EVERETT — First take three handsome Everett Silvertips coaches and three good-looking young hockey players.
Then add 99 enthusiastic women with a newly acquired taste for hockey and for cheering on the new hometown team.
Next, have the charming hockey guys try to teach the keyed-up female fans a thing or two about the game.
When this happened on Thursday night, what ensued was an evening of fun, flirting, blushing and some actual hockey talk.
Coaches, players and staff of the Everett Silvertips held the first of a series of "Hockey in Heels" workshops — a $30, two-hour event for women and girls to learn the basics of the game.
Enrollment was so much higher than expected that the seminar had to be moved to a ballroom in the Everett Events Conference Center.
The crowd sat three and four deep around a stage and catwalk, presumably set up for this weekend’s bridal fashion show. They clutched their "Hockey in Heels" souvenirs — bags stuffed with a Silvertips T-shirt, a program, a hockey puck and a handout called "Hockey Basics for Dummies, or, What Are All Those Funny Lines For?"
Silvertips coach Kevin Constantine was the first to take the stage. He thanked the women for supporting the team and said the size and noise level of Everett’s crowds has blown him away this season.
He said he knew his team would perform well, but he had no idea the community would embrace it in such a way.
"We think it’s phenomenal," he said.
Constantine said he’s been coaching and teaching hockey workshops for years, but "this is the first time I’ve put cologne on to do one of these talks."
The women cheered.
"I’m recently single, so this is why I’m telling you all of this," Constantine said, blushing.
"Are you advertising?" one woman yelled.
The crowd cheered again and Constantine grinned, then blushed some more.
John Dahl, Jeff Harvey and Riley Armstrong, the three players who accompanied him to the seminar, sat behind him chuckling, along with assistant coach Jay Varady and goaltending coach Shane Clifford.
"Where were we?" Constantine said. "Oh yeah — hockey."
The coach invited former figure skater and now Silvertips right wing Armstrong, "without a doubt the goofiest guy on our team," to explain the zones of the hockey rink.
A grinning Armstrong, in his No. 9 jersey, drew a hockey rink on the stage’s giant marker board. He explained the logistics of a hockey rink and demonstrated his puck handling with a hockey stick and a cellphone.
Next up was Jeff Harvey to explain his job as goaltender. He also wore his jersey, No. 31, and a Canadian flag on his hat.
"Hey Jeff, do you have all your teeth?" a woman yelled.
He gave a toothy smile to demonstrate that he did.
The subject of fighting came up, and the players said any fight questions would have to be referred to the Silvertips’ scrappiest player, defenseman Mitch Love.
On cue, one woman held up a gray sweat shirt that read, "LOVE HURTS."
The guys laughed and shook their heads.
"Down here, you guys thrive on fights — people get into it," Harvey said, comparing the United States to Canada. "But with good hockey, you don’t need fights."
Then left wing John Dahl stepped up to demonstrate some penalties. No. 17 used a hockey stick to, among other things, cross-check Varady.
"A cross-check happens when you go like that," he said, lifting the stick horizontally and shoving it into Varady.
The crowd loved it and asked to see it one more time. Both player and coach obliged.
The women then peppered the Silvertips with hockey questions, which was exactly what "Hockey in Heels" organizers had hoped for.
The class was intended to give women an easygoing environment in which to ask basic questions without feeling silly or stupid, said Zoran Rajcic, the Silvertips’ marketing and sales director.
The barrage of questions ranged from, "Jeff, are you 21 yet?" (yes) to "How many of the players will make it to the NHL?" (about six of the current 25 Silvertips, according to statistics).
Then Rajcic stepped up to thank the women and close the workshop.
"And if you want a date, it’s kconstantine@everettsilvertips.com," Constantine joked.
At that, Armstrong jumped out of his seat.
"And if you want a date with coach, we’ll start the bidding at $5," he said.
The women shouted their approval.
"Ten dollars!" a woman yelled.
Quickly it was $20, $30, $50, $55 and $75.
"$100!" a woman stood and shouted. "I’m married, I’m sorry, but I’ll still eat lunch with you."
The red-faced Constantine laughed.
"$125!" someone yelled.
"$150!" someone else yelled.
Armstrong settled on the two top bidders, who would each get lunch with Constantine for $135 apiece.
As the impromptu auction progressed, Marysville resident Dana Nyman, 44, ended up buying herself an evening with the players and lunch with their coach. She wrote the Silvertips a check for $335.
She said she’s a huge fan of the team and has been to every home game.
"I just wanted to give the players the money. It’s got to be hard to be away from home," she said.
And neither will really be dates. She has a boyfriend.
"He’ll probably want to come to lunch," she said.
When he had finished signing autographs and posing for photos, Armstrong said auctioning off the coach was actually Harvey’s idea. Neither had any idea that their fans would shell out more than $500 for the players’ "fun fund."
The fund allows the mostly teenage players to go to movies as a team, throw each other birthday parties and the like.
"Holy jeez," Armstrong said. "The fans here are great. All these ladies tonight know now that hockey’s a fun time."
Reporter Jennifer Warnick: 425-339-3429 or jwarnick@heraldnet.com.
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