So you can get to know Habs players, All Habs provides you with “Who’s this guy” condensed biographies. So you can get to know the people who write for you, we present “Who’s this guy/girl All Habs Special Edition”. Today, Dan.
Dan – Staff Writer AllHabs.net
Height: 6’0″
Age: 26 years old
Writes: Right
Born: Montreal, Quebec
Drafted: By All Habs, Summer 2012
The Specs
Dan grew up surrounded by stories and photos of Montreal Canadiens legends. His grandfather, a Montreal businessman, was involved in charity functions with the team and had befriended the likes of Jean Beliveau, Henri Richard, Pete Mahovlich, and more. This meant phone calls to the house from these men, stacks of old pictures, letters, and more, and stories of how his mom used to do cartwheels to entertain them as a child when they would come by the house. During the 1992-93 season, Dan’s grandfather took him to meet Mr. Beliveau, and between that and watching a Stanley Cup run, he was hooked. Other than reading, watching, listening to, and talking about his beloved Habs, Dan recently completed his MBA from McGill University and is presently seeking opportunities in the areas of Consulting and Marketing. When an invitation to join the AllHabs team came, he made the difficult decision of moving away from his own independent site to join what he considers the best Canadiens blogging coverage team on the web.
The Essentials
A native and current Montrealer, Dan has moved away for work and/or school on several occasions. However, whether living in France, Israel, or Spain, he has never let a little distance and time difference come in the way of his Canadiens passion. Not only would he bring enough Habs gear to decorate his room, but he would frequently be hunched over a laptop in the middle of the night to stream games so as not to miss a beat. In fact, he was working in Israel during the 2010 playoff run and would have to be up at 6:00 AM daily to get ready for work, so on game nights he would try to be asleep by 10:00 PM, up at 2:00 AM to watch, and then get in one more hour between the game’s conclusion and his workday. He was already looking at flights home for a week if the Habs were to have beaten the Philadelphia Flyers in the Conference Final, but alas it was not to be.
What you must know
In expressing his love of the Habs, Dan is a proud collector. He thoroughly documents two Hab-only collections, the first being a project to gather a single hockey card of every player to ever wear the Bleu-Blanc-Rouge for at least one regular season game. Currently, this would mean 805 players, and of the 650 of whom he can confirm a card has ever been printed, he has acquired 514 to date. He also collects bobbleheads and other figurines, and because he’s a completionist, he’ll pick up items of every player from the history of the Tricolore. He runs a website to both track his own collection, and as a resource for other collectors to catalog the items that are out there. Check it out here: http://habsproject.weebly.com/
What you probably didn’t know
Dan completed his Master’s degree along with the daughter of one of the men he respects most in the hockey world, Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland. He was heartbroken when the only time that Mr. Holland was able to make it to McGill to speak was while Dan was studying abroad in Spain, missing an opportunity to meet one of the game’s great minds. But he got a redemption on graduation day, living an almost NHL-draft like experience. Not only did he have his name called to come up on stage at the Bell Centre – site of McGill’s grad this year – but he then got to have a few words with Mr. Holland who was in attendance. Finally, while he missed Mr. Holland’s speech, as Dan was chosen as speaker of his class, HE got to deliver a speech that day with Mr. Holland in the audience.
