If you have a story about meeting up with Kaspar, let me know.

Your Web Mistress here with another "sighting." Well, it's what I call it. Me and Lisa trekked to Pittsburgh to see the Rangers (deja vu from when the Kas was still a Pen) on 11/12 (you'll find pix from the trip elsewhere on the site.) Of course, having lived across the street from Mellon Arena, I knew exactly where to park my butt to await the Rangers climbing on their bus. Luckily, the bus was parked where just the front and the door was jutting out from under the walkway we were standing at. Unfortunately, a perfect place to pelt the visiting teams with produce, if one were so inclined. We could have simply stepped down onto the roof of the bus and jumped in thru the roof vent. Nobody much was hanging where we were, because there were virtually NO Rangers fans in attendance. A few Pens fans were standing beside us, and they were very curious about the Rangers, asking questions as various players came out, looked around, hopped on the bus. All the Pens fans were at ground level next to the parking lot (where'd I'd been many times awaiting Kaspar when he was a Pen - see story below!)

As everyone knows, its sometimes hard to recognize a hockey pro without his helmet, and especially, without that big number on his back with his name. When they are all dressed up leaving arenas, I'm routinely wondering who everyone is, because they just clean up so well! This was the case with the Rangers, and especially their newer, younger players. We literally were looking at the top of players' heads. So when a brown haired player walked into the open and then hopped on the bus without looking up at us, I wasn't sure if it was Moore, Poti or Tyutin. Ortmeyer was sitting directly below us, talking to someone we couldn't see. He refused to look up. Jagr did the ole I've-got-my-headphones-on-and-tunes-blasting-so-I-don't-have-to-acknowledge-you thing, even though he was giggling as he got on the bus. I think he had the volume low so he could hear what was going on. Most players were doing that. I guess they really had no way of knowing if the fans above them were Pens fans or Rangers fans. If they looked up, they might get a rude gesture thrown their way or something.

So I was pretty surprised when Kaspar came around the front of the bus, and turned to hop aboard. I called out simply, "Kaspar!" and he looked up and waved at me. Hey, it was more of an acknowledgement than anyone else got from any other player (Pens OR Rangers). So I was happy! I still prefer the video tape I have of him saying "I love you" right to my camera, but I'll take the wave!

---