Tourist Flames don’t mind hitting this Wall
Team visit to China’s historical wonder a highlight of trip to Shenzhen, Beijing
BEIJING Judging by his on-ice antics, he must be a relentless negotiator.
You can picture Calgary Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk, mouthguard dangling from his choppers on one side, trying to knock a few extra bucks — er, renminbi — off the price of souvenirs for his loved ones back home.
“I bargained for a couple shirts for my mom and my sister, and I got my dad a shirt, too,” Tkachuk reported after the team trip Sunday to the Great Wall of China. “I didn’t get my brother anything. He can pay for it on his own.”
Ah … sibling rivalry. While Brady Tkachuk — the fourth-overall selection in the 2018 NHL Draft — is attending his first training camp with the Ottawa Senators, his big brother Matthew enjoyed a pinch-me moment of another sort as the regulars snapped selfies (and snapped up souvenirs) at one of the most famous landmarks in the world.
Sunday’s sightseeing excursion to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall will undoubtedly rank as a highlight of this pre-season junket to Shenzhen and Beijing for the 2018 O.R.G. China Games.
Several Flames were sporting bamboo coolie hats for the team photo. Johnny Gaudreau opted for a ball cap that resembles panda ears.
With flurries in the forecast back home, they wore shorts and T-shirts as they “tobogganed” down a slide on their way out.
“That was a lot of fun,” said the Tkachuk, 20, who scored on a YouTube-worthy deke during Saturday ’s shootout in Shenzhen, where the Flames dropped a 4-3 decision in their exhibition opener against the Boston Bruins.
“You have a great view coming down — you can still see some of the wall. But being on the wall and getting pictures up there, that was definitely the best part. It was an awesome day.”
So far, the Flames’ trip to the 2018 O.R.G. China Games has been as much about tourism as training camp.
Their first practice had to be scrapped because their equipment had yet to clear customs at Shenzhen’s international airport.
They scrambled to adjust their schedule to avoid the wrath of Super Typhoon Mangkhut — the storm hit Shenzhen on Sunday — and couldn’t skate on their first day in Beijing, either, because some of their gear couldn’t be loaded on the plane the previous night.
And they weren’t the only celebs standing on the Great Wall on a sunny Sunday afternoon. In fact, the bus trip was a wee bit longer than usual due to special security measures for the president of Venezuela.
Still, this team-building bucketlister was worth the wait.
“I never thought I’d ever be in China, let alone be on the Great Wall of China,” the 25-year-old Gaudreau told NHL.com. “Growing up, always in history class you learn about these kind of things, but you never thought you’d be here.
“You have to take it all in, because this is probably a once-ina-lifetime opportunity.”
Calgary’s captain, the 34-yearold Mark Giordano, agreed.
“You can’t even put it into words,” Giordano told NHL.com about the Great Wall, which was rebuilt in 1569 and remains wellpreserved.
“It’s a surreal experience to be up here. Just to think about what it took to build this, the history we’re standing on right now, it’s pretty cool. I think it’s a great thing we came here as a team and experienced it together.”