Meet John Tavares
You've heard about what John Tavares has done on the ice to make him the top pick in the NHL draft last month. Here's another side of him. After his second day of Islanders rookie camp, Tavares, 18, answered these most random questions posed by Newsday's Jim Baumbach. Here's what we learned about him: FAVORITE FOOD My mother's veal parmesan. LEAST FAVORITE FOOD Something Middle Eastern. FAVORITE TV SHOWS "Lost," "Entourage," "One Tree Hill." ACTOR Denzel Washington. ACTRESS Jennifer Aniston. THREE DREAM DINNER GUESTS Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky. WHY THOSE THREE? They're the best at what they do. USE FACEBOOK? No. TWITTER? No. DO YOU PLAN TO? No. THREE PLACES YOU'VE BEEN TO ON L.I. Rothman's Steakhouse in East Norwich ("Been there a couple of times"), Bethpage Black ("I didn't play"), Garth Snow's house. FAVORITE HOCKEY PLAYER GROWING UP I had many. Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Mike Modano, Patrick O'Sullivan when he played juniors, Sidney Crosby. WHY DO YOU WEAR 91? I used to wear 19 growing up, then switched hockey teams one year. One kid wouldn't give it to me, so I switched the numbers. My parents and I thought it looked pretty good, so I stuck with it. WE HEAR YOU'RE A BLUE JAYS FAN. FAVORITE PLAYER GROWING UP? Has to be Roy Halladay. THOUGHTS ON THE HALLADAY TRADE TALK It's disappointing. BEST PRO SPORTING EVENT YOU'VE BEEN TO (NOT COUNTING HOCKEY) Buffalo Bandits lacrosse game. (His uncle, also named John Tavares, has played for them since their inception in 1992.) BEST CONCERT YOU'VE BEEN TO I've only been to one and it wasn't that good. I think it was Simple Plan. It was in Oshawa when I played there and we had a team event. MOST FAMOUS PERSON IN YOUR CELL PHONE Probably my agent [Pat Brisson] or Paul Coffey. HAVE YOU EVER GOOGLED YOURSELF? A couple of times. It was a long time ago. FAVORITE CITY OUTSIDE TORONTO Well that has to be New York. PLACE YOU'D LIKE TO VISIT Portugal, because that's where my father is from, and that's my last name's descent. I'd like to visit the whole country.
