After the Leafs had entered the arena to practice, one of the e-bay sellers was telling people that Edmonton was having an open practice at the Ricoh coliseum and that it was open to the public. My sister's boyfriend looked at me right away and I mouthed that the guy was full of shit. I later heard that the Tampa Bay Lightning had practiced there earlier in the week and around 30 people had shown up. I guess the sellers had gotten screwed because they couldn't get as many things signed as they would have liked. Still, what an ass the guy was for trying to get people to leave.
Shortly after the Leafs had started practicing, we saw Shawn Horcoff walking through the lobby of the MCE. I wish I had my pictures on me at the time because everything we had was in the car. We went outside to grab them and just in time as another cab was pulling up. Out came Oilers captain Ethan Moreau and Sam Gagne. Both were great guys and signed everything for everyone.
Sam Gagne pretty much did a sit down signing for all the collectors. I swear he even did a last call and everything.
After this we decided it was time to go outside to try and grab the rest of the Leafs. After a couple of minutes of waiting we saw the Edmonton Oilers bus pull up to the players entrance. Unfortunately we weren't able to get anywhere near them on the way in. Things would get better though as the security would leave right after all of the Leafs were gone. Amazing. We were able to walk right into the arena to watch the Oilers practice, but fans weren't the only ones there.
A huge surprise to the afternoon was meeting one of the guests that was in attendance.... none other than Oiler great Paul Coffey. He was there with his two sons and in a bit of a hurry, but I was able to get an autograph on an oilers logo.
After the practice was done a lot of the collectors went outside to wait by the bus for the players to exit the arena. My sister, her boyfriend, myself and one other guy decided to see how close we could get to where the Oilers locker room was though. It was raining outside and we didn't want to get our pictures all wet. Sure enough, we were able to walk down the stairs and stand pretty much right beside the locker room. The only thing were were told was to make sure we were on the stairs. No problem. There we were able to call over players as they came out of the locker room.
Pat Quinn was doing interviews for the media immediately under us before we went down the stairs.
Some of the players that left the ice early had already gone out to the bus. Unfortunately, we missed Dustin Penner, Fernando Pisani, and Shawn Horcoff. Oh well. There were still plenty of guys to meet. The first player we met was Jeff Deslauriers. The guy was tall. Nice guy. Was happy to sign and take pictures.
We then grabbed pictures with Andrew Cogliano and Mike Comrie. Too bad Hilary Duff wasn't around.
Right after that, head coach and coach of the gold medal winning Team Canada World Junior team (last year), Pat Quinn, came by. I guess you have to be that big to end the career of a legend like Bobby Orr.
The last guy that came out of the room was a former member of the Sudbury Wolves, Zack Stortini. He was awesome as well, willing to sign and take pictures.
I guess if your team is in the basement of the NHL your players are happy to sign for everyone! But, like my sister's boyfriend said, it was easier than shooting fish in a barrel.
As a quick bonus picture, the three of us went to Brampton to catch the Battalion game and met injured CHL 2009 player of the year Cody Hodgson.
This guy will definately be a star with the Canucks if he can stay healthy.
Stay tuned for the next post....
A huge surprise to the afternoon was meeting one of the guests that was in attendance.... none other than Oiler great Paul Coffey. He was there with his two sons and in a bit of a hurry, but I was able to get an autograph on an oilers logo.
After the practice was done a lot of the collectors went outside to wait by the bus for the players to exit the arena. My sister, her boyfriend, myself and one other guy decided to see how close we could get to where the Oilers locker room was though. It was raining outside and we didn't want to get our pictures all wet. Sure enough, we were able to walk down the stairs and stand pretty much right beside the locker room. The only thing were were told was to make sure we were on the stairs. No problem. There we were able to call over players as they came out of the locker room.
Pat Quinn was doing interviews for the media immediately under us before we went down the stairs.
Some of the players that left the ice early had already gone out to the bus. Unfortunately, we missed Dustin Penner, Fernando Pisani, and Shawn Horcoff. Oh well. There were still plenty of guys to meet. The first player we met was Jeff Deslauriers. The guy was tall. Nice guy. Was happy to sign and take pictures.
We then grabbed pictures with Andrew Cogliano and Mike Comrie. Too bad Hilary Duff wasn't around.
Right after that, head coach and coach of the gold medal winning Team Canada World Junior team (last year), Pat Quinn, came by. I guess you have to be that big to end the career of a legend like Bobby Orr.The last guy that came out of the room was a former member of the Sudbury Wolves, Zack Stortini. He was awesome as well, willing to sign and take pictures.I guess if your team is in the basement of the NHL your players are happy to sign for everyone! But, like my sister's boyfriend said, it was easier than shooting fish in a barrel.As a quick bonus picture, the three of us went to Brampton to catch the Battalion game and met injured CHL 2009 player of the year Cody Hodgson.
This guy will definately be a star with the Canucks if he can stay healthy.
Stay tuned for the next post....
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