How We Met

first conversation we ever had

Hi everyone, this is Samantha’s husband Nicholas Angell and I am doing a “guest post” as Samantha has asked me write a little blurb about how she and I met. The story begins on December 30th, 2011 when a young Minnesota High School hockey player named Jack Jablonski was illegally checked from behind during one of his games. The hit caused an injury to his spinal cord and he was paralyzed from the chest down. This was big news to the hockey community that a fellow player was injured. At the time I was playing for the Berlin Eisbären and the news reached us very quickly. Players, coaches and hockey fans from around the world rushed to offer support to Jack. My team chose me as an ambassador from Eisbären to fly to Minnesota and bring with a bunch of signed jerseys, helmets and sticks to give to the newly established Jack Jablonski fund to be sold at auction to help support the ongoing battle that Jack was dealing with.

During my time home I also visited some of my friends and family. One of my good friends was the manager of a very nice restaurant called Seven Sushi and Steakhouse. He asked me to help him with an event for a charity called “Smile Network”. This charity helps kids in developing countries with clef palates. I of course said yes to this. 

What he didn’t tell me was that I was going to be auctioned off at a bachelor auction. So on February 8th, 2012, I went to Seven to be auctioned off. I patiently waited for my turn to get up on stage and have people bid on me and my “date package” which was a couple movie tickets and a dinner at a local restaurant. One lady came up to me who was well…..lets just say not my type, and told me “I’m gonna bid on you tonight”. I was a little concerned with how the bidding was going because our date packages where supposed to be valued at around $300 and the first guy went for $60. Now I had a couple drinks and as I was sitting up there waiting for the embarrassment to begin I noticed this amazingly gorgeous young lady who was working at the restaurant. I quickly asked my friend who that was and my friend told me her name was Samantha. We got introduced and quickly found out that we had a ton in common. Only one problem…. that other lady was going to be bidding on me in a couple minutes, and I might not ever see Samantha again. So I took out my wallet and gave it to her and said “bid on me”. She looked at me kinda funny but I was serious. I had just met this amazing person and now I was going to get auctioned off to someone else. The only thought in my head was “oh hell no”. I gave her the wallet and proceeded to go up on stage; while she then got into a little bit of bidding war. I can’t remember how much I paid but I remember it was the most of any of the bachelors that night. 

After the auction I went to the checkout table and paid for myself and gave Samantha the gift certificates for the date. I let her know that I had to fly back to Berlin the next day but I would love to take her out to dinner when I came back home in a couple months. I let her know that I had worked in a bar when I was in college and I totally understood that she gets hit on all the time by drunken horny assholes and I was not going to be one of those assholes and that she was in no way obligated to go out with me when I came home. We exchanged contact info and I left that bar having felt that I just met the most amazing, wonderful person. It was totally love at first sight and I couldn’t stop talking about her to my friend. We are lucky that a photographer at the event took a picture of us while talking- so we even have a picture from one of our very first conversations!

So that is the story of the first night we met. After that, there were countless e-mails and text messages exchanged until I finally returned home to Minnesota from Berlin- only after winning the championship there- and it was happily ever after from there on out.

An update on Jack Jablonski: The hockey community truly rallied around Jack to support him. Although doctors still believe the chances of him ever walking again are slim to none, his goal- of course- is to skate again, and play the sport he loves so much. After his injury, a foundation called the BEL13VE in Miracles foundation was formed and has since raised over $50,000 to support other athletes and injuries similar to Jack’s. Jack has progressed to the point where he is now able to move his hand, and with assistance has began crawling. For more on the story, check out his website at www.jabby13.com.