Duck unlimited

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/01/2018 (2849 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“Here, you’re going to get a kick out of this,” says Randy Besharat, successfully retrieving an archived, text message he received in October 2016.

“Hey, Randy,” he begins reading aloud, holding his phone out for a visitor to see. “I’m going to be in town tomorrow, so let’s make a point of getting those helmets signed, ‘dash’ Teemu.”

In January 2015, Besharat, self-described as the world’s biggest Teemu Selanne fan, chatted with his idol in-person at the retired NHL star’s restaurant, the Selanne Steak Tavern in Laguna Beach, Calif. During their tete-a-tete, Besharat, who had flown to Anaheim with his wife to attend Selanne’s jersey retirement ceremony at Honda Center, mentioned one of the things he collects is Jofa helmets, the same type of lid Selanne donned during his playing career. Selanne responded by saying the next time he was in Winnipeg, he and Besharat should hook up, to get Besharat’s helmets autographed.

True to his word, Selanne contacted the 31-year-old father of two the day before he was scheduled to arrive here for the Oct. 22, 2016 Heritage Classic Alumni game, which pitted Winnipeg Jets 1.0 legends against a squad comprised of ex-Edmonton Oilers.

Besharat was “super-excited” to see Selanne’s name pop up on his phone. But since he didn’t want to come off as “some over-anxious, fan-boy,” he caught his breath and waited a few hours before replying with, “Hey that’s awesome. I’ll shoot you a text tomorrow.”

“Getting back to him, I was trying to sound as nonchalant as possible,” Besharat says, noting he and Selanne arranged to meet at the St. Charles Country Club, where the 10-time all-star was speaking at a charity luncheon, the day before the exhibition match. “But in my head, I was like, ‘Are you freaking kidding me? I’m texting Teemu Selanne.’”

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The 2017/2018 NHL season marks a quarter-century since Selanne set the hockey world on its ear, during his record-breaking, rookie campaign with the Jets.

Besharat was five years old at the time, and while he has no specific memories about Selanne’s inaugural season, he does recall an event a couple years later, not long after Selanne was dealt to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, in February 1996.

“My mom took me to a Goals for Kids event downtown, and I remember being in this long line-up to get a ball cap signed by Oleg Tverdovsky, the guy we’d traded Selanne for,” he says. “Looking back, it was nice of her to bring me, because both my parents moved to Canada from the Middle East, and had zero knowledge about hockey. But because I enjoyed (hockey), my dad took me to the occasional game, and my mom watched with me, whenever the Jets happened to be on TV.”

Besharat’s interest in Selanne probably would have faded away following the Jets-Ducks swap, if not for an uncle who lived in Los Angeles. Whenever Jesse Al-Nimri got in touch with Besharat’s mom, his sister, he always had a few words for his nephew, at the tail-end of his phone call.

“It started off as gentle teasing, along the line of ‘Ha, ha, we got Teemu,’ but as I got older, it turned into, ‘Did you see Teemu’s goal last night?’ or ‘Wasn’t that a great win over the Sharks the other night?’ Plus, I guess because he didn’t have kids of his own, he started sending me all this great Teemu gear — Starter jackets, T-shirts, hats, you name it. If you look at photos of me as a kid, most of the time I was head-to-toe Ducks stuff.”

Besharat, who grew up playing shinny “down the street, on Johnny’s outdoor rink” — Johnny being none other than three-time Stanley Cup champ Jonathan Toews — got more serious about collecting all-things-Selanne during the 2006/2007 NHL season, which culminated with the Ducks defeating the Ottawa Senators in the Stanley Cup Finals, four games to one.

“By then I was 20, and had enough disposable income to start buying more valuable things associated with him, such as game-used sticks and official rookie jerseys,” he says. “But that season was heartbreaking in a way, too, because my uncle passed away in December 2006, and I really missed being able to touch base with him, during the team’s playoff run.”

The first time Besharat met Selanne face-to-face was in April 2009. On the advice of a long-time Ducks fan who had gotten to know Selanne personally, Besharat attended an on-ice workout, at the team’s Orange County practice facility. While he was hanging out in the parking lot prior to practice, Besharat, sporting a ‘90s-era Jets jersey with the number 13 on the back, spotted Selanne rolling up in a “mint-looking” Aston Martin. He called to him on his way inside the rink.

“I said something like, ‘Hey, Teemu, I’d love to get your autograph later,’ and he was like, ‘Yeah, no problem.’ There were about 10 of us hanging around after practice and I was the first one he walked up to, pen-in-hand.”

In the years that followed, Besharat continued to add to his Selanne collection, scooping up items such as game-issued hockey gloves and NHL all-star jerseys. He also continued making his way to California at the tail-end of every Ducks regular season schedule — not so much in search of treasures as to ensure he was in attendance, when Selanne decided to hang up his skates, for good.

“Why I did that, I can’t really tell you other than to say it was more of a talking piece to say I was there for Teemu’s last regular season game, ever,” Besharat says, boasting he was also in the stands on Apr. 9, 2011, the evening Selanne received the only five-minute fighting major of his 22-year NHL career, after he went toe-to-toe with the Los Angeles Kings’ Brad Richardson. “The problem was, the guy would never retire, so I kept flying back to California, every spring till he finally made it official.”

Last summer, Besharat and his family moved into a newly-built home, a block or so away from where he grew up. The plan, he says, is to add a wing in the basement – let’s call it a right wing – to show off his cache.

“Besides the jerseys, I’ve got some action figures, some pucks…” he says, holding up a photo of himself and Selanne that was snapped in the dressing room at Investors Group Field, where he was an invited guest, prior to the alumni game. “It’s crazy how many Selanne-related things are on the market, but I’m trying to keep it, I don’t want to say classy… let’s just say I haven’t reached the point where I have Selanne floor-mats in my car, or Selanne throw-blankets on our couch.”

That said, Besharat is tossing around the idea of making one lifestyle change, wholly based on his 25-year-fascination with the Finnish Flash.

“My sister told me her dentist has a bit of a Selanne shrine in his office so, yeah, I’m definitely considering switching dentists, if only to get a peek at what he’s got.”

If any readers have Teemu Selanne merchandise or gear they think Besharat might be interested in, they can contact him at winnipegjets@hotmail.ca

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca