Selanne’s 600th: Great guy, great accomplishment
Teemu Selanne scored his 600th NHL goal tonight for Anaheim. If the accomplishment were tied to the quality of the individual, rather than just his skill, he’d be at about 1,000.
There’s just not a better guy in professional sports, at least from the writer’s perspective. As good, maybe, but not better.
He’s always understood his need to help promote the game, and so he’s always made himself available. (At the 2006 Olympics, he lost three teeth in Finland’s quarterfinal victory over the United States, and still talked to reporters afterward.) What’s more, he always makes you feel he’s actually enjoying the interaction.
I think the degree to which Selanne’s teammates tried to set him up for the milestone goal over the last two games speaks to the kind of individual he is, and how everyone wanted to a.) see him score No. 600 in Anaheim, and b.) be a part of the moment.
Scott Niedermayer, who assisted on the goal 34 seconds into the second period of the Ducks’ 5-2 win over Colorado, noted, “There was a little underlying feeling when you’re on the ice with him. You want to at least give him the opportunity. It shows what kind of teammate and person he is. He is a great guy and we were definitely pulling for him.”
I covered the Ducks’ game with the Islanders Friday for the AP, Selanne’s second game stuck at 599, and had mixed emotions about the milestone.
On the one hand, having enjoyed him as a player and a person over the years, it would have been nice to be there. On the other, If he’d scored that night, it would have meant banging out a quick separate story to move on the wire, and I had visions of it happening in the final minute of the game, when it would maximize the already difficult balancing job that is filing one story to move at the buzzer (or as close as is practical) and then running to the locker room to get quotes for the “optional,” the second, more fully developed game story.
As it happened, that game was a tough enough write from the AP standpoint, with the Ducks tying the game with 32 seconds left, and winning 14 seconds into overtime, which meant I probably had no more than two or three minutes to go from writing an “Islanders win” story to a “Ducks win” version. I can’t imagine what that would have been like if Selanne had scored either of those goals at the end.
I was just watching on TV tonight, which was much more relaxing. And it freed me to react a little more when the moment came.
It’s a tremendous accomplishment for a great player, and a better guy.