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!