By DON BRENNAN, Sun Media
November 23, 2009
Mike Fisher made a vow to his girlfriend of almost a year when she wrote a love note to him for all the world to see.
“I told her that when my CD came out, I’d return the favour,” the Senators centre said with a laugh after Saturday’s 5-3 win over Buffalo.
In an exclusive interview with Sun Media, Fisher also chuckled when asked if he had any immediate plans to propose to country singing superstar Carrie Underwood, who he has been dating since near the start of this year.
“Who are you, Ellen?” he joked, referring to Ellen DeGeneres, the popular daytime TV host who last week pressed Underwood with similar questions.
While saying there are no marriage plans in the immediate future, Fisher admitted Underwood is just his second “serious girlfriend.”
“There’s been only one other girlfriend, really,” he said. “It lasted a while, but it was a long time ago.”
Underwood told Ellen that her relationship with Fisher represents the longest she has had with a boyfriend. A 26-year-old Grammy winner who calls Nashville home, Underwood responded with an emphatic “no” when asked if she and Fisher plan on moving in together.
“Call me old-fashioned,” she said, “He’s there. I’m here. We’re both doing our thing and it’s good. The next guy I move in with will be my hubby, whoever that is. I’m not saying it’s going to be him.”
But there’s also no question of how she feels about Fisher.
In the liner notes of her new CD, Play On, Underwood wrote “thank you #12.”
“You are the most amazing addition to my life!” the inscription stated. “You are such a wonderful person and have had such an amazing hand in the building of this album and in the growth of me as a person. I love you so much. You make my life better in every way! I thank God for you every day ... xoxo, Carrie.”
Fisher was tickled by the message.
“Obviously, it was very nice,” he said. “I was happy she included me in something like that.”
The 29-year-old Senator was also discussed when Underwood appeared on Live With Regis and Kelly earlier this month.
“You got yourself a good-looking brute,” said Regis Philbin, holding up a large photo of Fisher to the studio audience.
“He is, yeah,” replied Underwood. “He told me to tell you hello.”
Fisher chuckled over being referred to as a “brute.”
“I saw it,” he said of the TV appearance. “I got the schedule. I can’t miss it, you know. Yeah it was fun. I wish they had a better picture, but ...
“I like Regis and Kelly.”
Despite the attention from the entertainment world, Fisher said he and Underwood would prefer to keep their romance out of the tabloids and public eye.
“We’re pretty private, and we obviously want to keep it that way,” he said. “Keep our relationship and details really private. But at the same time, we’re both happy with the way things are.
“I’m obviously happy, and it’s been a good start so far on the ice, and things are great off the ice.”
Fisher and Daniel Alfredsson have been Ottawa’s best two players. At the 20-game mark, Fisher has nine goals and is second in team scoring with 20 points, a key member of the team’s 11th-ranked penalty kill and 17th in the league on faceoffs with a 54.4 winning percentage.
Fisher, who is coming off a sub-par 2008-09 campaign in which he had 32 points, thinks his relationship with Underwood has played a part in his success thus far. He says he meets up with Underwood more often than most people know and when her schedule prevents her from watching a game, she listens to it.
“Yeah, there definitely can be (a tie-in) ... she expects me to score every night now,” laughed Fisher, who has six points in the three games heading into tonight’s Scotiabank Place meeting with Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. “This year, I think, I felt a little more relaxed coming into the season. Because of the bad season I had last year, there was kind of less pressure, and I was like, you know what, I’m just going to play and have fun.”
Fisher, who has worked his way into consideration with the Team Canada selection committee, admits his confidence is high.
“I think I’m playing pretty good, but I really don’t know what they’re looking for, as a team. There are so many good players that can come in and play. Obviously, it would be definitely a thrill. Maybe they are looking at me, but who knows?
“I feel really good. It’s amazing what confidence will do. I just want to keep it going. I feel now I’m playing offensively like I always knew I can.
“I definitely feel so much better with the puck ... I’m relaxed.”
Meanwhile, off-ice interests aren’t about to lead him to GM Bryan Murray’s office.
“No, I don’t want a trade to Nashville,” he joked.
By Ken Warren, The Ottawa Citizen
