Within the game of hockey, there's something magical about the number 50. It represents a watershed mark for goal scorers, a number than clearly defines the difference between an awesome season and one that's merely great.That philosophy, I believe, can be extended to hounding. To get 50 autographs in a single outing, let alone an entire day, is pretty remarkable. But that's what I was able to do Thursday when the Montreal Canadiens, in town to play the Lightning, headed to, and back from, the team's morning skate.
What really stands out, though, is the diversity of the additions to our collection:
~ Thirty cards with 31 signatures, including a Generations card featuring talented Canadiens past and present;
~ Nine pucks, including those shown above, as well as a pair from a promising rookie goalie;
~ Five cheap skate cards;
~ Three signatures from Montreal legends on a Canadiens replica jersey; and
~ Two wallpaper 8x10s signed by Saku Koivu and Alex Kovalev.
Pucks, shown above:
Top row: Kyle Chipchura and Cristobal Huet
Bottom row: Andrei Kostitsyn and Michael Ryder
Cards, shown below:
Top row: Francis Bouillon, Chris Higgins, Mike Komisarek and Andrei Kostitsyn
Bottom row: Maxim Lapierre, Guillaume Latendresse, Andrei Markov and Tomas Plekanic.
4 comments:
50? That's crazy, I've only done that once in my life. Hopefully the Habs keep it up when they come to NYC this weekend. My Christmas break has been pretty hectic. Saturday I drove out to Long Island to hound the Caps all day, and came away with 2 Kolzig 8x10s, a Nylander 8x10, an Ovechkin 8x10 (signed on the ice with somebody elses silver sharpie) and 39 cards, the highlights of which include 2 Tom Potis, 4 Kolzigs, a Tomas Fleischmann, a Blake Comeau, and 2 Alex Semins. Ovechkin was funny, because last year somebody posted a video of him not signing at the coliseum on Youtube (search Alex Ovechkin signing.) Saturday after he signed he kept asking which one of us had posted the video.
Sunday I went after the Senators before the game, getting Ray Emery, Jason Spezza, Wade Redden, and Dany Heatley on 8x10s and adding 15 cards to the collection. After the game, I got Spezza on a card and Chris Kelly on a card as they took a van to the airport, and then got 8x10s signed by Sean Avery, Ryan Callahan, Nigel Dawes, Chris Drury, and Henrik Lundqvist, and card signed by Marc Staal.
Wednesday may have been one of my best days ever graphing, simply for the quality. I went after the Rangers both before and after the game, and got 2 Henrik Lundqivst 8x10s, a Brendan Shanahan 8x10, a Ryan Hollweg 8x10, a Petr Prucha 8x10, a Dan Girardi 8x10, 4 Hollweg cards, a Prucha card, a Drury card, a Dubinsky card (1 per,) a Shanahan card, and a Mara card. Congrats on the Canadiens haul, and good luck and good health in the new year.
Congrats on the 50, just wondering, were there any habs players going out of their way to sign? or any the opposite, barely signing for anyone?
Chuck V: Sorry for the delay. I'm just now getting back into the normal day routine. Best wishes to you and yours, too, for 2008 and beyond.
Justin:
There weren't any players who really went out of their way to sign (maybe Ryan O'Byrne), but most everyone we saw signed.
As you can expect, Montreal's big names -- Koivu, Kovalev and Huet -- stuck to a one-per, for the most part. Team brass, specifically Gainey, Carbonneau and Jarvis were real good.
We didn't see Brisebois or Dandenault that morning. All things considered, it's easy to pass on them.
haha. I know that this is an old post, but to get 50 autos in a single outing is just SWEEET...an outing that you will never forget. Thanks for sharing!
Andrew
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