Hawks Win, Hmm....

I will repeat myself that I really did not care who won the Stanley Cup, because my Flames were not part of the playoffs this year. But I was hoping for the Flyers because of Scott Hartnell, a local guy who should be here in town in two weeks for the Jarret Stoll Golf Classic. So the Chicago Black Hawks have won and the Cup will be in Saskatchewan 2 x's this summer, Sopel from Saskatoon and Hendry from Nokomis. That will be 4 x's in 3 years for me to get my grubby little hands on Lord Stanley's Grail!

Again with that Eberle? And Probert...

2009-2010 ITG Heroes and Prospects

2009-2010 Upper Deck Series 1
Hey, Bobby is one of the nicest players you will ever meet.

Here's the Loot

Not a bad nights haul.

Bernie Nicholls Ranger Jersey

Bernie Nicholls Plastic stand

Trottier OPC Rookie

Nicholls OPC Rookie Card

Craig Simpson Oilers Puck, Trottier Islanders Puck
Nicholls Ranger Puck and Jimmy Mann Nordiques Puck

Bob Probert used my silver pen for every fan on the ice during the preskate. The pen ran out before I realized it. Hey Bob made sure every person on the ice before the game received an autograph. Can not knock the guy for that. Great stuff!
Anyways, Dave Ellett Leafs Puck,
Gary Leeman Leafs Puck,
Bob Propert Wings Puck

All the players except Ronning and Anderson, they hate fans....

Kinda Funny, Frozen Pond

Surfing the net today on my usual sites, I came across this auction listing by Frozen Pond. Its for a Chicago Black Hawks signed Doug Gilmour jersey. The image they use is from his signing last year at Frozen Pond. Nice jersey but that's Gilmour signing a Leafs #9 not a Hawks. I know this because its my Leafs #9. The small pic of his signature covers the personalization to me Doug made. Here's the original photo. Now this is no disrespect to Frozen Pond, just funny.

Updates...

I almost always make the jersey after the signing or if I know for sure they will be there, have it made ahead of time. So I do my best to show the updated image of the finished jersey. I have lots of signed numbers 'on the go' so it does take time to get the jerseys together. I never buy the $130 jerseys either, I am patient and pick mine up on eBay for a fraction of the cost. I still have a signed Believeau #4 that is low on the list of items to finish. Off topic for a minute...
I wish Mr. Believeau a healthy and speedy recovery from his stroke this past week. He might be the truest gentleman, ambassador of the game we will ever see.
Ok, here is my update of my Tavares and Gilmour jerseys. Turned out not too bad...

1990-1991 Team Canada World Junior Gold Medal Team 2X

This all began yesterday when I was reading a local online news article about the World Juniors. They said that the 1990-1991 Team would be at World Fest at 4:30 on New Years Eve. We planned on going in to watch the game there so this was just an excuse to get there early. Now, you have to understand, when I say the 1990-1991 Gold Medal Team, that's just the western Canada players, no one from eastern Canada showed, ie Lindros, Ricci, Potvin. As per Hockey Canada they were an hour and a half late from the program starting. We were there for the long haul so no matter to us but HC has been doing this all week. They introduced the players, NHL experience and any World Junior tidbits they could add. The players appeared to be excited to be with the guys again and most are from around here and they were shuttled off to the CAN/US game across the street after. They had an autograph session with posters for fans to get signed. I have cards of most of the guys but hey, you know me, I had jerseys and pucks galore. And yes, I did get that look from players. Most of the jerseys I had lying around so more so than anything, just putting them to good use. I played against Pat Falloon so I chatted with him for a bit about the old days. I had the Islander puck for Sillinger but did not want to come off greedy so when I went up again, I asked him if he could personalize it to my wife, avoiding the obvious assumption. They were scurried off and we watched the CAN/US game with 2000 of our best friends. Na, there were too many people for my liking. Friends who went to the game, came over to bring in the New Year with us. The 50/50 was $200,000 last night too, I have been to Flames games with 25,000 people and it was only $60,000. I am not a drinker so the alarm went off early today, bringing more tired eyes than anything else. We headed down to the brunch with the same players in -40 weather, rushed inside and had a nice meal with some new friends. Some players were a little late for the brunch, must have had a little too much fun I guess. There was a small program and then an autograph session again. I had only two logo pucks left, plus 4 blank pucks so I thought I'd get them filled. Hey at $75 a plate, I was walking out with some autographs. I chatted with Falloon again, got a picture with him. We laughed about something 'back in the day'. Most of the players were walking around so I managed to score some pics with Sillinger again, Needham and Chyzowski. I got my pucks signed and asked Sillinger about some of the games in Regina. He said he was not really worried about the Canada games, only 1 Oiler (Eberle) but Finland had 3 players drafted so he watched them pretty close. Dykhuis was bugging Sillinger about him being traded so many times. He said "She had a 1 in 9 chance to get one of your teams Mike!" The odds were not correct but funny anyway. I got to Kidd and kept a full puck for him, said I was a die hard Flames fan and got a picture with him. Cool guy...

Karl Dykuis and Scott Thorton

Regina's Mike Sillinger

Trevor Kidd

Top L-R Dave Chyzowski, Chris Snell and Dick Todd, Mike Sillinger, Mike Needham

Bottom L-R Trevor Kidd, Scott Thorton and Karl Dykhuis, Mike Needham and Steven Rice

Top L-R Mike Needham, Dave Chyzowski and Scott Thorton

Stewart Malgunas and Mike Sillinger

Reggie Leach and Fast Freddie

Well today was very unique hounding day. I headed down to the BHP Family Fest to get into some trouble. The Stanley Cup was on display all day, and for a cost of $10, with proceeds going towards the Children's Hospital Foundation, you walk away with an 8X10 print out. As soon as I walked over to the Cup, the line was long so I had to move quick. Jeremy Boyer of the Saskatoon Blades was signing at the First Nations Hockey booth. I had my Blades puck ready and snagged the first. Jim Neilson was standing around visiting so I approached for an autograph on a blank puck. He was very reserved so I just thanked him and stood back. Reggie Leach was introduced seconds later to another fellow so I waited to approach him too. I asked Reggie to sign my #7 and a Bruins puck, explaining I could not find a Flyers puck. I asked him to personalize it and he asked how to spell my name. We chatted for a bit and I then got picture with him. He went so far as to ask one of his friends to take our picture. Reggie rules, I tell you. Flash forward to the official autograph signing, I waited to get to Leach, still following my cardinal rule, "never get greedy", passing on autographs from all the guys again. I asked Leach to take a picture of his Cup ring. He said, "Sure". I did and heard him say something. I said, "Ok", and soon had his cup ring in my hand. He allowed me to put his ring on and he actually took the picture. Yes, Reggie Leach Conn Symthe winner, took this picture.

Next on the agenda was Fast Freddie Sasakamoose. I missed him at the Juno Cup in Prince Albert three years ago so this was kind of cool to finally catch him. I got him on a Team Canada puck, he was curious about the color of the pen. I told him it was silver and he asked where to sign it. I said anywhere on the logo would be fine. He had a real nice slow signature. He laughed and said he liked how that looked and said he should keep that one. If you have ever heard Freddie, you know he's a real card, really funny guy.

Now I had to get over to get my picture with the Stanley Cup. There was about a 10 minute wait and then another hour for the picture print. On my way out the door, Leach was eating some chips standing at the booth. I took my chance and walked over asking him one thing before I left. I asked Reggie Leach; Who was tougher, Bobby Clarke or him? He laughed and said, "Clarke was a (*&*^%". OMG, that was funny, kinda think he was half serious though. Hmm. The Keeper of the Cup, Phil Pritchard was walking around so I chatted with him for abit and got him on a Team Canada puck, he added "Keeper of the Cup" inscription. Christmas is coming soon but I tell you, this feels like Christmas to me aleady.

Hawerchuk, Hull and St-Pierre

Day one of the Family Fest in Saskatoon brought some mixed crowds and some happy hockey people. I arrived early to check it out, not very many people, but lots to do. There were skills competitions for the kids; accuracy, rapid fire shooting and mini games hockey games. They had old Team Canada games on the big screen and NHL 2010 for the Xbox and Wii for people to play. The Hockey Hall of Fame have a few items setup, those pictures will be posted as soon as I can get them uploaded. Lots of Gretzky, Lemieux, Crosby and the coolest thing I have seen in a long time, Paul Henderson's goal stick. More of that to come. In the far corner, I was pleasantly surprised by the setup, there were memorabilia auctions and trophies set up for people to view. The Memorial Cup, RBC Cup, ART ROSS and Calder Trophies were all there for people to view take pictures of get their pictures taken and printed on the spot, proceeds going to the Children's Hospital. Hawerchuk was scheduled to be there at 6:00 but as most hockey people, was a few minutes late.  We spotted him wandering around looking at the displays. Hey, can't knock a guy for that. They set him up by the trophies, with a catch, For $10 you could get a picture with Dale and the trophies he won, the Calder and Memorial. Hey, that's a unique experience even for this hockey freak. They printed the pics out and Dale signed them. I managed to get a #0 signed, a Jets puck and a blank puck. I asked him to personalize the number and I got his HOF year and All the Best. I think that is a cool request, and players seem to add more for you too. The next day was Dennis Hull. Mr. Hull, I mean Dennis (he gave me heck for calling him Mr. Hull) signed for about 30 people, more of an older crowd too. I got 2 pucks, 1 Black Hawk and 1 blank plus a white #1. I got my picture with him taken by Gary Peters, 1965-66 Stanley Cup Champion with the Montreal Candiens. That's kinda cool to have a Cup winner take your picture. I also got Gary on a black puck, he put the Cup year and Canadiens name. Dennis was very cool, signed lots and had some good visits with people. The third day was suppose to be Hayley Wickenheiser, hockey godess in these parts. Withthe best female hockey player in the world signing today, it was not hard to get my wife to come down with me. But when we got there, we found out Haley hurt her back and was not able to attend. Oh-oh, my wife was a little ticked but not much you could do and with the Olympics around the corner, Haley take care of that back, please...Kim St-Pierre came in her place, Kim of course is the Team Canada goalie for the upcoming games in February. She signed my Team Canada jersey and puck, and my wife for her Team Canada puck signed. We both got pictures with her and walked off. There was a First Nations hockey booth set up near so we walked over to have a look. Craig McCallum of the Prince Albert Raiders (WHL) was signing, so I managed to get a blank puck signed. They had jerseys and cards set up of First Nations NHL current and former NHL players. Rich Pilon, Jim Neilson and Freddie Sasakamoose all had some and gone from the booth but I missed them. Today at 1:00, all the guys with Reggie Leach will be at the booth so that is today's task. More to come, its just getting started!