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.
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.
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.
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