Getting Pucks Deep's Nominee For the 7th Man Award

This year my choice for the 7th Man award is Mr. Fred! I sent the following email to the Atlanta Thrashers:

I would like to nominate Mr. Fred Johnson for the 7th Man Award. On top of
being the nicest man on the planet, he does more to promote the team with his
photography than anyone I can think of.

Every night he is harassed by security while trying to get his camera in. His camera is perfectly fine by Phillips Arena Standards, but this season has been nothing but a hassle for him trying to get a bag to carry that camera in the door.

Once he finally gets in, he takes pictures of every game, then shares them on the message board. He also shares them with fans around the country as well as the team itself. He never refuses any fan that requests a picture.

He won a photography contest with his iconic photo of the Evander Kane knocking Matt Cooke out cold. Evander himself has said that he has signed dozens of them. Mr. Fred, at his own expense, blew up a copy of the photograph and presented it to Evander's family.

Mr. Fred soldiers through the struggles of getting his equipment in the arena, takes beautiful pictures and then shares them with any who ask. He does as much PR and marketing for the team as anyone on the payroll. For these reasons, I would like to nominated Fred Johnson for 2010-11 7th Man Award!

I'm sure that if you follow this blog and you are in Atlanta, you have a Mr. Fred story. Maybe he took a picture of you on the zamboni. Maybe he took pictures of your kids singing or being the youth hockey player. Maybe he gave you a picture. Maybe you just enjoy his pictures over on the main Thrashers Web Board.


I have a couple of Mr. Fred stories. A few seasons ago he mailed me a disc with all of his best pictures of Johan Hedberg on them. He knew I was a big Moose fan. He's also taken pictures of my signs with Moose standing next to them. He's offered to loan me expensive lenses and has given me photo tips. My favorite story goes with this picture though. Mr. Fred knows I love goalies. He got this really awesome picture of Todd White taking a shot to Washington Capitals goalie, Semyon Varlamov. He had an "in" with the Russian media and had Semyon autograph it. If you can't read it, it says "Warm Greetings to Virginia Flowers." Then he signed it normally AND in Cyrillic. It's one of my prized possessions!


So if Mr. Fred has helped you out or hooked you up in some way, let's vote him in as 7th man! Go the link below and fill out the form. You don't have to write the "War and Peace" version like I did, just a quick reason why he should be 7th Man.
http://thrashers.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=68412&navid=DLATLhome

Let's do it!