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.
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.
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