Luke Schenn and Johnny Bower-Leafs Day!

I just received these in the mail from Frozen Pond this week. I sent the Schenn jersey in for the signing there earlier and the Bower #1 was from Bowers signing in March. This was the signing where Mr. Bower confirmed the send in jersey from johnnybower.net was authentic. Just to make sure though, I told them to get a #1 signed for me and if the other jersey was not real, I could just trade the #1 over. Luckily, both Bower jerseys are real and that makes the Bower jersey count; 4. The Schenn jersey count; 4 also.

Wayne Gretzky Autographed Ranger Photo Last Game-Personalized

As promised, I received 4 signed photos all personalized. This is a beautiful 8x10 from WGA, so Wayne Gretzky's desk...lol! So does this go in the frame? Walter G is a great man, thanks so much!

Wayne Gretzky Autographed Ranger Photo Last Game-Personalized

I received my signed Wayne Gretzky last game photos from Walter Gretzky today as promised. Personalized to each of us! Photos on Sunday! Wow....

Paul Henderson's Team Canada 1972 Jersey

The Paul Henderson's Team Canada 1972 Jersey Tour was in Saskatoon today. The tour is funded by Smart Centres owned by Mitchell Goldhar and is traveling across Canada to share the jersey with Canadians. I was there a few minutes after it opened to be welcomed at the door by a Tour Worker. He was welcoming and held the door open for me. The first area was a small room which had a few Team Canada items. The first was a framed Team Canada 1972 Card set. This is where is got very cool, very quick. The whole card set was signed by Team Canada 1972 Team. This was owned by Mr. Henderson and on loan to the Tour. I was impressed by the entrance and the lady offered me a 1972 Goal Scarf and button. Hmmm, very cool.

I went through the curtain to see the Holy Grail of sports collectibles and sports memorabilia.
I honestly was at a loss for words at first. We are all collectors and here was perhaps the top piece of sports memorabilia in Canada. I took pictures of the displays, it was hard to believe the entire display area was on the back of a semi truck. There was lots of room to walk and even sit down. I overheard one of the workers tell a patron Mr. Henderson would not sign autographs. They were afraid people would be lined up around the block in each city and loose the appeal of the jersey. Eeek, that sucks. That would have made my top 3 for sure but oh well....
They announced that Mr. Henderson would be showing up at 1:00pm and we could just hang out and wait. So, I sat at the bench in front of his jersey and took pictures, yes for 20 mins, I took close to 50 pictures of the same thing. But, well worth it.
I had my back turned to the jersey and heard Mr. Henderson's voice. He showed up just after 1:00 laughing that his 6 concussions was the reason why he was late. He told stories and took questions from the audience. I asked him if, they were ever scared if they had any success while playing in Moscow. He said they were not scared but nervous. They were locked down at night and had to hand their keys in to the desk at night. He also mentioned that he thought the whole area Team Canada was in was bugged so they never offered anything but some, as Mr. Henderson said, "They'd think I was a great lover!"
I will post a few more stories and post all of the picture tomorrow. And no autographs, but answer me this; should I be mad? I don't feel disappointed at all. Would you be?
A picture with Paul Henderson with his jersey while you're wearing a Team Canada jersey.

Wow, A Very Cool Night...A Guy Name Bower....

We attended the Oldtimer Game tonight and wow, a very cool night. The pregame public skate brought out Gary Leeman and Bernie Nicholls. They skated with people, signed autographs and chatted with everyone. I asked Bernie for a pic and to sign and puck and he was more than happy to oblige. I chatted with Bernie and asked him a few questions about what he has been up to. He mentioned he was at Gretzky's Fantasy Camp three weeks ago and he is a ready to go moose hunting soon. He is a down to earth guy, very cool to chat with.

We headed up to grab our seats and were pleasantly surprised with someone we ran into.

Theo signed and took pics with about 15 people. He looks very happy with his life now. I grew up in the town next to Theo and was buddy's with his brother growing up. I mentioned this to Theo and he said that Teddy was upstairs. I went up to find him and we chatted for about 15 mins. I bought the Theo Team Canada photo for $20.
Good deal.
I was not prepared to buy a $120 Oldtimer jersey again, so I made sure I got all the things signed that I brought.

Top R-L Igor Kravchuk, Bryan Trottier, Val Bure Theo Fleury, Bernie Nicholls, Val Bure Trottier Card
Hey, I am being a jerk now...Here's the good stuff.....

This was really cool to have Mr. Bower in attendance. He signed for a charge though, a little step but I finally got my own Bower jersey signed in person. I have 4 signed Bower jerseys now, only 1 signed in person. I mentioned I met him in Spiritwood and he smiled and said how much fun that was. So, $40 to get a signed Johnny Bower jersey when he's sitting right in front of you, would you do it? Yah, I didn't even blink....


Signed Theo Fleury Team Canada Jersey (no nameplate yet though)

Jersey Updates Weston Dressler

Found the Rider jersey on Kijiji for cheap so finished the Weston Dressler jersey. My wife was going to take it but ended up wanting the new jersey with black on the arm instead of the retro. She has a Dressler signed #7 too so her's will have white on black.
The Ranger 99 jersey needs the other 9 and the nameplate to finish. That will make 3... I really like the Starter brand jerseys too, kinda cool looking.

Ladies and Gentlemen, It's Authentic! Bower...

I spoke with Frozenpond again today and was treated with a pleasant surprise. The website that I sent the jersey to was legit. They asked Mr. Bower if he knew of that site and he did, saying he has worked with them a lot in the past. He was shown this picture and authenticated it for me, saying, "Yah, that looks good, that's my signature." The rep from Frozenpond continued to say when they were watching Mr. Bower sign, some of his "J's" look like this. Good thing I waited for this, I was about to rip the #1 off. Oh yah, I got them to get Mr. Bower to sign a #1 just in case, for $25, yah that will make 3 Bower Jerseys....

Only in Canada

I had a plan about my Johnny Bower jersey. I called Frozen Pond yesterday and asked if I could get a #1 signed by Bower and out it on my 'fake' Bower jersey. I explained my situation and asked of they knew of the www.johnnybower.net site. They looked it up and it was not on the internet anymore. I knew that and assumed that helped with my question about the authenticity of the jersey (see below). The worker looked at the jersey from this blog and said it did look funny. He did say though, Bower signs almost every weekend so why would someone fake it when its actually an easy graph to get. Plus, the person sent a $150 jersey back for $35...Anyway, he took a copy of my jersey from this blog and said he will ask Bower if he knew of the site and if he can tell if that was his signature. Cool...I did not care about the $35 but really wanted to know if it was legit, this should help and for $30, I can replace if not.

Two of the Nicest Leafs, But I Need Some Help

Signed Colby Armstrong Leafs Puck

This is the jersey that I tried to get signed at the Pink Warrior classic last August with no luck. Johnny's website has a send in program, where you just pay for the item ($35 for a jersey)and shipping and they get him to sign it and return to you. Most players from that generation have that, Howe, Orr and at one time, Hull. But I need your help with this one. Once I looked at it, it did not look like Mr. Bower's signature. I have lots of items from him, a jersey from Frozen Pond, cards from UD and the items from the past summer. The Bower looks good but the 'J' doesn't. Please give me feedback, a real Bower signature or not?

Finally Done It! Check it Out, You Won't Regret it!

I finally finished my Gretzky frame! It took a long time, I built it from scratch and had no idea what I was doing. I had some good friends talk me through some issues with woodworking and I plugged away...Oak frame with 3mm glass. My three signed pucks fit nicely in the bottom with lots of room for the jersey. Feels really cool to look at it on the wall. There might be some fighting in the room though, it's beside all my Flames items...lol!

Hull and Chase as Promised!

Love it!

Personalized with HOF Inscriptions!
I have lots of pics and some videos to upload. I will try something new, I am going to tell some of their stories about life in the dressing room, NHL and on the road. It will be a MP3 file where you can just click to listen. These will all be uploaded in the next few days.

Johnny Bower and Gordie

I promised a few more of the Bower stories so here's one more. Bower made no bones about being friends with Gordie Howe. He told this interesting story about playing Detroit. When Bower had to move behind the net to play the puck, Gordie would never touch him. So this played to Bower's advantage a little. When Gordie was heading behind the net, Bower knew he had a few more seconds without getting his head taken off. He stressed, Gordie would put the puck in the net 1000 times before he'd hit Bower. As well, he said he'd seen Gordie before the event in Aug and he was not doing very well. Anyway, "Terrible Ted" Lindsay would take his head off every chance he would get, no question...

Jersey Updates #3, Plus Schenn and Clark

Hmm, now have two of these, my wife said this one can hang in the 'Man Cave' downstairs.

Finally got this one stitched, does look better.

Rare and kind of cool, Dennis Hull Team Canada 1972 Jersey

Finally finished this one, cool...

Clarky, bought from local hobby shop.

Just had to have this, Frameworth auction, 16x20. Will go with one of the jersey when it gets framed.

Johnny Bower and George Armstrong Part 1

Johnny told this one and we all had a good laugh. He said he and George Armstrong attended a junior game to do some scouting for Leafs. Bower said Armstrong did not like signing autographs but would if asked. They were watching the game one night and a small boy approached both and asked Armstrong for an autograph on a piece of paper. Armstrong did so and the boy asked for his jacket to be signed. He did so again but was a little upset. The boy came back again and asked Armstrong to sign his butt, yes his butt. He pulled down his pants and Armstrong autographed the boy's butt. Armstrong told Bower it was time to leave now and as the were heading out, Bower noticed the autograph, Armstrong signed it, 'Johnny Bower'.

Johnny Bower and the Rocket

Johnny Bower told this one about The Rocket.
He was with the New York Rangers when this happened. He commented that the fans in New York were nasty and would throw anything that was not nailed down at the players. The night the Rangers were playing the Habs, Rocket scored the first goal. Rocket looked at Johnny and said, "Hey Bower, thank you for #1."
Now, remember, Mr. Bower was telling this story and was repeating it with a French accent. Rocket scored the second goal of the game and sure enough skated by Bower and said, "Hey Bower, thank you for #2." Bower said at this time, he was a little mad at the situation. He yelled back at Rocket, "Hey Richard, what are you going to say next?"
Rocket laughed and said, "Thank you for #3, of course."
Bower said within a few minutes, Rocket raced in and Bower said he had the post hugged tight, shifted his weight just a little and Rocket got his third goal of the night. Bower said there was not very much to see, let alone get a puck through and Rocket did just that. The Ranger fans started throwing garbage on the ice and Rocket skated by Bower and said...You guessed it, Rocket said. "Hey Bower, thank you for #3!"

Johnny Bower and Russ Courtnall Stories

The Pink Warrior Classic had a different method of delivering the speakers for the night. Kelly Gatzke, the PWC Founder, facilitated the first series of questions then the audience asked some. A few stories were really funny so as always, I recorded some and will retell some. I will post one everyday for the next five days.

The first one that comes to mind was a story Courtnall told. In his fist year or two as the Hound Line, Wendel Clark came to him before a game in Detroit. Wendel said, "If something happens and I'm not there in 3 secs, you're on your own."
So the faceoff was at center ice and Wendel was against Bob Probert, Leeman grabbed someone, and Courtnall with a rookie named Basil McRae. Courtnall said Wendel was really hammering Probert and Mcrae had a chock hold on Courtnall. He said he was turning purple and could not breathe. He heard Clark yell at McRae as he was punching Probert, "Basil, if you don't let him go, I'm going to come over there next!"
Courtnall said McRae threw his hands up in the air instantly and wanted no part of Clark. He added when Wendel had a healthy back, he was by far one of the toughest ever.

Wayne Gretzky Jersey Card

2005-06 Upper Deck Artifacts

Treasured Swatches
#118/225