Golden Knights’ Fleury meets with 4-legged fan Bark-Andre Furry
It was a big day for a small dog.
The crowd of families waiting for autographs howled as Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury skated off the ice Thursday after the team’s practice at City National Arena.
Fleury would get to the children later. His first stop was the 10-year-old Jack Russell terrier whose tail wagged anxiously as he waited to meet the man who inspired his public persona, Bark-Andre Furry.
The Knights messaged Bark’s owner, Rick Williams, Wednesday afternoon and said Fleury wanted to meet the pooch, who has his own Twitter and Instagram accounts.
Williams said he never expected such an opportunity when he jokingly came up with the dog’s new persona last summer after the NHL expansion draft.
“It wasn’t even a consideration,” he said. “It was the furthest thing from my mind.”
Fleury signed the back of Bark’s infant-sized custom jersey and Williams’ hat before getting to the long line of kids who were excited to meet him.
And even got an autograph! pic.twitter.com/ac6QmNj2Hb
— Blake Apgar (@blakeapgar) May 10, 2018
“My wife showed me a picture of the dog online with the jersey with the name on it, you know, so I just had a good laugh at it,” Fleury later told a scrum of reporters, who probably mostly wanted to know what the team was doing to prepare for the Western Conference final.
A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that goalie Marc-Andre Fleury removed his pads before meeting the Jack Russell terrier named Bark-Andre Furry.
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Contact Blake Apgar at bapgar@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5298. Follow @blakeapgar on Twitter.
