The Kraken And Their Adam Sandler Bonding Experience 

Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour and some of his veteran teammates didn’t need much prodding to get excited about seeing a live performance by comedian Adam Sandler.

After 20 years of watching his movies and Saturday Night Live episodes, Montour was positively giddy when he looked at a Climate Pledge Arena events calendar last summer and saw Sandler scheduled to perform a stop on his “You’re My Best Friend” stand-up tour on a night the team wasn’t playing. But then, when he noted the performance date was on Halloween, the wheels began turning for Montour and especially for his wife, Ryian.

“She went to school for TV and was a producer for Fox Sports when we met and besides all that she’s really into movies,” Montour said. “She said, ‘You know what would be a cool idea? You know how it’s fun going out on Halloween to someone’s house and dressing up? Why don’t we go to the show and dress up as a team and maybe meet him?’ ”

Montour brought the idea to veteran teammates, more back-and-forth ensued and before long, it was decided the Sandler show dress-up outing would be this year’s team Halloween party. Players dressed as Sandler, either straight up or as a character from one of his movies, met for appetizers at a nearby eatery beforehand, then used a Climate Pledge suite for the night ahead of the comedian visiting them downstairs in their locker room once the show was over.

The event is the latest example of the increased togetherness felt by players on this year’s Kraken team, which is off to its best start ever with a 9-4-5 record and 23 points. Celebrities visit with athletes all the time, but Sandler seemed blown away by the sight of an entire team having coordinated to dress up just like him – photos of which immediately went viral across the globe.

Sandler on Instagram posted: “Can’t thank the Kraken team enough! That was hilarious.”

Montour said: “I feel like it probably meant a little bit more to him. And he got a good chuckle out of it.”

Sandler already had a distinct NHL connection from his 1996 “Happy Gilmore” movie, in which he played an aspiring hockey player dressed in Boston Bruins garb with a powerful slap shot and intense temper. One of the movie’s iconic scenes involved Sandler’s hockey character challenging Bob Barker, former host of The Price is Right gameshow, to a fight on a golf course, in which septuagenarian Barker prevailed by deploying a series of martial arts moves.

The Kraken typically hold a handful of gatherings per season, but rarely with this amount of commitment and planning. Montour said he’s never been part of something like the Sandler evening on any team he’s been on. But his prior teams, especially the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, were conscious of the importance of such outings to help foster unity.

“Especially in Florida, the reason we were as good as we were and they’re still as good as they are, is because of how close they are,” Montour said. “We were always together, always rolling eight, or nine-plus people for dinners on every single road trip in every city. You don’t get that too often. A lot of time guys just want to go in and out quick and dinners for 10 people can take longer. But the guys wanted to hang out. They wanted to be together.”

Kraken center Matty Beniers and goalie Joey Daccord went as Sandler’s character from the “You Don’t Mess With The Zohan” movie from 2008. Forwards Tye Kartye and Berkly Catton and defenseman Josh Mahura went with “Billy Madison” outfits from that 1995 film.

Kraken captain Jordan Eberle, who presented Sandler with a customized Kraken third jersey in the team dressing room, was initially reluctant about the evening. But he came around once the idea got bandied about.

“I mean, it was kind of outside the box,” Eberle said. “I’ve been a leader for a while, and generally we just rent a place or something like that. And you had to kind of think a bit about what to wear.”

But Eberle came around when he saw the positives such an event could help foster within the team. His biggest concern had been that players would merely be sitting in seats, unable to mingle with one another. After all, the team’s annual Halloween party is typically held at a home or restaurant allowing for players and their significant others to socialize.

Then, they secured the center ice owner’s suite at the arena and Eberle’s concerns were eased. The event was also the first time Eberle had ever gotten to walk the arena’s concourse, which he said was a thrill.

“Any time you can try to incorporate the team and a theme, and guys have to think a little bit, and then you get the guys together for me, it’s just team bonding,” he said. “You have a fun night out and then to be able to meet him at Climate Pledge made it a special evening too.”

The Kraken didn’t just meet Sandler. Comedian David Spade was there as well, as was fellow SNL alum Rob Schneider. But the Kraken had dressed up to be Sandler. And Eberle could see it made an impact.

“I think he was impressed,” Eberle said. “I mean, I could tell he was kind of tired after he’d just finished the show, and he wanted to get out of there. But I could tell from his face that he was like, ‘This is awesome.’

“So, yeah, it was neat. And then the guys he was with, David Spade and Rob Schneider, they were just really cool to talk to.”

Eberle dressed up as the Robbie Hart character from “The Wedding Singer” 1998 production starring Sandler.

“There were like eight guys on the team who’ve never even seen that movie and didn’t know what it was,” Eberle said. “And I was like, ‘You’re all too young.’ But it was awesome.”

Kraken alternate captain Jaden Schwartz, who dressed up as Sandler’s Henry Roth character from his “50 First Dates” movie from 2004, has met a handful of celebrities but never quite like this. Schwartz, toting a ukulele like the one used by Sandler’s movie character, was among the first Kraken players to greet the comedian with a hug as he entered the dressing room.

“That was a first for me,” Schwartz said. “He’s just got so many good movies. And you know, you could dress up as somebody else from his movies if you wanted to. We just had fun with it.”

The Halloween party idea quickly evolved, he said, once Montour suggested the team attend the Sandler show together.

“I know his wife’s a pretty big fan of his,” Schwartz said. “We were talking about it, and he was saying. ‘My wife wants to go no matter what,’ and so we were saying Why don’t we all just go? I know a couple of the women wanted to go, and obviously, some of us did as well. So, we said, let’s just do something different. Halloween’s always fun, but we always just go to somebody’s house.”

Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn didn’t dress as any specific Sandler character, just as the comedian himself. But Dunn recognized the event was about more than merely meeting a celebrity.

“I think the teams that usually do the best are usually the teams that are a tight-knit group and do things together off the ice,” said Dunn, who, along with Schwartz, won a Stanley Cup with St. Louis in 2019. “So, that’s always nice to just do things like that. Certain holidays and other times we’ll get together. It’s usually at somebody’s house, but guys wanted to do the show, so that’s the direction we headed in.”

Dunn said it’s always “cool” to meet people he watches in movies, and Sandler didn’t disappoint.

Nor did the Kraken disappoint Montour when it came to committing to the dress-up portion that differentiated this event from the experience of other NHL teams that have met with Sandler on his tour. Montour dressed up as the Doug Whitmore character from “50 First Dates,” played by actor Sean Astin, depicting a steroid-abusing brother of Sandler’s onscreen love interest.

“Again, I think it’s something new and I’m still new, so it’s not like I was going to go and invite guys to a team outing when I didn’t really know what they’d done in the past,” Montour said. “But I think it’s a team that’s obviously willing to do it. We’ve got younger guys who liked it and who obviously knew who Adam Sandler was and what his movies are.

“I think we’re starting to do a little bit more and go for team dinners. That’s how you grow as a team and as a group.”