Twice in one day, imagine. I suppose I owe you that considering the slim pickings on here lately.

Actor/comedian Mike Myers just conducted a conference call with a smattering of us sportswriters as part of his promotion for his new flick, “Love Guru,” which he created, wrote, produced and acted in. The movie is being released by Paramount on June 20 and stars Myers, Jessica Alba and Justin Timberlake.

In the film, fictional Toronto Maple Leafs superstar Darren Roanoke (a player with Gretzky-like skills portrayed by Romany Malco) begins to struggle badly on the ice when his relationship also “goes on the ice.” With Roanoke’s game suffering and the Maple Leafs losing, Myers’ character of “The Love Guru” is called in to assist in mending Roanoke’s relationship with the love of his life.

Mark Ellis and his company, The Sports Studio, coordinated all of the technical aspects of the hockey for “LOVE GURU.” He choreographed all of the hockey scenes and essentially directed the specific portions of the film that include hockey. Prior to the commencement of filming, Mark and his staff recruited over 50 hockey players to appear in the film including Rob Blake plus ex-NHL’ers such as Jamie Allison, Bob Probert, Jim Thompson, etc., then conducted a multi-week hockey training camp to get them prepared for filming.

Here are some snippets of Mike Myers from his 35-minute conference call with us. The guy’s love of hockey is apparent throughout. He’s from Scarborough, Ontario; his parents from Liverpool. He still plays street hockey often:

On if the Maple Leafs will win another Stanley Cup in his lifetime (they were 4 when they last won a Cup): “The Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t won a Cup since 1967. I thought the only time I’d see a Stanley Cup in my lifetime is if I write it. I bleed blue. I would love to win the Stanley Cup. It’s so ingrained in me, in my friends, family. We just wait for our Cup now.”

On Myers’ hockey ability: “I’m not a great player. I’m an OK player, but I’m a massive, massive fan. I got to skate at center ice at Air Canada Centre, which was a dream.”

On his close friend Wayne Gretzky, who broke Toronto’s heart in the ’93 playoffs (Remember, Gretzky, with Los Angeles, high-sticked Doug Gilmour in overtime of Game 6, and referee Kerry Fraser ignored it, which is why he’s booed in Toronto even today. Gretzky scored the overtime winner, then had a hat trick in Game 7): He’s a great Canadian hero. With Team Canada, he’s a God for us. If anybody had to break our hearts, I’m glad it was Wayne Gretzky.”

More on Gretzky: “When he was on Saturday Night Live, it was one of the highlights of my life. I had just started on the show and they had what’s called the talent board, which is the schedule of upcoming hosts. When I saw Wayne Gretzky’s name, I dove on the phone as if it were a grenade to call my friends and family. We did a Wayne’s World together. He gave me an autographed photo that says, “Dear Mike, Good luck with your career, Wayne, No. 99.’ It’s very prominent in my house. That’s the Holy Grail right there.”

On what the Maple Leafs need: “We need two good centers. We need somebody to captain the power play from the point. We need two goalies to peak at the same time. … When that happens, I will be very happy.”

On hockey players: “I get star struck when I see hockey players. I get tongue twisty. I revert to an eight-year-old. Only about five years ago did I give up my dream to play in the NHL. Only five years ago did I consciously realize I was never going to play in the NHL.”

On Mats Sundin: “They should do everything in their power to keep him. I’m a massive Mats Sundin fan.”

On which hockey player was best in the film: “Rob Blake knocked it out of the park (although all his lines were cut, but Myers said 70 percent of his own lines were cut).”

On the hockey in the film: “I have a community of hockey people to answer to. That had to be authentic. I wanted [Roanoke] to have a great skating stride, a great glide, his slap shot to be excellent. … Mark Ellis did a fantastic job. I feel tremendously honored that the NHL and Toronto Maple Leafs were so helpful and supportive. The NHL’s been awesome partners.”

On Justin Timberlake’s character: “He had not skated before, but he had an amazing kind of Tony Espo(sito)-like stance.”

On TSN now acquiring Hockey Night in Canada’s theme song (which Myers hummed, here’s the story on this): “What an odd occurrence. It feels like the second anthem. … I actually have autographed sheet music of the Hockey Night in Canada theme song. It’s part of our heritage. It’s part of the fabric of my life.”

On the Kings being Toronto’s opponent in the movie, was it revenge for 1993): It needed to be a team from the West. I thought the logos looked good together. It wouldn’t be revenge. The Kings won that [1993] series fair and square.”

This entry was posted on Monday, June 9th, 2008 at 5:52 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.