DORIAN GEIGER
Sports Editor

One of the greatest players to lace up the skates, NHL Hall of Fame inductee Brett Hull made a much anticipated cameo as a guest speaker for the second annual Huskies Off the Leash Luncheon that unfolded at Prairieland Park on Oct. 15.

What has quickly become a sold-out trend, the Off the Leash Luncheon emerged in 2009 in an effort by Huskies hockey alumni to gather some much needed funds for the Huskies men’s hockey program. The Huskies alum sure as hell started off on the right foot and jump-started the event to an epic status by getting former NHL tough-guy and celebrated Toronto Maple Leaf Wendel Clark to cordially rock the microphone for the birth of Off the Leash last year.

The 2010 instalment of the Off the Leash Luncheon blew last year’s out of the water (sorry, Wendel). Clark was an excellent addition to last year’s program but the Huskies acquiring the Golden Brett as the guest of honour this year went above and beyond most people’s expectations.

Aside from the Huskies alumni organizing the event, much credit goes to ex-NHLer Kelly Chase for recruiting speakers Clark and Hull as guests of honour for Off the Leash. Chase played with the St. Louis Blues, the same team Hull played with for many seasons and has connections to the city tracing back to his WHL career with the Saskatoon Blades. Chase also played the role of Hull’s co-guest speaker during Off The Leash, relaying to the crowd humour driven stories about time spent together in the NHL.

Hull spanked 741 pucks into the back of the net during his 19-year career — good enough for earning him the title of third highest career goal scorer in the history of the NHL, only behind hockey gods Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe. The prodigy of hockey legend Bobby Hull, Brett Hull was notorious throughout the NHL for his quick release and powerful slapshot, leading his respective squads to Stanley Cups with the Dallas Stars in 1999 and the Detroit Red Wings in 2002. And had Hull played the extra 200-plus games Gretzky had under his belt, the Golden Brett would have been much closer to the 894-goal plateau Gretzky achieved.

Hull sat down with the Sheaf following the luncheon to chat about his infamous skate-in-crease Stanley Cup winning goal against Buffalo, the animosity he experiences from Sabres fans, his dual Canadian/U.S. citizenship and the amount of beer he guzzled prior to taking the stage during Off the Leash.

Sheaf: You spoke of the zany treatment you received from people from Buffalo, N.Y., following your controversial Stanley Cup-winning goal over the Sabres in 1999. You even discovered a Buffalo-based website selling “Brett Hull is a cheater” T-shirts, which your family purchased $300 worth of as a joke. How many were bought in total and what did you do with them?
Brett Hull: I gave them to my brother and my son and a couple of friends got them. We probably bought 20 or 25 of them.

Sheaf: What’s the worst thing a Buffalo Sabres fan has said to you? Have you seen anyone wearing one of these anti-Hull T-shirts?
Hull: Nothing real bad, just always, “It’s no goal!” But it’s the tone in which they say it. I gave one to my buddy and he went to Vegas or Florida for a golf tournament and the lady at the American Airlines centre said, “I was going to upgrade you with your friends but you had that shirt on and I’m a Brett Hull fan.” He’s like, “He gave me the shirt!”

Sheaf: Sticking on topic with that particular game-winning goal over Buffalo, did you catch a glimpse of Sabres goaltender Dominik Hasek’s face when you snuck the puck past him?
Hull: No I did not. And I actually played with him in 2002 when we won the Cup (in Detroit) and we never spoke of it.

Sheaf: You have dual Canadian-American citizenship and though you were born in Belleville, Ont., why did you choose to represent the U.S. in international competition instead of a hockey-giddy country like Canada?
Hull: Because when I was right at the age I was a freshman in college and Dave King, the coach of Team Canada came to watch me play and said I wasn’t good enough. So Team U.S.A. invited me and I accepted the invitation. I’d rather be known as a traitor or whatever than turn my back on an organization that gave me such a great opportunity to play.

Sheaf: As a kid what was your reaction when your dad Bobby told you that you were moving from Chicago to Winnipeg after he left the NHL and signed a million-dollar contract with the Jets of the World Hockey Association?
Hull: Oh God, I was so young; I had no idea. I remember the parade and everything but I didn’t have a clue what was going on. I was only seven.

Sheaf: An Off the Leash Luncheon organizer mentioned that you slammed some beer backstage shortly before your speech. Is that true?
Hull: Yeah.

Sheaf: Nice work! However, I also heard you had to find an interesting and unique method to use the bathroom since there were no washrooms backstage. How specifically did you solve this dilemma?
Hull: I don’t know what you’re talking about!

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image: Raisa Pezderic