Alexis Lafrenière went first overall 2020 NHL Draft and Quinton Byfield was selected second, becoming the highest picked Black player in NHL history, The third overall selection was more of a toss-up so the Senators “enlisted the help of a special guest who also happens to be a graduate from the University of Ottawa,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said.
The NHL’s feed then cut to Sony Picture Studios in Culver City, California, as the Jeopardy! theme played.
“Here is your host of Jeopardy!, Alex Trebek,” announcer Johnny Gilbert said.
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“Thank you, Johnny,” Trebek began. “Hi, everyone. Welcome to Jeopardy! Our category today is The NHL and here is the clue for you. ‘With the third pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, the Ottawa Senators choose this player.’
“The correct response, ‘Who is Tim Stuetzle?'”
Who is Tim Stützle? #NHLDraft #Jeopardy pic.twitter.com/KfYKyEcqMj
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) October 6, 2020
Stuetzle, the top European skater in the 2020 Draft, played for Adler Mannheim of the DEL (Deutsche Eishockey Liga – the highest league in Germany). The 18-year-old registered 34 points (seven goals, 27 assists), ranking seventh on the Eagles in scoring despite being the youngest full-time player in the league.
Stuetzle, who was wearing a suit and bow tie, pumped his fist and unleashed a big smile back home in Germany when he learned of the news.
The addition of Trebek, 79, to the broadcast was an awesome surprise. The game show host was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer last year and is undergoing the same treatments as former NV Senator Harry Reid, who is currently in remission.
.@ABC NEWS EXCLUSIVE: @Jeopardy host Alex Trebek speaks with our @tjholmes about undergoing an experimental treatment for pancreatic cancer and releasing a new memoir. https://t.co/gjPg9CURBj pic.twitter.com/TPLHOMprCL
— Good Morning America (@GMA) July 20, 2020
“They do a blood test to see what my CA 19 numbers are,” Trebek told Good Morning America in July. “And the CA 19 numbers are an indicator of how your pancreatic cancer is progressing. Eight weeks ago, the numbers were at about 3,500. Now, they’re below 100. So I’m going in the right direction. The doctors have said they have never seen a chart like mine because there are peaks. I said, ‘What do you mean, you don’t, you haven’t, you don’t see that often? What do you usually see?’ They usually see it going up. I’m a bit of an anomaly.”
Production of Jeopardy! has remained halted due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Senators also had the fifth overall pick and selected Jake Sanderson of the USNTDP.
With the fifth overall selection of the 2020 #NHLDraft, the #Sens select Jake Sanderson of the USNTDP. pic.twitter.com/ZOjYl4T7er
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) October 6, 2020
Screenshot courtesy of Ottawa Senators
