The Cat's meow
Felix Potvin has grown men excited, being boys again
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
RANKIN INLET
Felix (The Cat) Potvin put a smile on a lot of faces during his two-day visit to Baker Lake and Rankin Inlet this past week, and he had men feeling like children again in their excitement to meet the former Maple Leafs goalie.
Gabe Karlik, right, has a painting he did of Felix Potvin while still in high school autographed by the Cat himself. - Darrell Greer/NNSL |
Panniuq Karetak said it was great meeting Potvin.
He said one of the things that led to him being a Leafs fan was the Cat's mask.
"I thought his mask was the coolest thing ever," said Karetak.
"He was such a good goalie, and that was one thing that got me watching hockey more when I was 10 years old.
"I also liked Patrick Roy a lot too, but I got into the Leafs more because of Potvin, Mats Sundin, Wendel Clark and Doug Gilmour."
Karetak, 29, said he wanted to meet Potvin so bad, he risked his son missing him when he wouldn't get up on the morning of June 16.
He said things worked out in the end, but he wasn't going to risk meeting the Cat for anything.
"I'm not ashamed to say I didn't care if my son missed out.
"He stayed up pretty late because school is out and he had a sleepover.
"When I couldn't get him going, I decided to get my picture and autograph and then come back to get my son and maybe he'd get lucky.
"I went early and met Felix in the lobby, and my son's uncle picked him up and got him to the arena in time."
Gabe Karlik, 37 - a huge Leafs fan - said he's been a Potvin fan for 23 years.
He said Potvin took over from his then favourite goalie, Grant Fehr, and he's been a big fan ever since.
"I knew I still had a painting of Potvin I did when I was in high school in 1995, so I took it for Felix to sign and he said it was pretty awesome," said Karlik.
"Having a guy like him here made everyone happy, and people were taking pride in their community again.
"People want to see more of this, and I saw a number of comments on Facebook of people asking other prominent business people to do something similar.
"Jim Ramsay has been behind a lot of things like this, including bringing the Stanley Cup to Rankin and everyone remembers that day."
