Over the last 6 years I’ve had the privilege of covering various high-profile sporting events from the Super Bowl to the Stanley Cup Final. None of those events made me as nervous as I was the night I hosted a little ol’ rock & roll show in Michigan.

It was the NHL Faceoff Rocks Concert, LIVE at the Fox Theatre in Detroit featuring Def Leppard to be exact.

NHL Faceoff Rocks was my first LIVE hosting gig ever, and one of my first opportunities to make it or break it as the bright young face of the “new” NHL.com. I was friggin’ terrified! But just like my fear had no bearing on what took place that evening, it also doesn’t matter in this story either.

For us up there in the balcony, the concert went smoothly and flawlessly. Phew! For them, not so much. By them I mean the two main guys down on the stage: Joe, as in lead Leppard Joe Elliott, and Stanley, as in The Stanley Cup. This is their story:

Stanley enters stage with Red Wing. Crowd goes wild. Red Wing hands Stanley to Joe. Crowd goes wild. Joe hoists Stanley over Joe’s head. Crowd goes wild. Joe walks Stanley to Stanley’s pedestal. Crowd goes wild. Joe turns Stanley over and sets Stanley upside down on pedestal. Crowd goes silent.

Cue mass Hysteria! Cue bad NHL publicity!

I’ve always liked this motto: BAD publicity is STILL publicity

Stanley has forgiven Joe. They made my Top 12 because, even though our NHL Faceoff Rocks Concert was no Super Bowl, thanks to Stanley and Joe we still got plenty of publicity.