A chocolate Marc-André Fleury stands at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas
Already widely known as one of the NHL's nicest players, an especially sweet version of Vegas Golden Knights goalie Marc-André Fleury stands at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, made entirely out of chocolate and sugar.
The former Cape Breton Screaming Eagle played with the Sydney team from 2000 to 2004, but is now earning applause as the Knights' goalie. Fleury led his team to a first-round sweep and has only allowed three goals so far, on an expansion team that many predicted would finish near the bottom of the league standings.
"He's a huge part of the team," said Yamilet Hillers, an assistant executive pastry chef at the hotel and one of two leads for the project.
"I was here one day for like 18 hours," said Hillers. "It probably took 10 to 12 hours just to paint it."
40-kg Fleury
Her co-creator was Jerome Jacob, another assistant executive pastry chef at the Bellagio. With Hillers' background in cake and Jacobs' in chocolate, together they made the perfect team.
The 40-kilogram chocolate sculpture depicts Fleury in full hockey gear, mid-save.
"I worked on the helmet for many, many hours, just trying to replicate it," said Hillers.
The goalie pads are nine kilograms of Rice Krispies and the clothing is 4.5 kilograms of fondant. Sugar paper were used for letters and fine details.
Fleury checked out his chocolate version
The whole chocolate Fleury took five weeks to make.
It's on display at the Bellagio Patisserie, where people purchase baked goods and chocolates at the hotel.
"He actually came in between two games [to see it], which we didn't think he would do," said Hillers. "We assumed he would be resting, but he took time out of his day."
Hillers, a Golden Knights fan herself, hopes the sculpture will be moved around to celebrate the team.
"I think I'm more of a fan now after meeting him than I was before, just because he was really pleasant and humble, a really nice person," said Hillers.
'He's not edible'
Blair Joseph, an assistant coach for the Screaming Eagles when Fleury was in net for Cape Breton, said he was "blessed" to work with Fleury for four years.
"I think if you ask any of his teammates, you would have trouble getting anything negative about the guy," he said.
He said Fleury really helped make the Screaming Eagles well-known, as the 16th (and last) pick in Round 1 of the 2000 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League draft. Fifteen teams missed out by not picking Fleury, Joseph said.
"I'm just thinking, I have 14 grandchildren, wouldn't they like to get at all that chocolate," said Joseph. "It's very special. It would be great if we could get something like that at Centre 200."
Because the sculpture is out on display, Hillers said it will inevitably get a bit dusty.
"From a health-food standard, I'd say he's not edible," said Hillers. "But technically he could be."
