"I like ice hockey because people who play ice hockey are the kind of people who pick up hitchhikers, who are that kind of people," U2 singer Bono told a concert crowd on Wednesday at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium.
"Now, I know this from personal experience because I was hitchhiking in Vancouver just yesterday – actually, I was – and, this guy and his girlfriend picked me up in their truck."
That ice hockey player would be Oilers forward Gilbert Brule, who happened upon Bono and an assistant when the musicians got stranded in the rain while taking a walk in West Vancouver on Tuesday afternoon.
Brule, girlfriend Kelsey Nichols and their dog Bella were driving when they spotted the musicians asking for a ride.
Nichols was behind the wheel and initially drove past the pair until Brule convinced her that it was the Irish rock star.
"He was very cool," Bono told the crowd as he related the story. "And it turns out, he was an ice hockey player. Gilbert Brule, as it happens."
Brule and Nichols drove Bono to Horseshoe Bay, and on the trip the U2 star asked if they would like to be his guest at Wednesday's show in Edmonton.
The couple accepted, and later sold their Game 1 Stanley Cup Final tickets and booked a flight to Brule's NHL home.
Bono saluted the pair on stage on Wednesday night.
"Brule was actually a very modest man and he said, 'Where do you want to go?' And I said just take me to where the Edge is," Bono explained.
"I was so grateful, I decided that I want to be Gilbert Brule. I do. Larry is more Mark Messier, if you know what I mean.
