 30, 2011 6:01 PM EST reply actions

It was crazy actually how predetermined he was!

I don’t know if it’s just him who thinks this way or if it’s all the beefcakes. I just figured they fought when they wanted/needed/were challenged

Guynance - Goin straight nuts on your mind's lady parts

by Sharkridingbear on Nov 30, 2011 6:05 PM EST up reply actions

Haha brilliant - the picture was great too

With some hard work and dedication, he can hit 40 fights one year.

Erik Karlsson is better than your favourite player.
Twitter: @sens_adnan

by Adnan on Nov 30, 2011 7:49 PM EST reply actions

Two good stories of meeting players this week.

The Marginal Virtues

by JonathanA on Nov 30, 2011 9:49 PM EST reply actions

Ha, he actually seems like a cool guy

Not a fan of his goal of reaching 30+ fights, but it’s super cool that he’d just chill and talk with you guys.

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by Mark Parisi on Dec 1, 2011 9:36 AM EST reply actions

Totally.

Especially for how awkwardly it started. Probably talked with him for 20 minutes or so, he carried most of the conversation, none of the sidelong SAVE ME! glances.

Full fan interaction marks for Zeno.

Guynance - Goin straight nuts on your mind's lady parts

by Sharkridingbear on Dec 1, 2011 10:25 AM EST up reply actions

He seems like a great guy to hang out with

It’d be cool to have a drink with him. And he probably does have banana fingers.

(Side note: Did you know that a bunch of bananas is technically called a ‘hand’ of bananas? True story.)

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by Peter Raaymakers on Dec 1, 2011 4:16 PM EST reply actions

You have no idea how happy this makes ewplant

but he was right, people are beginning to warm up to Zenon.

by whatsinaname on Dec 1, 2011 4:33 PM EST up reply actions

I've never had anything against the guy personally

He seems awesome, but I still don’t think he contributes much to the team on the ice.

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by Mark Parisi on Dec 1, 2011 11:17 PM EST up reply actions

Yep, I still don't get his role here

other than to protect the kids, but at least he is neutral in win/loss to the team other than taking a spot from another player.

by whatsinaname on Dec 2, 2011 2:09 PM EST up reply actions

I feel like he would make a great addition to SensTV

He’s much more entertaining than Gord Wilson.

Erik Karlsson is better than your favourite player.
Twitter: @sens_adnan

by Adnan on Dec 2, 2011 2:23 PM EST up reply actions

Absolutely

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by Peter Raaymakers on Dec 3, 2011 9:59 PM EST up reply actions

i met schubert and heatley at the same bar in halifax, several years apart

i talked to schubert for a while and he was cool. he told me he wanted to play defence and that the sens needed more discipline. that was in 2008 during the world championships. then he asked me to introduce him to some girls, which i tried to do, but he was pretty awkward once introduced so i left him on his own. nice guy tho.

heatley showed up randomly in the summer of 2010 because apparently he was dating this girl in halifax. she was nat hat. it turned out some of my buddies had met him previously in the carribean somewhere so i ended sitting at a table with him for a while. he wasn’t really a big dick or anything, pretty nice actually. i couldn’t really talk to him without bringing up his departure and all that, and it didn’t really seem like a good occasion to do that, so i didn’t say much.

by Buz Killington on Dec 2, 2011 1:24 AM EST reply actions

on reflection

those are pretty lackluster stories.

by Buz Killington on Dec 2, 2011 1:26 AM EST up reply actions

They're pretty good.

The best I’ve got is that I once sold Jason Spezza a muffin at the Ottawa airport.

The Marginal Virtues

by JonathanA on Dec 2, 2011 8:41 AM EST up reply actions

I once sat next to Mick and Bianca, but I don't think Jagger ever played "ice" hockey

as they say in the U.K.

by whatsinaname on Dec 2, 2011 6:45 PM EST up reply actions

What kind of muffin?

Did it seem like he was buying his favourite type of muffin? Or did he just seem to choose it randomly?

by Desario is a freak on Dec 4, 2011 1:09 AM EST up reply actions

It was chocolate chip.

I don’t know whether that’s his favourite; it’s just what he ordered.

The Marginal Virtues

by JonathanA on Dec 4, 2011 4:40 PM EST up reply actions

Solid choice.

by Desario is a freak on Dec 4, 2011 5:41 PM EST up reply actions

you might say they are… buzz killing stories?
(cue the CSI glasses removing meme)

Har dee har har… I kid of course. These sound like cool stories too :D

I met Matt Carkner… but it was ScotiaBank Place during an intermission about a month ago… so it’s not like I had a good talk with him. I think it was the 7-1 Colorado game…. ugh. Talk about lackluster. Apparently Carkner used to work out in the summers in Westport and a friend of mine used to see him around town a lot (considering there probably 500 people living there, I suppose you would have to bump into him at some point).

by Ibanez_Guy on Dec 2, 2011 3:23 PM EST up reply actions

I met Emery during the finals run

He’d just shut out NJ the night before. I was running my cash lane where I worked at the time and wasn’t really looking at him because I was a sullen, moody employee who rarely looked customers in the eye.

Anyhoo, he pulls out a big wad of cash for his purchase and, since I was running a ‘debit or credit only’ lane I just tapped the “debit or credit” sign at him. It was only when the card said Ray Emery on it that I looked up and realized that this was an awesome moment in my life. I didn’t do much more than compliment him on a great game, but it was still hella cool.

Patty Eaves came through during the next season and my girlfriend met Chris Neil through her cash lane, so good place to meet Sens, actually.

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by Johnny_Spectacular on Dec 2, 2011 3:13 PM EST reply actions

I've probably seen some of them in the press box, but for someone who's been around the arena for the last ten years (and with locker room access) I have not a single player story.

I got Guy Lafleur to sign one of my arena passes one day back in my first or second year when he was leaving the press box, but that’s a whole other matter. :P

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by Nightbreak on Dec 2, 2011 8:33 PM EST reply actions

Good story,

especially since with the introduction that it would be uncomfortable — even to read.

Also, 800 stitches!! That’s up in Eddie Shore territory!

by Desario is a freak on Dec 4, 2011 1:13 AM EST reply actions

Good story Sharkridingbear!

I have met Mike Fisher twice, Chris Phillips and his wife, Ray Emery, Dany Heatly, Jason Spezza, McGrattin, and I have seen a bunch of the players but didn’t speak to them.

Fisher and Phillips were awesome! Spezza wasn’t so much the first time I met him, he was acting all stuck up like McGrattin and Heatly. But the second time I met him he was super nice! McGrattin, Emery and Heatly were all unpleasant.

I saw Lalime once shopping with his family at Rideau Centre, I didn’t bother him though.

I wish I could meet Alfie though…

by Los Blancos Chicca on Dec 5, 2011 1:40 PM EST reply actions

None of my stories are as fun or interactive as yours though!

by Los Blancos Chicca on Dec 5, 2011 1:43 PM EST up reply actions

Stalking is a bit harder for me

We have 2 airports damn it! The downtown one is close to the arena, but I don’t know if they have flights to every where from there.

Though I did shake Robin Lehner’s hand, so that will likely be my best Sens player story.

Erik Karlsson is better than your favourite player.
Twitter: @sens_adnan

by Adnan on Dec 5, 2011 1:47 PM EST reply actions

Really Cool

In part because I live about ten meters from the Royal Oak on Wellington.

by bobbykelly on Dec 6, 2011 8:14 AM EST reply actions

I thought you lived in Montéal!

Erik Karlsson is better than your favourite player.
Twitter: @sens_adnan

by Adnan on Dec 6, 2011 9:41 AM EST up reply actions

Indeed.

My family lives in Ottawa.

by bobbykelly on Dec 6, 2011 10:06 AM EST up reply actions

Met Spezza a few years back

At a coffeeshop- also on Wellington- having some coffee two years ago. His wife is one pretty lady.

by bobbykelly on Dec 6, 2011 8:16 AM EST reply actions

Z. Smith

I met Z. Smith once. It was in a small Deli in Toronto. He was looking (more like glowering actually) the girl behind the counter straight in the eyes, she got kinda nervous ofcourse.
She was like: “May I help you?”
Zmith: “I want to eat”
“What would you like?”
Zmith: “Food, whatever, I dont care”.

Didnt dare talk to him though, so not a real meeting probably.

by DonnyT on Dec 15, 2011 5:13 PM EST reply actions