In preparation for a last preseason game tonight at the Colisée Pepsi in Quebec City, QC, against the Montréal Canadiens, the Tampa Bay Lightning held a public practice this morning from 10:30 to 11:15.
When their bus arrived, it parked outside, which was good news, since the players would have to walk from the bus to the arena. Unfortunately, there were only a few people outside waiting and none of them asked the players for autographs, except to Vincent Lecavalier! Therefore, I had to choose who I would ask for an autograph... I opted for Steven Stamkos, who signed a card for me. I was then able to get Vincent Lecavalier's autograph on a card, since he had been held up by some of the people there who had been awaiting him, as mentioned above. Here are the cards I got signed:
Even though the players went from the bus to the arena pretty quickly, I noticed Martin St. Louis wasn't in the bus. He turned up in a cab a few minutes later with Pavel Kubina. I asked Mr. St. Louis for an autograph, but he said he was late and didn't have time to sign autographs, but that he would sign after practice.
The Montréal Canadiens also had a public practice scheduled at 11:30, but when their bus arrived, it parked inside the arena, so no one was able to get any autographs before their practice...
After the Lightning's practice, their bus was parked in the arena, so most of the players walked straight from the locker room to the bus. Some players did sign a few autographs from an open door (controlled by security staff) next to where the bus was parked. I saw Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier sign autographs, but I was only able to get Vincent Lecavalier's once again:
When Tampa's bus left, the Canadiens' bus parked in its spot inside the arena, so I didn't bother waiting for their practice to end and I left.
