Guy Lafleur's Farewell Tour IP

Earlier today, Guy Lafleur played his last alumni game ever at the Colisée in Quebec City. It was a game between the Québec Nordiques alumni and the Montréal Canadiens alumni. For the occasion, the 3 Stastny brothers (Peter, Anton and Marian) played together for the first time since 1994 and Joe Sakic also played for the 1^st time since he announced his retirement in 2009. I had a great time at the game! Guy Lafleur was very emotional during his speech after the game...

Even though the game took place in the afternoon, I arrived to the Colisée early to catch the players as they arrived to the arena. It allowed me to get autographs from a few players who didn't sign after the game, such as Joe Sakic, Peter Stastny and Guy Lafleur! Here are scans of all the autographs I got today:

And here’s who I missed: Anton Stastny (wouldn't sign before or after the game), Marian Stastny (same), Guy Lapointe, Claude Lemieux and others who I didn't know would be there, such as Donald Brashear and Mario Roberge...

Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament - Final Day

Today I went to the Colisée to watch some games and see who would win the Tournament. I wasn't planning on hounding since I was going with my girlfriend, but I still brought cards with me, just in case I'd come across an ex-NHLer... :o)

As my girlfriend and I were watching the Inter B finals between the Colorado Avalanche and the Hershey Bears, I noticed someone resembling Pierre Turgeon sitting a few sections from ours. When there were only a few minutes left to the game, I headed to that section and sure enough, it was Pierre Turgeon, who I had missed during my 1^st outing of the tournament! I went to his seat when the game ended, asked him if he would sign a few cards for me and I got these signed:

I also offered 2 extra cards so that he could give them to whoever else would request his autograph that day. He thanked me, signed them and gave them to the guy who was sitting with him, who appeared to be an assistant-coach for the Colorado Thunderbirds.

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!