The Facts Behind the Feelings for Vinni Lettieri

With the recent send downs and call ups of Vinni Lettieri I wanted to give some background into why I think most of us love him but cannot place why. I have had the privilege to watch Vinni since his freshman year at Minnesota and he was always my favorite skater on the ice not named Rem Pitlick or Brady Skjei. I think I have some insight into most of our feelings for Vinni and will share them here.

I think the first reason he is so likeable is fairly easy to see. Vinni is a legitimately good guy who always seems to make people smile. He was always a fun guy in college to watch on and off the ice and took time to interact with fans. You can also see him legitimately enjoying what he does. Vinni always has a big smile on his face when he doesn’t need to be in serious game mode.

He also has a habit of being ridiculously photogenic.

I think this is the big one for me and a few clichés actually work here. Vinni is not the most naturally gifted guy on the ice, and that is not a slight against him. Some dudes are just born with the magic. When I was in highschool on drumline I had someone tell me that even if you aren’t born with insane talent, working your absolute butt off would get you further than you would think. Similarly, do you remember that kid on your *insert youth sports league* team that you could tell wasn’t the best at the game but worked harder than everyone else? That is Vinni through and through. I have never seen someone as dedicated to working towards hockey than Vinni. This gives me ridiculous respect for him.

Watching him in college, I saw the big name guys play around Vinni and do less on the ice than him. You will never see Vinni slow down, back off, or just accept less than maximum effort from himself at all times (remember when he broke Brenden Smith’s hand in a fight?). I have watched his pregame warmups for years and the guy is an absolute laser in terms of focus. While everyone else might be doing the routine he is at mid-ice when it isn’t his turn working on his skate work, or his puck handling or something else he knows he could be doing better. When I was at the Rangers meetup game he was out there still doing stuff as everyone else was leaving the ice because he wanted that time to work.

In short, Vinni is how we all imagine ourselves if we somehow cracked a professional league. Maybe we wouldn’t be the best in the game but damn it we are going to put in more work than every other guy to be as good as them.

I think my last two pictures here summarize what I am saying. You can see how much this goal means to him, something other guys in the league might take that for granted with their vaunted first line positions. The other one is still how much he loves what he does, even in the AHL.

To put in even less words:

We loved tanner glass because he was insanely likeable and worked harder than everyone else. We love Vinni for the same reasons.

Image credits go to the star tribune, twincities.com, elitesportsny and nhl.com