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

Today I arrived at the Colisée early to get Joé Juneau's autograph, since he's here as the coach of the Nunavik Nordiks. It took a while for him to come out of the locker rooms after the game, but he eventually did. Mr. Juneau only signed these 2 cause his players and some of their parents were waiting for him inside the Colisée.

Soon after, I caught Doug Brown as he was entering the Colisée. He was here as the coach of the powerful Detroit Belle Tire team. He took the time to sign the 2 cards that I had:

I was really surprised when I saw Mr. Brown rubbing the 2 cards before signing them to ensure that his signature would stick on those usually glossy cards! I didn't bother telling him that I had already removed the gloss on the cards with a white eraser...

I then waited for the Blainville Bastions to finish playing, as their coach is ex-NHLer Patrick Poulin. He signed these 2 cards for me when he and his team left the building:

Soon after, a bus arrived at the Colisée and it turned out to be the Penguins, who were arriving an hour and a half before their game. I got Mario Lemieux to sign this card in silver:

After getting Mr. Lemieux's autograph, I went and took a walk inside the Colisée and stumbled upon Brian Bradley, who's here as the coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning. He signed all 4 cards I had very nicely, adding the appropriate jersey number to each autograph:

I then headed back to the players' entrance where I was able to get another autograph from Al MacInnis to end my day of hounding beautifully! :o)

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

Today I went to the Colisée hoping to get autographs from Mario Lemieux and Mark Messier. Mr. Lemieux is here as the coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Mr. Messier, as the assistant coach of the New York Rangers.

The Pittsburgh Penguins were scheduled to play first, so I waited for Mario Lemieux to arrive for the game with his team. He arrived a little over an hour before the game and I was able to get him to sign this card beautifully:

Then, while the Penguins were playing, I waited for Mark Messier to arrive, since his team was scheduled to play right after the Penguins. He eventually got to the Colisée about 30 minutes before the time their game was scheduled to start. He hastily signed this card for me:

I thought he must have signed only one because he was in a hurry, as he's always been a very generous signer here at the Colisée in the past.

Soon after, the Penguins began coming out after their game and Mario Lemieux emerged from the locker rooms once again. I asked for another autograph, but he recognized me from before the game and he didn't want to sign another one for me at first, but I convinced him by telling him that I had only brought 2 cards for him to sign and that this was the last I had, so he agreed to sign it. I expected him to be a tough signer, since that's how he was last year. I understand that he must get asked hundreds of times every day though, so he probably doesn't enjoy signing twice for the same person in the same day... Anywho, here's the 2^nd card he signed for me today:

Next, I waited for the Rangers game to end so I could get a chance to get more cards signed by Mark Messier. When he came out after the game, it didn't seem to be a problem for him to sign for me once again, but he only signed this one, even though I had handed him 3 cards:

I guess that means he'll only sign one at a time during this tournament... At least he signs! :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.

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!

Mario Lemieux TTM

Mario Lemieux c/o home - 36 days - 1/1

It actually looks legit! Awesome success!