Technically hockey is still being played for one more day, as Development Camp for the Colorado Avalanche continues on Friday, but this next story is very much an off-season one, so be warned.
Remember Pierre-Edouard Bellemare? The veteran forward spent two seasons with the Avalanche, and was a fantastic interview in the locker room. He’s smart, well spoken, and genuinely hilarious. His wife, Hannah, has a YouTube series called “Cooking With NHL Players” where she teaches people how to pair food and wine, and does so while having other NHL players over for dinner. In her most recent episode, she had Avalanche stars Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen over for dinner, and it was a pretty entertaining watch.
In the episode, you get to see the three NHL players just have fun chatting about various different topics, while Hannah teaches all of them about why they’re pairing the specific wine with the food. It’s a different side of the players that you don’t always get to see on a regular basis. You learn about how Mikko Rantanen is building a new home back in Finland, and some of his favorite meals. Bellemare asks the two Avalanche forwards about the locker room remodel at Ball Arena and recalls how he used to catch his old teammates doing some unsanitary things because of the old setup. He also discusses some of the contract offers he had to decide on over the course of his NHL career, which didn’t start until he was 29. You’ll also see MacKinnon discuss potentially becoming a father in the future.
Considering we’re about to enter the abyss of the summer, where we aren’t likely to get much in terms of hockey news, I figured it was worth posting. You get to see how these guys are away from the rink, and might learn a thing or two about pairing food and wine. I’ve been to wine country a few times myself and found the 20 minute episode pretty entertaining.
