Unbe-leaf-able - JS Giguere, Colton Orr, Wendel Clark, Alex Pietrangelo, Stefan Della Rovere

I know... a terrible title, especially for all of us that live in Ottawa. My sisters boyfriend, however, is a huge Toronto Maple Leafs fan. I had found out about a free autograph session Centre Sports in the ACC with the resident tough guy, Colton Orr, and one of the new Leafs, J.S. Giguere.

We left Ottawa at around 5 am in order to make sure we would be at the store before its opening at 10am as a "wristband" policy was in effect. This meant that the first 80 fans that made it to the store would receive a blue wristband and a guaranteed autograph. Everyone else would receive a numbered yellow wristband and would only receive and autograph if time permitted.

We made it to the store early enough to grab the blue wristband, looked around the store for a bit and then headed into the city. The Q&A and autograph session wasn't until 2pm. We headed to the Eaton's Centre to look around for a bit and then went to Wayne Gretzky's for lunch before returning to the ACC.

When we returned, there were roughly 75 people in front of us in line for the Q&A, which meant we wouldnt have a great spot to see the players. The players were about fifteen minutes late for the 1 hour event. C'mon Leafs.... late for the Q&A and autograph session.... always late for the playoffs etc. The most notable question asked was "how much of a hard-ass will Wilson be on Monday at practice after bringing home the silver medal". After a brief Q&A the autograph signing started. Again, like most sessions, there were no posed photos with the players.

After the signing we tried to figure out what to do, so we looked for any junior games that were being played around the area. We only had one game to choose from: the Barrie Colts against the Niagara Ice Dogs. And hey, we found out about a signing in Alliston, Ontario, on the way to Barrie with Maple Leaf great Wendel Clark. We had a problem though, nothing for him to sign.

Panicking, we tried to find an internet cafe to try and download a photo which we would then take to Wal-Mart to get printed. There were none near us. Next plan, take my sister's I-phone and download a picture and somehow try and extract that at the photolab. She had her hookup for her phone which had a USB hookup which helped. We found a good picture and booted it to Wal-Mart to get some prints. Sure enough the USB and the printer couldn't read the I-phone. So, what did we end up doing? We bought a memory stick, took one of the demo computers in Wal-Mart, hooked the I-phone up to the computer and copied the picture to the memory stick. Somehow I felt that this might not have been appreciated had the staff known what we did. We then hurried to Alliston and made it just in time for the signing.

We then headed to the Barrie Molson Centre for the game and luckily I had already had some prints done for this Friday's upcoming game in Ottawa against Barrie. Having never been to the arena, we didnt really know where to meet some players after the game, so we tried to find the token crazy fan with autographs all over their jersey. Sure enough, he told us where to go after the game. The one problem we had was that Alex Pietrangelo, the Team Canada defenceman and 4th overall pick in the 2008 draft. He had been suspended earlier in the week for throwing water at a referee after a disputed call. I figured he would be somewhere in teh crowd, and sure enough, we spotted him in the media box. Because the arena is so small, the media must go down through the crowd to exit.

With about two minutes to go in the game, we headed to where the players would come to sign autographs. With about a minute left in the game Pietrangelo came our way to head down to the dressing room and I was able to get a picture signed by him.

One by one, the players began coming up the stairs to sign for the fans. We were then able to get Stefan Della Rovere on a picture again.

A pretty good day for autopraphs.

Another Legend to the Mix!! Guy Lafleur

Only a week after meeting "Mr. Hockey", I was fortunate enough to meet Guy Lafleur. I want to start this post, however, by talking about my trip to the first ever outdoor AHL game down in Syracuse.

We left early Saturday morning to head down to the game. The game was being held at the New York State Fairgrounds just outside of Syracuse and featured the host Crunch against the Binghamton Senators. The grandstands were filled with fans and the AHL attendence record was broken on this day. Among the highlights were: a skydiver who brought the ceremonial puck to the game, a fly over by two jets, and a fan zone that featured autographs by former AHL stars.

The experience started off horribly as the highway to the game was jammed full and, even though the game was delayed by a half an hour because of this issue, we were still late for the game and missed the pre-game festivities. Other than that, the game was great and the weather couldn't have been better.

Now, on to the main reason for this post. In town on Sunday were the Montreal Canadiens old-timers to play against a team made up of company owners and radio personalities. Among those featuredin the game were Sergio Momesso, Enrico Ciccone, Stephane Richer, Yves Racine, Yvon Lambert, Patrice Brisebois, and the man everyone was there to see Guy Lafleur.

The game was great, high scoring and fun for the crowd. After the game, we waited by the Olympiques dressing room that hosted the "Anciens Canadiens". There were so many fans and the publicist for the team told everyone that the team would not be signing autographs and that they had a dinner reception to hurry to. Things looked terrible at that point, but, they would get better.

We walked out the side door where the team would exit and saw the bus waiting there for the players. The first player outside was Stephane Richer who ignored everyone waiting and walked right onto the bus. Not a good start. I decided it might be better to stand inside in the corrider before the players would walk outside to the waiting crowd and it paid off. We were able to get Sergio Momesso to sign a jersey. Next Enrico Ciccone came by and signed the jersey and happily took a picture.

After Mr. Ciccone left, Richard Sevigny came by and signed a photo for me. This was getting much better after Stephane gave us a rough start.

Next was the man himself, Guy Lafleur. There were many people waiting for him now, but he signed many autographs for people and I was able to get my picture signed by him. I tried to get a photo with him, but there were just so many people around that it was impossible to get him.

Yvon Lambert came out next holding a beer and walked right past everyone, ignoring autograph requests much the same way Richer did. I was very surprised by this actually. I had met Yvon Lambert at a dinner before and he was very willing to sign and take pictures that day. After Mr. Lambert got onto the bus, we went back inside and were able to get the jersey signed by Karl Dykhuis and get a picture with him.

All in all, another great day with a legend.

February 11 to 14 weekend roundup

Thursday, February 11, 2010

What a busy weekend for autographs and pictures!!! My great string of run-ins started on Thursday at the Ottawa Senators game. They were playing against the Washington Capitals in the battle of the two hottest teams in the league. What a great game...high scoring and plenty of action. Among those in attendence was HHOFer Gordie Howe. He was at the game as a guest of Helix Hearing.

I had read in the newspaper that Mr. Howe would be at the game, but the gentleman at customer service said that he was only at the game as a guest and not doing autographs as originally thought. After the second period, I went down from my seats to the lobby and saw a line starting to form. It was for pictures with Gordie!! I got in line right away. Mr. Howe wasnt signing autographs but I was fortunate enough to grab a picture with the legend.

Unfortunately, it didnt turn out the greatest as my camera picked up enough light from the rink not to put a flash.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Another great day for graphs and pics. My sister and I had a plan to head down to the Robert Guertin Arena to meet some of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, and then head over to the Civic Centre as the Barrie Colts.

First, we went to the Guert and were there roughly fifteen minutes before the bus arrived. Once we saw the bus coming, we quickly gathered our sharpies and pictures to meet Jordan Caron, a member of Team Canada at the 2010 World Junior Hockey Championships.

One of the biggest surprises of the whole ordeal was that one of the first few players off the bus was none other than suspended Team Canada captain Patrice Cormier. I had gotten a picture of him printed earlier in the year before he was suspended, but left the photo at home because I though there was no chance he would travel with the team.

After a few other players went by, Jordan came into the building and had no problem signing for us and posing for pictures....after all, we were the only ones there.

After meeting Jordan, my sister and I headed to the Civic Centre to watch the 67s play the Barrie Colts. I must say, the Barrie Colts will definately give the Spitfires a run for the OHL championship.

After the game is done, we went outside to wait by the bus as I know that Alex Pietrangelo sometimes sneaks out the side door of the building to avoid large crowds.

The first player that we met was Alex Burmistrov, a projected first round pick in the 2010 NHL draft, but I will save those images for my first round draft pick blog after the draft.

The next player we met was Team Canada gold medalist from 2009 at the World Juniors and also a member of the 2010 team, Stefan Della Rovere. What a great guy. He chated us up for a couple of minutes before heading onto the bus.

The last player out of the building was Alex Pietrangelo, a top five NHL draft pick and member of Team Canada's gold medal team in 2009 and also member of the 2010 team. He seemed a bit irritated that people were asking him for autographs, but turned out to be a good guy and signed and took pictures for everyone that was waiting.

Three Team Canada members in one day isn't bad!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

The last player I met on the weekend was none other than Kingston Frontenacs coach Doug Gilmour. I had already met Dougie before, as mentioned in my blog, but, like Patrick Roy, you can never have enough signatures in your collection. Besides, my sister's boyfriend is a huge Toronto Maple Leafs fan and really wanted to meet him also.

We waited outside by the bus after the game because Dougie almost always tries to duck out the side. Sure enough, we saw him coming from there. He is almost always the first person on the bus, so there isnt much waiting around. Dougie signed a few autographs for myself and was great with everyone as always. He's a class act.

Thanks for reading this far. I hope to have another post after this next weekend.

First Blog....Recap Time (2 of 2)

Actors

Mr. T

The very first celebrity that I met was back in 2000 in Calgary. We were in town for the Grey Cup and took in a Flames vs. Ducks game. Low and behold, the fan of the game turned out to be none other than Mr. T. Unbelievable. He was one of my childhood heroes and had no problem letting me have a picture with him.

Michael Douglas

I went to Humber College in Toronto back in 2001 and worked for Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment at the ACC. I was lucky enough to meet some celebrities but wasn't allowed to ask for photos or autographs as I was working. I was fortunate enough to be able to sneak in this picture with Michael Douglas

Kevin Smith

I was in Toronto for work this past summer and was able to drive to Brantford for the Walter Gretzky Ball Hockey tournament. Kevin had found out about it while surfing the web and decided to enter a team. He was great with the fans but unfortunately wasn't around for very long in between games. He seemed to take off quite quickly, but I still managed a picture and an autograph.

I also have pictures with Tom Green, Dustin Diamond (Screech on Saved by the Bell), Joseph Gannascoli (Vito on the Sopranos), and adult film stars Ron Jeremy and Katie Morgan.

Thanks for reading one of the first of my many to come blogs. I plan to show pictures and autographs of many more celebrities to come.

Brian

First Blog....Recap Time (1 of 2)

My first blog entry!! I got this idea from a gentleman who lives in South-West Ontario. Living close to the GTA provides him with many more opportunities to meet celebrities than here in Ottawa. I was reading his blog and thought that people too might be interested in the celebrities and autographs that I add to my collection.

I must first start by saying that I am purely a collector. I see regulars who always seem to get as many things signed as they can, as often as they can, and then they turn around and sell those items on e-bay. I don't judge them for doing this, I mean, my collection is probably worth a small fortune also. The problem I do have with them is they make it difficult for the Average Joe to get an autograph from a big name athlete or famous celebrity. Celebrities have the impression that anyone who asks them for an autograph will then turn around and sell the item for a large profit. I guess that is the nature of autograph collecting.

My first blog might be a bit longer than the ones that I will post in the future, but I wanted to give a very brief recap of the celebrities that I have met and some of the autographs that I have already collected.

Hockey
I have met a few big name athletes over the years. My collection of photographs and athletes include the following:

Patrick Roy

Very approachable. I have met him a few times over the past two seasons. I have two jerseys signed (one Montreal and one Colorado) and a few pictures. You can never have enough Roy autographs in your collection.

Doug Gilmour

One of the nicest guys. Always willing to sign but will avoid a big crowd if he can. I have a Calgary Flames jersey of his signed as well as a few pictures.

Dion Phaneuf
This one was in Ottawa at the Redbull Flugtag event. He was one of the celebrity judges. I wish I collected autographs at the time.

There are a ton of other hockey players that I have met. I will do a few throwback posts to show more pictures during a slow time.

MMA
Of all of the celebrities that I have met, I would say that the majority are MMA fighters and personalities. I have attended four UFC pay-per-views including UFC 100. This event was held at the same time as the first UFC fan expo. There I was able to get pictures and autographs from many, many fighters. Here are just a few:

Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell
A UFC hall of famer and one tough SOB. He doesn't like to sign a ton of autographs for the same reason that explained at the start of this blog. Unfortunately, I don't have his autograph yet.

Tito Ortiz
The Huntington Beach Badboy. One of my favourite MMA fighters, but one huge mellon on the guy.

Michael "The Count" Bisping
My favourite fighter. I met him at UFC 100 before he got knocked out by Dan Henderson.

Dana White

UFC president and a great guy. Very straight-forward and shows great appreciation to the fans of the UFC.