What A Better Way To Spend Canada Day-Hendry and the Cup

We drive over to Nokomis where Jordan Hendry calls home today, July 1 or Canada Day. It is approximately 1.5 hours over some not so nice roads. The trip there was OK, got to town about 5:00 found the rink and walked in to see Jordan signing autographs already. Not many people were there by then so it was a 2 minute wait. They were raising money for the local senior team so $5 for a 5x7 and $10 for a 8x10. Not a bad deal, goes to a great cause. So I got my number and stick blade out, my wife had 2 blank pucks and I bought a 8x10 for him to sign. Got everything signed inside of 5 minutes. I asked him to personalize the number and he did making sure he spelled my name right, thanks Jordan (see Tavares and Schenn jerseys) But no Stanley Cup yet, rats...We ended up getting something to eat and walked around to check out the silent auction items, lots of Hendry signed stuff, jersey, hat, name plate but the big ticket items were the team signed stick, jersey and framed Toews jersey.We came back to the rink closer to 6:00 the start time for the program. Jordan's uncle, announced the Cup would be there around 7:30pm so we waited. I have seen the Cup many times in the last few years but, never leave a concert before the closing band comes on I guess. I ended up getting a 5x7 signed and asked Jordan a few more questions. We had a plan to get back into line and just let people go ahead so when the Cup gets there, we would be close. At about 7:30, Jordan was called outside so we knew it was close. Jordan returned holding the Cup above his head, a really neat image, he looked very proud. We waited and got our picture with the Stanley Cup and Jordan, which was rare and cool, Kunitz, Babcock never did that, we were just able to take the picture. The ride home was awful, we have had above average rain and one part of the road we needed to cross was washed out two weeks ago and by now, is probably underwater, we were lucky to get home.

Drew Doughty IP

We headed up to the city today to try to get Drew Doughty on a few more projects. I had two #8's, one being from the Stoll kit I forgot on Thursday and the Team Canada #8, plus two pucks. I double checked with Boston Pizza and they confirmed he would be there at 1:00 today. I needed the pucks still so I went to my favorite hobby store and found out Doughty was at a local doughnut shop waiting for 1:00. There were 3 places to check out, nothing panned out, oh well...Doughty came in about 12:30 sat down for some lunch and there were about 25 people waiting. He quickly ate and within 3mins or so, we were next in line. My wife and I both teach so we asked fro some extra cards to give to our kids and they were happy to give up 5 and possibly more but we would have to wait. Never waited...We both congratulated Drew on the Gold medal win and he was very humble in his response, we knew full well he had heard that many times since. I asked for the Team Canada #8 to be personalized and the marker bled a little. He stopped after my name and asked the coordinator for something different, they had nothing. So I pulled out my new sharpie for the occasion and Drew signed the #8 with the 2010 Gold on it. I asked if he wanted to keep the sharpie and he quickly said yes. I got the Kings puck signed too along with a picture with a Olympic Gold Medalist. My wife got a Canada puck and Kings jersey signed, she had met Doughty before the the whole Olympic thing made it pretty cool for both of us. She got her picture with him and he used my silver sharpie for the puck and jersey for my wife, I asked him if he wanted to keep that one too and he said, "If you don't mind."

Yah, I lent Drew Doughty two sharpies for the day. I think I can start every sentence for the next 2 weeks with that one. Drew showed up today for the people that missed him on Thursday so he gets my vote for a class act and great person. Thanks Drew!

Hartnell, Stoll, Schenn, Scehnn, Dawes, Pisani, Purcell, Brookbank, and Schultz All In Person

I was supper psyched to get a chance to get the other Schenn brother tonight, they both walked over and Brayden actually looked at me and said, "Hi". I think I have chatted with him now, he recognizes me. Anyway, the Schenn brothers were the second at the table, so I made sure I asked Luke to personalize the Leafs jersey, you'll see...And to get both Brayden and Luke on a Team Canada puck plus a picture with both would be rare and cool.

Have a look at the signature for Schenn, I made sure I asked him to personalize it and I got the full Luke Schenn, oh yah!

I asked Brayden to sign my Kings jersey and this, which will be a World Junior Team Canada Jersey, when I can get to it.
I forgot my Stoll number kit, almost turned around to drive 50 mins to get it but choose a different route. I got a #1 to get Jarret to sign, totally forgot about it Jarret signed my Kings jersey but growl....When we got there there was a bout 30 people in line, I was a little miffed but oh well...I walked inside to use the washroom and when I walked out I noticed someone standing off to the side of Boston Pizza. People were line up right in front of Nigel Dawes of my Calgary Flames. I walked over and said I knew who he was and asked how he was. We chatted for about 5mins about my beloved Flames, shared some tears, no kidding. But walked back to the line and had a large grin on my face. I told my wife who I met and she just rolled her eyes. She loves the Flames too but the chances I get just make her sigh. I ended up with a Hartnell jersey, Team Canada jersey, and the Kings jersey but will post the pics tomorrow.

My silver sharpie dried up and it was raining like a flood so some signed in my other silver and some just signed in black, that's Brookbank (Ducks), Schultz (Canada), Purcell (Lightning), Hartnell (Flyers), Pisani (Oilers), Brayden Schenn (Canada) and Dawes (Flames).