Cullen to play in his 1,500th NHL game
Veteran center will reach mark Tuesday
Nothing has stopped Terry Cullen from watching 99 percent of his son Matt’s NHL career, either on television or in-person.
That has included, as it turns out, removal of a strip of trees in the Canadian wilderness.
In a story that both Cullens love to tell, the year was 2006, during the Carolina Hurricanes’ (and Cullen’s) Stanley Cup run. Around Memorial Day every year, the Cullen clan sets out on a family fishing trip to Atikokan, Ontario. This time, of course, Matt couldn’t go. He was a little busy.
Terry Cullen, meanwhile, couldn’t sleep until he figured out a way to watch the Hurricanes play. So he bargained with the owner of the lodge where they were staying, explained the problem, convinced him to cut some trees down and installed a satellite dish on the roof.
Finally with a clear path for reception, the problem was solved.
“That’s a great story,” Matt said recently, bursting into laughter the minute the tree-cutting story was brought up. “He’s into it. He loves it. He always says, ‘I don’t know how long you’re going to play, so I’m going to watch as many as I can. It’s the NHL.’”
Matt Cullen is set to play his 1,500th NHL game Tuesday when the Penguins face the Florida Panthers, one of eight employers he has had in a career that has spanned three decades and four U.S. Presidents.