2008 IIHF World Championship - Russia vs. Finland and Canada vs. Sweden

The semifinals were played today, so I took the afternoon off, not knowing how the weather would be like this weekend... The afternoon's game was between Russia and Finland. Here's what I got after the game:

As you can see, very few Russian players stopped to sign...

After going home for dinner, I got back to the Colisée at the end of the game between Canada and Sweden. When Team Canada came out, I had Jonathan Toews sign my Chicago Blackhawks puck once again, but this time with my new silver marker (I had removed the ink from his previous signature with lighter fluid). It worked great!

Here's what else I got signed by the Canadians:

Team Sweden came out soon afterwards and all I got signed is this card of Henrik Lundqvist:

I was wondering why he signed it with #35, but after doing a bit of research on the Internet, I found out that he had used that number for Sweden in 2005.

2008 IIHF World Championship - Sweden vs. Czech Republic

Tonight I went to the Colisée right after the game between Sweden and the Czech Republic. The only two Czechs I got tonight are Martin Erat and Patrik Elias:

Team Sweden came out a bit after the Czechs, and Nicklas Backstrom signed this card for me (with someone else's black marker):

Team Sweden's bus left soon after, but it was obvious to me that it would come back for a second batch of players, since that's what it had done 3 days ago... Furthermore, Henrik Lundqvist had not come out yet. That's what I tried to explain to the few autograph hounds that were there, but they wouldn't have any of it. They said security had just told them that Mr. Lundqvist had taken a taxi back to his hotel, so they all left. Well sure enough, maybe 10 minutes after everyone else had left, more Swedish players came out of the Colisée and waited in the parking lot for their bus to return. Among those, I got autographs from Niclas Wallin and Henrik Lundqvist. :o)

2008 IIHF World Championship - Sweden vs. Denmark and Switzerland vs. Czech Republic

Today's afternoon game, which featured Sweden playing against Denmark, was scheduled later than usual, in the middle of the afternoon. Therefore, I was able to get to the Colisée right after work, because I really wanted to get Henrik Lundqvist's autograph. Indeed, he was playing his first game with Team Sweden today.

I made it to the Colisée pretty much as Team Sweden was coming out. Players kept coming out, but there was no sign of Henrik Lundqvist! Finally, Team Sweden's bus left without Mr. Lundqvist! I decided to wait there anyways and lo and behold, more Swedish players eventually came out of the Colisée and waited for their bus to come back! Still, Henrik Lundqvist was the last one to come out, but by that time there was only me and some other guy left, so he signed for both of us before getting on the bus, which had returned. Here's the card I got signed:

I went back to the Colisée after the Switzerland vs. Czech Republic game, but I didn't do very well, as most Czech players said they didn't have time to sign because the bus was waiting for them... Only Patrik Elias signed for me: