NHL Celebs Part Two

Awhile ago, I wrote about how the NHL needs to attract more A-list celebs to its games. Well, apparently, the NHL was way ahead of me on this. An article in the Wall Street Journal from April, 2006 details how the NHL has been courting celebrities, offering VIP tickets to games and such things. Judging by this excerpt, I don't think it's going too well:

As the race for the Stanley Cup heats up, the NHL is trying various ways to raise its profile -- and erase memories of last year, when a labor dispute canceled the season. Taking a page from basketball, the league is on a mission to get celebrities in the stands where they can see and be seen.

It isn't always easy. The league wooed Steve Carell, the star of NBC's "The Office," and fellow cast members to show up at a game. Mr. Carell declined; the NHL wound up with the supporting actress who plays Jan, along with two other co-stars. To tempt George Clooney, the NHL sent a VIP pass to any playoff game anywhere. Mr. Clooney's representative says "he's strictly a basketball, baseball and football guy," and in any case hasn't received the pass. (The NHL says some passes are still en route.)
Check out the rest of the article.

Okay, two things. First, Steve Carell is a pretty big star. Too bad he wouldn't go. Also, too bad "the supporting actress playing Jan" went nameless in the article. She's not even star-enough to be named in the article?!?! But I'm sure she caused a stir at the game she attended. I can just hear fans whispering to one another, "Who's that?" "Oh, that's the supporting actress who plays Jan on the 'The Office.'" "Oh. Right." Now that's star power. It's like the NHL just gave up when Steve Carell said no thanks and left the tickets at the set for anyone to pick up. The league is lucky a couple of lighting technicians didn't show up.

Second, George Clooney hates hockey. Basically, what his rep was saying is that George likes all the other sports, just not hockey. So that's great. One of the world's biggest stars hates hockey. I guess we have to be content with Lil Jon.