Red Wings prospect Joe Veleno spoke with TVA Sports’ Anthony Martineau regarding his trip with Steve Yzerman to Toronto yesterday afternoon. What follows is roughly translated from French:
“Tim Horton’s, a burger, and…Four hours with Steve Yzerman!”
You have the opportunity to spend four hours in the car with Steve Yzerman. You are just you and him.
What are you talking about, and how do you behave?
Often, this kind of scenario is imagined by a gang of “pals,” who, beer in hand and gathered around a fire, have fun plunging into a fictional universe that they know is impossible.
Except that for Joe Veleno, a young Quebec-born hopeful for the Detroit Red Wings, the fictional universe turned into a concrete event on Saturday: He did indeed find himself in the passenger seat of Steve Yzerman’s car, his general manager. yes, the same Steve Yzerman who had 1,755 points in 1,514 NHL games. And yes, the “tete-a-tete” lasted four hours.
Turn around on a dime
Friday night, 10 PM, Veleno, comfortably settled in his Grand Rapids hotel room (he’s started the season with the Griffins, of the American League), is about to go to bed. Suddenly, the phone rings. On the phone, Yzerman.
“Steve told me that I was called up by the Red Wings. He wanted me to join the team in Toronto. That was the start of the race against time.”
Then follows a succession of events as crazy as they are unlikely, which will lead, less than 24 hours later, to the young man playing at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto…Where he will play an NHL game, his sixth to date.
“I had to call the Griffins’ trainer and arena attendant late in the evening. We met there and he cleared the door for me to get my equipment and sticks. I went back to the hotel and stored my stuff in a small room in the lobby.”
Veleno finally goes to bed around 1:30 AM.
“The next day, I got up around 6 AM. I had to leave Grand Rapids for Detroit, where I was to go to Little Caesars Arena (home of the Detroit Red Wings) to take my COVID test. So I drove for 2-and-a-half hours. In my head, then I would take a plane to Toronto.”
Surprise call
The native of Kirkland, Quebec was still at the arena when he received another call from Yzerman.
Skeptically, he picks up.
“Steve tells me that he also has to go to Toronto, but that he’s going by car. He then offers me a ‘lift.’ It’s certain that I wasn’t going to refuse him! First, because it’s Steve Yzerman, and second, because the method was much easier than taking a commercial flight.”
The road from Detroit to Toronto is 333 kilometers long. We’re talking about a trip of 4-and-a-half hours.
4 hours, aside a living hockey legend.
“Of course I was embarrassed at the start!” Says Veleno, laughing.
“You don’t want to say anything in front of him. But he put me at ease very quickly. He’s a very nice man.”
And the $1,000 question: What did they talk about?
“Obviously, we talked a bit about the team and hockey in general. But there was also the Michigan-Michigan State football game on the radio, and we both love that league and the sport, so we talked about it quite a bit as well.”
Halfway through the trip, however, the lack of sleep over the past few hours caught up with Veleno. He fell asleep…Still sitting next to Yzerman! Not that embarrassing after all!
“Finally, I woke up because I had to eat. We were in a hurry. My pre-game meal was…Tim Hortons! It’s the only thing I ate before the game.
“I was a little hungry at the arena, so the coaches brought me a burger and a salad, but I told them that I couldn’t eat it all before the game. So I had a few snacks and hopped on the ice.”
Dream evening
Once on the ice against the Maple Leafs, neither the fatigue, nor the emotions of the crazy day, nor even Veleno’s atypical pregame meal would appear.
In the 3rd period, Toronto leads 3-1 when the Quebecker, left alone in the slot, received a pass and shot quickly. His shot finds the back of the net and…Bingo! His second goal in the NHL. As simple as that.
Veleno will also add an assist later in the game. His night’s work ends with 1 goal, 1 assist, 3 shots, 2 hits and a +2 rating. All of this done in 12:28 on the ice rink.
Detroit still dropped the game 5-4 to the Torontonians, but the former QMJHL star could be very proud of himself. No one could have suspected during the grueling day that he had just spent, seeing him “fly” on the rink.
Clear objective
Obviously, Veleno is hoping to see his stay with the Red Wings extended for a long time this time around. It was a second audition with the “big club” since his selection at the draft 3 years ago.
Drafted in the first round of the 2018 draft, the youngster has had some great times in the AHL. But he believes that his time has come, and now he knows what he needs to do to settle in Detroit for good.
“If I play the same way that I did on Saturday, I will stay with the Red Wings.”
And he will no longer have to take on long car trips on game days. Unless his crazy day with Steve Yzerman made him want to start over?
