Not Your Usual Casting Call

I was channel surfing after watching the Predators survive Game Two against the Avalanche, and Hollywood film This Is 40 was on one of the channels. It's not an overly phenomenal film by any means, but there is a portion of the film where the characters played by Leslie Mann and Megan Fox run into real-life hockey players playing hockey players at a club in the film. Starring Paul Rudd, the aforementioned Mann, and Fox, the story is a kind-of sequel to Knocked Up, but I personally think it should stand on its own. That digression aside, you may remember this scene due to its gross factor when Megan Fox asks the group of players if they have all of their teeth and then, well, it has to be seen.

Oh, you want to see that scene? Ok, here it is.

Appaearing in the scene are Scott Hartnell, James van Riemsdyk, Ian Laperriere, Matt Carle as they state they're from Philadelphia as they all were Philadelphia Flyers during filming in 2012. Wyatt Russell is Kurt Russell's son and he was a goaltender for the University of Alabama-Huntsville while Phil Burke is a Canadian actor who has no significant hockey notes on his resumé. Burke is on the very right and the first man to speak in the scene while Hartnell and van Riemsdyk stand on Russell's left and Laperriere and Carle appear on his right. Exit scene left.

You might be wondering how the Flyers got into this movie.

"There's a friend of mine in L.A. who told a PR guy in Philly they're looking for a guy without teeth for a small part. So I give them my name and if it works, it works," Laperriere told Andy Dudones of The Hockey Writers. "Sure enough, a month later we were in L.A. filming and Hartnell, JVR, and Carle were there with me. I was in the right place at the right time with no teeth."

Laperriere actually put off dental work that he was scheduled to get so he could take that bridge of teeth with him to Hollywood to film the movie. In the end, his denture work will likely land him as the only person ever to claim that Megan Fox wore his teeth. Ironically, though, this wasn't Laperriere's first foray into movies as he played Boom Boom Geoffrion in a 2005 film about the legendary Maurice Rocket Richard.

"I'm in for every experience," he told the Associated Press. "I don't want to be an actor, but it was fun to see how they do it behind the camera. Dancing with Megan Fox? None of you can say you did that."

For a guy who is tough-as-nails on the ice, he has a certain charm in front of the camera. While he may not want to be an actor in his life after hockey, no one can take those experiences or the following image from Ian Laperriere.

Me and Ian Laperriere the great hockey player from Philly! Also a star of #thisis40 pic.twitter.com/mN8kq7U3

— Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) November 28, 2012

I'm not recommending to any readers out there to start putting their faces in front of slap shots like Laperriere did in 2010 that resulted in him losing most of his teeth, but I'd say he's done the best with the cards he's been dealt!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!