Adventures with David Pastrnak and Fortnite
With the severe outbreak of COVID-19 pausing the NHL season, many Bruins have found new ways to keep themselves and their fans entertained. While toilet paper and push up challenges have taken over Instagram accounts, David Pastrnak’s live streams of Fortnite on the streaming service, Twitch, seem to be the favorite among Bruins Nation.
For anyone unaware, Fortnite is a very popular survival video game that came out in 2017. Players attempt to be the last one standing after battling other players. There are multiple modes for the game, including singles, duos, squads, and more.
Before Pastrnak started live streaming, he posted on his Instagram story, asking if anyone wanted the opportunity to play with him. Handfuls of people replied to him, wanting the chance to play, myself included. While I wasn’t amongst the lucky group that got to play (it’s probably for the best, I just hide in the bushes hoping no one sees me), I got to chat with Haley (@pastrnk on twitter) about her experience playing with one of the NHL’s leading goal scorers.
Haley's direct message to Pastrnak (3/16/20)
“Playing with Pasta was amazing. I never expected it to happen so I was totally unprepared. He was really nice and was asking me about my life, family, and my [Instagram] account for him.”
I followed up with her asking if she was nervous to play because I know I would be.
“I was really nervous, the whole time he was leading the conversation and I was super quiet and when I did talk my voice was really shaky, even the second and third time I still found it hard to play and talk with him.” They played a total of three rounds and, despite not winning any, Pastrnak said, “not to worry because they were just there to have fun”.
It was Pastrnak’s idea to do the live stream to stay connected with fans during the long break. Haley revealed that she was one of the first to know about the idea, “It was his idea, and before he told anyone about it he DMed me (direct messaged) me telling me I was the first to know, and I think I was sort of the test run for him, as it was just me.”
Fans also got the opportunity to witness other players get in on the action. Jake DeBrusk, Torey Krug, and ex-bruin Noel Acciari all played too. As soon as Krug played his first game, they racked up their first win, proving that #47 is the key to winning.
Haley and I are both in agreement that our favorite game to watch were when #88, #74, #47, and ex-#55 all teamed up to play. However, you cannot rule out the games that Pasta and JD played together. Jake provided his renditions of Bohemian Rhapsody and Alicia Keys through his microphone as well as screaming “GOLD CHESTY!” whenever he found a treasure chest full of ammo. Song requests filed in quite quickly, through the chat on Twitch, after Jake proved to be the next Beyonce, but fans were ashamed to learn that he did not know any One Direction.
The Chat on the stream allows viewers to connect with the streamer. Pasta is greeted with comments every time he goes live about how he’s doing during the break, what he had for dinner, or what color fans should dye their hair (I admittedly commented on that). And, it allows Bruins Nation to connect with a player and ask them desired questions that they might not get the chance to during the regular season.
While hockey is missed all over New England, I can assure Bruins devotees that, if you need something to do, tuning in to Twitch will give you the chance to see what your favorite players are up to and allows you to connect with them, unlike you have before.
After logging in to Twitch, search “martialapple250” (Pastrnak’s username) to find old streaming videos, a button to follow him, and the ability to turn on notifications to be notified when he is streaming live. Happy watching!