A Blues fan gets his wish through Gretzky camp

From staff reports

There are three things close to the heart of Cape Girar-deau native Dick Estes.

The first is his wife, and the second is his two daughters. The third is hockey.

And this month, the order of his priorities changed a little when Estes, a St. Louis resident and graduate of Central High School and Southeast Missouri State University, joined 71 people he'd never met at the Wayne Gretzky Hockey Fantasy Camp.

The cost of sharing the same ice with the man who is arguably the greatest player in the history of hockey for four days in Scottsdale, Ariz., is $9,999, which makes it an expensive 40th birthday gift.

"There is marriage, kids and this," Estes said. "I don't see how this can be topped. This is the ultimate for a hockey fan, in my opinion."

Estes originally planned to celebrate his 40th birthday at a fantasy camp in either Toronto or Montreal. But when he found out about the Gretzky camp, he decided to treat himself, with the blessings of his wife.

"I decided if I'm going to go, I might as well go all out and play with the greatest player ever," said Estes, who is the owner of Motivation Technologies, an online incentive and promotions firm in St. Louis. "I wanted to treat myself.

"I was going to get a new car, and I talked to my wife about it and she is extremely supportive about it. She couldn't believe I did it because I don't spend a lot of money. I told her this is what I wanted to do, and she said go for it."

Big names in camp

Gretzky was joined at the camp by ex-NHLers Russ Courtnall, Paul Coffey, Bobby Hull and Ed Mio. There were practices and games every day, and each of the 72 participants will one day get to tell their friends and family they once called Gretzky a teammate.

"This is more of a social thing than true camp," Estes said. "You go to dinner with Gretzky, and we'll sit with him in a club box at a Phoenix Coyotes game. And he actually plays twice a day, either on your team or against your team. It is one of those deals I'll never forget."

As a Cape Girardeau native, Estes' first introduction to anything that resembled hockey came when he laced up a pair of double-track roller blades for a game of ball hockey.

He was hooked.

"It's a great, great game," he says.

After graduating from Southeast in the 1980s, Estes decided to try his luck at the real thing. He enrolled in a learn-to-skate program as a graduation present, and after he figured out how to keep his balance, he grabbed a stick, found a puck and a net and he's never looked back.

"I love it. I don't embarrass myself, but I'm not one of those guys who just wheels around," he said about playing for the St. Louis Stingers of the recreational Hockey North America league. "The older I get, the more I like playing with the older guys than the younger guys."

Fan of the Blues

Estes is an avid Blues fan who takes in about 20 games a season at Savvis Center. He'd go to more games, but the Blues' schedule sometimes conflicts with the rec-league schedule Estes plays in. His daughter Hayley plays hockey on an all-girls team in St. Louis, and one of her Christmas presents was a hockey card of former Blues center Doug Wickenheiser. Hayley goes to school with Wickenheiser's daughters, and they're teammates on the girls team.

As for the Blues, Estes is enthused by their performance this season.

"Without Chris Pronger, I thought they would be scrambling to make it 36 years in a row in the playoffs," he said. "I think they're playing well."