Elisha Cuthbert and Hockey boyfriend - Sean Avery
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After the disastrous labor dispute and losing last year's entire season, the NHL has intensified its efforts get celebrities to attend its games; the hope is to raise the awareness of hockey in the U.S.
With some celebrities it isn't too hard as they have their roots in Canada, such as Mike Myers, Kiefer Sutherland and Michael J. Fox.
Others that have been spotted at games have been:
Actress Sandra Bullock and her husband Jesse James were photographed watching the L.A. Kings. Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won this year's Academy Award for best actor, has been spotted at matches. Rapper Lil Jon is a fixture at Atlanta Thrashers contests while Nelly is a St. Louis Blues fan."
When the NHL lost last season, they agreed that they needed to go after more exposure:
"We did, coming out of a lockout, most definitely agree that we needed to go in more aggressively and capture the attention of Hollywood," Bernadette Mansur, the NHL's vice-president of communications, said from New York Monday. "Sports is very competitive right now.
"We got very aggressive and did hire two agencies to help us not only get to the celebrities we knew were hockey fans . . . but to reach out to other celebrities that were sports fans that maybe had never gotten a chance to get to a game and get hooked."
Elisha Cuthbert (24) doesn't need to be convinced as she is considered a rabid hockey fan. In a recent interview, Jeremy Roenick said that you don't want to mess with her when she's cheering her team, and man, Sean Avery, on.
Now if the NHL could figure out a way to keep their great teams in the playoffs longer, they may have something going for them.
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