View Askew Street Hockey League

Jun 05 2009

Kevin Smith Comes North

Filed under Blogs, In the News

Filmmaker in Brantford to Support Gretzky

BRUCE KIRKLAND, SUN MEDIA
Brantford Expositor

Fresh and fragrant from the set of his new Bruce Willis movie, A Couple of Dicks, Kevin Smith is planning to hop on the last plane to Toronto out of L.A. today.

Destination: Brantford.

Smith has a purpose: Play goal for the Puck U team in the Walter Gretzky Street Hockey Tournament that starts with a charity memorabilia auction tonight and runs through Sunday, with Smith playing his games in the round-robin tournament on Saturday and Sunday.

Smith has a passion: He says he loves hockey in general, Walter and Wayne Gretzky in particular and is keen to support youth sports in Brantford, the town where Wayne was born and raised.

All the Brantford events this weekend, from the street hockey to Smith's Stocky Night in Canada stage show at 8 p.m. on Saturday night, are charity events to raise money for Brantford's sports facilities infrastructure legacy fund.

WHY?

"People keep asking me, 'Why?' " Smith tells Sun Media about going to Hockey Mecca in Brantford to visit with Walter and pay homage to Wayne Gretzky. "It's been 25 years since those crazy Oiler kids — captained by the lanky, polite Ontarian who always seemed to know where the puck was gonna be — took home their first Stanley Cup. And 10 years since the greatest hockey player the world has ever known retired from the game.

"This is just my way of thanking Wayne and his greatest coach for the memories, the excitement and the heart.

"They say nobody could ever replace number 99 but I say: 'Let's try! The world needs more Wayne Gretzkys.' The last one came out of Brantford, so I figured we should raise some loot through the Wayne Gretzky Street Hockey Tournament and maybe one day the town produces another humble genius who, against all conventional wisdom, dominates the game and our hearts all over again."

Street hockey is perfect for the New Jersey-born Smith, who is famous for his stand-up comedy chats and for creating movies from Clerks to Zack and Miri Make a Porno.

He says that, once he posted on his website about his desire to play the games for Walter Gretzky, "other dudes like me — old, fat, unathletic, more-body-fat-than-bone — started dreaming they too could forecheck it up the slot and slap themselves some middle-aged glory in the hometown of the Great One."

Smith & company — his team includes Silent Bob's sidekick Jason Mewes — could be in for a rough and tumble ride.

"I haven't net-minded in 15 years," Smith says, "and let me tell you, I wasn't good then. I'm hoping that whatever I lack in (Martin) Brodeur-like brilliance and (Roberto) Luongo-level dexterity I can make up for in sheer width and mass in goal. God willing, my child-bearing hips stretch pipe to pipe."

More daunting, however, is the prospect of meeting Walter Gretzky himself. Smith is at ease with movie stars.

Hockey gods? Not so much.

"I think it'd be uncomfortable for us both," Smith says of the promised introduction, "as I'd be reduced to a blubbering mess trying to express through tears and snot how much he and his son have meant to me and millions others. Seriously, if we're introduced, I might nervously throw up. I got no business letting my loser stink anywhere near Mr. Gretzky."

Details on the Brantford weekend are available online at Smith's own website, viewaskew.com, as well as on the Gretzky family's official website, gretzky.com. The street hockey games, along with live concerts and a display of goodies from the Hockey Hall of Fame, take place Saturday and Sunday at the Ball Hockey International at the Steve Brown Sports Complex in Lions Park. The official opening ceremony is at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

TIX AVAILABLE

Stocky Night in Canada, with Smith teaming up with his producer Scott Mosier, is set to roll at 8 p.m. in the Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts. Tickets for this only are $25.75, with proceeds going to the charity. Call 800-265-0710 for info.

The final kicker is a special Sunday afternoon hockey game in which Smith's Puck U team will play the winners from the teen division of the tournament. "If they can beat us," Smith says, "we're going to donate a bunch of loot to Brantford Youth Athletics. If they can't beat us, their citizenship — and street cred as electric youth — should be revoked!"

via www.brantfordexpositor.ca

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Jun 02 2009

We Get Kevin Smith’s Affection for Wally

Filed under Blogs, In the News

Brantford Expositor
Opinion Editorial

There might not be many people out there who appreciate director Kevin Smith’s affection for Walter Gretzky, but we here in Brantford understand.

What others may not get is how or why the New Jersey native, who directed Clerks, Mallrats and Jersey Girl, grew to appreciate Wayne Gretzky’s dad so much.

They might also have trouble comprehending why a Hollywood director would come to compete in an annual street hockey tournament in Brantford.

We think it’s the type of attention Wally has long deserved and is finally getting.

Sure, attracting a celebrity like Smith doesn’t compare to getting the Order of Canada, which Gretzky received last year, but Gretzky is all about lending his name and presence to good causes for the city and his annual street hockey tournament is no exception.

The tournament, which runs from Friday to Sunday, helps fund parks and recreation projects in the city.

Smith’s presence, along with a few other actors he’s bringing with him, will help draw more attention and stir up more excitement for the tournament at Lions Park.

The American has been promoting the tournament in media such as the New York Times and Time magazine. He’ll also be performing his live show, Stocky Night in Canada, at the Sanderson Centre. Eight hundred tickets have been sold for the Saturday show.

It’s always gratifying for us as Canadians when we hear of an American who embraces our culture (i. e. hockey) and our national icons (Wayne and Walter Gretzky).

We all understand hero worship for athletes since it’s so prevalant in society, but an appreciation for an ex-athlete’s father? From another country? That’s far more rare and gives enhanced meaning to Smith’s reasons for taking part, even if we can’t quite fathom the connection.

Never mind that Kevin Smith is not exactly a household name.

Pat Shewchuk, co-ordinator of the Tournament Capital of Ontario, admitted to The Expositor that she did not realize the extent of Smith’s celebrity when he first contacted her about participating.

Gretzky himself was even more succinct when first told of Smith’s interest: “Do I know a Kevin Smith? What’s he do?”

However, there will soon be no excuse for not knowing Smith.

Actually, this is not Smith’s only connection to the Brantford area.

Smith is a big fan of the original Degrassi series and has appeared on Degrassi: The Next Generation.

Degrassi, of course, was created by Linda Schuyler, who grew up in Paris.

So Smith’s participation in a Brantford signature event seems like a natural progression. The director had just finished reading Walter’s autobiography before he contacted Shewchuk about participating in the tournament.

One mystery about Smith’s participation remains: Why would anyone volunteer to play goalie in street hockey, as Smith has pledged to do in the tournament?

Street hockey goalie is a position you usually talk or threaten your little brother or sister into playing.

Perhaps Smith learned a lesson or two from Walter Gretzky about being there when someone else needs your help.

via www.brantfordexpositor.ca

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May 29 2009

Good on ya Kevin Smith

Filed under Blogs

By Tom Kennedy
Brantford.com

Firstly, in case you didn’t know, good on ya , is an Australian way of saying well done or thanks.

So why would I be thanking well-known filmmaker, director, writer, actor Kevin Smith?

Well, the Walter Gretzky Street Hockey Tournament is just a stone's throw away and, without a doubt, the knowledge that Smith will be fielding a team has brought huge interest to the event and the city.

With just seven days till the event, the news is that registrations for the third annual Walter Gretzky tournament are more than double that of its inaugural year and Pat Shewchuk of the Tournament Capital of Ontario board said she knows all too well that Smith has been a huge draw card.

So far, 85 teams have registered for the tournament and when I spoke to Shewchuk earlier today she said she expected to be receiving more over the weekend despite today being the unofficial deadline.

It seems a lot of those teams would be travelling on the news that Smith and his crew would be competing in the tournament.

Were I not going to be involved in the media side of things, I would surely have planned to be there as a player or a spectator … Wouldn’t you?

Not only is a ball hockey tournament a good way to have fun and raise money for a good cause but you also have the chance to meet Silent Bob . How cool is that?

And as far as his participation and promotion of the event goes, I think he deserves a pat on the back and a round of applause from all those involved in the Brantford sporting community because the whole point of the tournament is to raise money for that very community.

Smith is not only bringing himself, his wife and whole bunch of friends up for the weekend, but is also sponsoring three teams of fans to play as well.

Not to mention, he’s doing all of this while also working on directing his upcoming film A Couple of Dicks, a detective comedy starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan.

When he’s done goaltending for his team, Puck U., he will be performing at the Sanderson Centre on June 6.

Smith’s Stocky Night in Canada will feature his popular question and answer style rhetoric as well as a podcast with Canadian film producer and longtime industry friend of Smith, Scott Mosier.

Now what, I hear you ask, is Smith’s motive for travelling to Brantford, fielding teams in the tournament and subjecting his goaltending skills to the scrutiny of hundreds, if not thousands, of fans?

To put it simply, when I spoke to him a while back he said that Wayne Gretzky was a man worthy of a religion and that, similarly, Walter was an amazing person, and that he wanted to give back to the city that produced these amazing people and meet Canada’s best-known hockey Dad.

So he does have a motive but I don’t think anyone will criticize him for bringing huge exposure to the event which now has the potential to continue to grow and raise funds for the city’s sports community.

So from myself and, I’m sure, the local sporting community and the city as a whole:
“Good on ya Kevin Smith.”

Kevin Smith Comes North

Filmmaker in Brantford to Support Gretzky

We Get Kevin Smith’s Affection for Wally

Brantford Expositor
Opinion Editorial

Good on ya Kevin Smith

By Tom Kennedy
Brantford.com

Episode 13 – VASHL Podcast

Episode 12 – VASHL Podcast

Episode 11 – VASHL Podcast

Episode 10 – VASHL Podcast

Episode 09 – VASHL Podcast

Episode 08 – VASHL Podcast

Episode 07 – VASHL Podcast

Filmmaker in Brantford to Support Gretzky

Brantford Expositor Opinion Editorial

By Tom KennedyBrantford.com

Brantford Expositor
Opinion Editorial

By Tom Kennedy
Brantford.com