Félix Potvin TTM

Félix Potvin c/o Les Cantonniers de Magog - 28 days - 3/3

Réal Cloutier IP

Réal Cloutier was signing autographs for a cystic fibrosis foundation at the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament today. All I had with me was a 3" X 4½" blank card, so Mr. Cloutier signed it for me:

I also told him I would have brought a card of his had I known he would be there, to which he replied that all his cards are pretty much worthless anyway... hahaha :o)

Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament - My 3rd Day

I had a day off work today, so I decided to go to the Colisée once again and try my luck for another autograph by Mario Lemieux, whose Penguins were scheduled to play shortly before noon.

When I arrived though, the New York Rangers were playing, so at the end of the game, I went to the players' entrance hoping Mark Messier would come up from the locker room that way. He indeed came up soon enough and signed a puck for another guy and these for me:

I then waited for the Penguins to arrive, so I could catch Mario Lemieux as soon as he entered the Colisée. The Penguins eventually arrived, but Mario Lemieux really got swarmed as soon as he entered the Colisée, which makes me wonder where all these people were hiding as 2 minutes earlier, there were only two of us + the security guys! I still succeeded in getting Mr. Lemieux to autograph one of my cards:

He was really in a hurry when he signed it, so it's definitely not his greatest autograph, but I don't really care! The marker he used really sucked though (it wasn't mine)...

After the Penguins game, I tried to get Mr. Lemieux to autograph another one of my cards, since I thought I knew where he would be coming out this time. Sure enough, after some time, he came out of the garage door that I expected him to come out of, in the same Chevy Tahoe he was in last Saturday. Unfortunately, when I showed him my card and my Sharpie, he shook his head and refused to roll down his window to sign... Oh well, at least I got another one earlier today!

I also saw Pierre Turgeon, Pat LaFontaine and Benoit Hogue today, but hadn't brought anything for them, as I had already gotten their autographs last weekend.

Martin Straka TTM

Martin Straka c/o home - 14 days - 3/3

Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament - My 2nd Day

Today I arrived at the Colisée shortly before noon. The New York Islanders were scheduled to play this morning, but I had already gotten Pat LaFontaine and Benoit Hogue's autographs yesterday, so even though I still had 2 cards for Pat LaFontaine, I only brought them in case I would come across him in the corridor. As it turned out, the New York Islanders (including the coaches) were coming up from their locker room as I was arriving! Pat Lafontaine signed everything for the 3-4 people waiting for him and took pictures with them, so I also got him to sign my 2 cards:

Next I stayed at the entrance where the teams arrived and waited for Martin Brodeur, as I had heard he might come and watch his son play for the Nashville Predators (Mr. Brodeur played in Ottawa yesterday and his next game is only tomorrow night).

While I was waiting there, I saw Joé Juneau, who was at the Tournament as the coach of the Kuujjuaq team. He signed these 3 cards for me:

Finally, I heard Mr. Brodeur would not be coming to the Colisée today...

After watching a couple of games, I went back to the players' entrance to wait for Mark Messier's arrival. Once again this year, he was here coaching the New York Rangers with his father. He showed up with his team a little over an hour before his team was scheduled to take the ice. He seemed in a good mood and signed the 3 cards I handed him!

I then went home soon after that, so that's all I got signed today!

Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament - My 1st Day

The Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament is held in Quebec City every year at the Colisée, about 10 minutes from where I live.

I got there early today, as the Colorado Avalanche, coached by Pierre Turgeon, were playing at 8 AM. After the game, I found Mr. Turgeon sitting in the Colisée watching a game and talking with family. I didn't want to interrupt, but some man who was talking with him (possibly his father) told him I had some cards for him to sign, so he took a minute and happily signed these for me:

Next, I went to the entrance where the teams arrived and I waited for none other than Mario Lemieux, who was coaching the Pittsburgh Penguins. They were only scheduled to play past noon, but I wanted to make sure I would catch Mr. Lemieux as he arrived. While I was waiting for him, another Lemieux, Claude Lemieux, passed me by. I had him sign these 3 cards:

Finally, Mario Lemieux and his Penguins arrived, but I couldn't get to him since there were too many people arriving at the same time, so I missed him by maybe 10 feet as he went downstairs to the locker rooms.

Not long after that, I noticed some kids wearing New York Islanders jackets, so I watched to see where they were going, because I knew they had Pat LaFontaine and Benoit Hogue as coaches! I recognized Pat LaFontaine not far from there and got him to sign these 2 cards:

Then I got Benoit Hogue to sign this one for me (too bad I didn't have a black Sharpie with me!):

A bit later, as I was watching the Pittsburgh Penguins game, I saw Donald Audette in a section near mine, so I went and caught him as he was leaving for the locker rooms (he was coaching the Montreal Canadiens, who were scheduled to play later in the afternoon). He signed these 2 cards for me:

After the Penguins game, I went back to the entrance leading to the locker rooms (the security guys were nice to me and let me wait there). I saw Patrick Roy coming down the stairs, but I didn't have anything for him to sign. Eventually, the Pittsburgh Penguins all got out of their locker rooms and onto their bus, but there was no sign of Mario Lemieux. I then waited outside of the Colisée to make sure I wouldn't miss him. That's when I saw a Chevy Tahoe with Mr. Lemieux in the passenger seat. He had used another exit... Since the Tahoe eventually stopped to wait for the Penguins bus, I went to the passenger's window and asked him if he would sign a card for me, which he did! Here it is:

I had other cards for him to sign, but I decided it would have to wait for another day, since they were in my mini binder and I would have had to take some time to get them out... A guy working for security later told me that he'd gone downstairs to the locker rooms with another guy so that he could get some flag signed, but Mr. Lemieux told them he wouldn't sign anything today, that he'd already signed for many people earlier this week. I guess I got lucky, I was one of the only (if not the only) guy to get his autograph at the Colisée today!

I didn't get any other autographs today, as I spent the rest of the afternoon watching games with my girlfriend and a friend of ours!

Eric Lindros TTM

Eric Lindros c/o NHLPA - 7 days (!!!) - 3/3

Very quick return! I'm not sure why he signed the back of a card instead of its front though, since there was plenty of space to sign on the front! Still very happy!

Mikhail Grabovski TTM

Mikhail Grabovski c/o Hamilton Bulldogs - 35 days - 2/2

Unfortunately, he used a really bad marker. In fact, it looks like he used a crayon! Since the cards looked so bad, I later removed the autographs. All it took was a tissue, and I didn't even have to apply any pressure on the card! I'd bet he used a crayon! Weird... I'll have to resend next season!