Marcel Dionne, businessman
First, thanks much to Jill for taking the initiative to keep things going while I was out jet-setting (translation: flying Southwest Airlines) and taking a few days off. It's pretty much a given that someone will get suspended, hired or traded during one of my days off...
Obviously the team is in Calgary today, but for some interesting reading material, here's a story from a newspaper in Niagara Falls about Marcel Dionne, whose post-hockey life now includes a hands-on business selling hockey memorabilia.
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About the bloggers
Rich Hammond has covered the Kings, on a full-time or part-time basis, since the 2000-01 season. He was the beat writer for the entire John Torchetti era and has witnessed Bob Miller singing country music in a Nashville honky-tonk bar. A native of Los Angeles, Rich has worked at the Daily News since 1999 and also serves as the paper's deputy sports editor. E-mail Rich at rich.hammond@dailynews.com.
Jill Painter joined the Daily News in 2000 and during the last eight years she's covered the Dodgers, Cal State Northridge, UCLA, Kings, golf and everything in between. Even though she's from Colorado, she still freezes in the Staples Center press box but always manages to thaw her fingers in time to make deadline. E-mail Jill at jill.painter@dailynews.com.
Tremendous article. Dionne's 12 years in Los Angeles were first class all the way. After the trade to New York, he came in with the Rangers one evening and was named first star of the game. The Forum was sold out and he received a standing ovation and took a complete lap around the ice. It was a thrilling moment for those of us that got to watch him all those years. This is definitely among my favorite moments from my 35 years of following the Kings.
Great to have you back Rich, Your insight and unbiased reporting is the kind of thing that keeps me coming back. Hope you had a great vacation. OKF
Awesome I never knew this, I live 5 minutes away from Niagara Falls, I should stop by sometime! Right on! Thanks Rich!
Welcome back Rich! Great article.Thank You!
great article, Rich. thanks for sharing!
Nice having you back Rich but I thought Jill took great care of your blog while you were gone.
I was lucky enough to have met Marcel during the Kings draft party and he seemed like he was genuinely happy to be there signing autographs and taking pictures with the fans. Unfortunately I followed the Kings after he had retired but what a great guy !
Good to have you back!
Great article, but none of it surprises me at all!
I am lucky enough (or just old enough) to have spent my formative years watching Marcel play for the Kings. In all of those years (we had season tickets from 1974-75 through the early 1980s), he was always first class, all the way. He was never flashy (personality-wise) like Lafleur, but always made time for the fans.
He always treated other players with respect, too, no matter how they compared to him (and very few did). Just ask Luc Robitaille about Marcel, and that will give you a picture of what people think of the man. You will never, ever heard anyone say a bad thing about him, and it's still true.
I was privileged to have seen him play so much. I still wear my gold #16 jersey with pride!
Too bad Dionne couldn't stick around for another year and a half...then he would have been able to play with Gretzky!