I thought that getting Solar Bears goaltender Allan Bester to agree to an interview would be the difficult part. But no, he agreed to that graciously. The HARD part ended up being tracking him down.

We'd agreed to meet after the hockey club's practice on Tuesday. Bester wrote "If you want to take a chance, I might be ready at 12 noon at Rock on Ice," but he didn't know if they'd need to go back to the Orena first. "Whenever you catch up with me will be fine." Prophesy, that.

Not one to miss an opportunity to watch the team skate, I was at The Rock at 10:15. No Bears. Usually, they'd be there early, dragging in all of their equipment prior to the practice (can't you just picture the Magic doing that themselves?). No hockey players. Well, there was one guy who looked like a hockey player. Never shy, I chirped in with "Are you one of our new players?" (we have two I haven't met yet). "No," he answered, "I'm with the Manitoba Moose." I suppose if I'd looked a little more carefully, I'd have noticed he was wearing Moose warm-ups and carrying a huge bag with Moose logos all over it. There goes my budding career as a reporter.

We introduced ourselves, and he was Gilbert Delorme, the Canadian club's assistant coach, waiting also for the Bears to come to practice. He'd been there since 9:30 and was getting tired of hanging around. His team was staying at the Holiday Inn near the Orena, and I offered him a lift back so I could swing by the rink and see if maybe the fellas were there doing some off-ice things.

We each tried to scout out the other's team on the drive, but didn't get very far. Gilbert gave nothing away, and I didn't know enough to be dangerous. We compromised on discussing all of the local attractions for when he brings his family back later this year. After dropping Delorme at his hotel, I shot back to The Rock, and found the parking lot full of sport utility vehicles. Bears!

After the practice, I caught the coaches and mentioned that Delorme had been there waiting, but had given up. Pete Horachek, assistant coach, deadpanned, "That was the idea." When I mentioned that I'd given him a ride back to his hotel, coach Curt Fraser's face lit up (how many times have you seen that man smile?), and he said "Good girl! Can you do that every time?" Sure, coach. Now YOU owe me an interview, too.

Bester, the last one out after practice, said they were going back to the Orena to do some bike work. "Told you," was his comment on his way to his car. "How long is the interview?" Well, I'd had thirty questions, but I told him I could limit it to five or ten. "How about outside the rink, about 2:30?" Done.

After killing time, I trundled back (again) to the Orena about 2:15, where they were preparing for a Magic pre-season game against San Antonio. I parked and walked toward the guard at the player entrance. "Have the hockey players come out yet?" I asked. "Yeah, some of them," replied the guard. "What about Bester, the goaltender?" The fellow wasn't sure. I then asked if I could bring my car up against the barrier to watch for him exiting the Orena. "I'm supposed to meet him here," I said. The guard gave me the "Yeah, right, lady" look, but said ok.

I parked in the entrance and started scanning all of the people walking out. Ten minutes later I caught sight of Allan Bester walking out toward his car. He saw me parked there, waved and walked over. "I've called home and told my wife I'll be late, so we can go do the interview. What about Jungle Jim's?" Terrific. I womanfully resisted making a face at the guard as I pulled my car out and headed down to Church Street.

What? The interview? Well, that's ANOTHER article.

Contributed by Erika Heumann, the Hockeynut

Erika Heumann Hockeynut; Solar Bears' author; and currently unemployed Mechanical Engineer - eminently employable. Other Articles I've Written