53rd Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament - My 4th Outing

Today I had the morning off, so I headed to the Colisée Pepsi hoping to catch Rod Brind'Amour, whose son Skyler is playing for the Carolina Jr. Hurricanes.

Once I got there, I caught Benoît Hogue who was there once again this year as coach of the New York Islanders. He signed these for me:

After that I proceeded to look around the whole Colisée for Rod Brind'Amour, but I never saw him. I was told later on that he wasn't in town. At least I got Shane Willis' autograph after the game. He was there as coach of the Jr. Hurricanes. Here's what I got signed by him:

51st Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament - My 2nd Outing

Today I got to the Colisée rather early to catch Mark Messier before the New York Rangers' game. As usual, he was here as the assistant coach of the team. As he walked into the building, I got him to sign this puck:

After that, I knew I had plenty of time to get to the Galeries de la Capitale, a shopping center about 10-15 minutes away from the Colisée, to be around before the New York Islanders played an exhibition game at 10:10. When I got there, they were still in their dressing room, but their coaches were hanging out near the rink, so I was able to get all these cards autographed by Bryan Trottier and Benoit Hogue!

Afterwards, I drove back to the Colisée to try and catch Mario Lemieux as he arrived to the arena for the Pittsburgh Penguins' game at 12:40, but I soon found out from his brother Alain that Mario wouldn't be accompanying the team this year... :o( I then went and sat in the arena to watch some hockey. That's when I saw Dave Babych sitting alone and watching some games too. He was here to see his son play for the North Shore Winter Club team. I went up to where he was, sat beside him and asked him if he would sign my cards. He was surprised that anyone knew he was here (although there was an article about him being around in a local newspaper) and said he'd be happy to sign my cards:

A bit later, I went back to the Galeries de la Capitale right after the Atlanta Fire's exhibition game, since Dan Bouchard was their assistant coach and Scott Pearson was their coach. Both were nice enough to autograph my cards:

That Sharpie mark on the left of the 2^nd Scott Pearson card is the continuity of Dan Bouchard's autograph, since he was holding the Scott Pearson card right under his when he signed it... :o)

After that, I had one stop left to my busy day. I had to go to the Arpidrome, an arena where teams who had lost a game at the Colisée were relegated. I got there during the Blainville Bastions 2's game and sat in the arena. That's where I noticed Éric Desjardins sitting a few rows higher. He was there to see his son play. I went up to him at the intermission and had him sign these 3 cards:

I then waited for the game to end to get the team's coach's autograph: Stéphane Matteau!

That's how my day of hounding ended, with a respectable total of 20 new autographs!

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!