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RIP Wade Belak
Sep. 1st, 2011 08:01 am( Recently retired NHLer Wade Belak committed suicide yesterday. )
The last hockey work stoppage knocked me out of the sport, so I didn't know Derek Boogard or Rick Rypien. But Wade Belak came into pro hockey just a couple years after I did, and started his career at Hershey, which was my minor league hockey base. I wrote about AHL hockey for a few years for an online magazine, and one of my first interviews was...Wade Belak. It was an interesting interview; he showed up for it stark naked. He said he'd forgotten he had an interview after practice and didn't have time to dress. I told him no worries, I can wait until you put on some pants! He came back a minute later in sweat pants and we proceeded with the interview. Besides being a bit of a goof, Wade was always great with the fans, esp the kids, and hung around long after practices and games to chat. I bought one of his used practice jerseys; it's in the closet, signed. I think I might wear it today. Might be a bit warm, but it's the least I can do.
The last hockey work stoppage knocked me out of the sport, so I didn't know Derek Boogard or Rick Rypien. But Wade Belak came into pro hockey just a couple years after I did, and started his career at Hershey, which was my minor league hockey base. I wrote about AHL hockey for a few years for an online magazine, and one of my first interviews was...Wade Belak. It was an interesting interview; he showed up for it stark naked. He said he'd forgotten he had an interview after practice and didn't have time to dress. I told him no worries, I can wait until you put on some pants! He came back a minute later in sweat pants and we proceeded with the interview. Besides being a bit of a goof, Wade was always great with the fans, esp the kids, and hung around long after practices and games to chat. I bought one of his used practice jerseys; it's in the closet, signed. I think I might wear it today. Might be a bit warm, but it's the least I can do.
