I took the day off today to try and track down the Blackhawks on their off day in Edmonton with hopes they'd be in a good mood coming off a win in Calgary last night. While on my way to the hotel I realized that the Devils were also in town, so I grabbed a Jaromir Jagr card from my 91-92 O Pee Chee set for just in case.
I got down to the first hotel where the Hawks were, their bus pulled up dropped a few guys off and they took off for what I assume was lunch. Johnny Oduya was one of the only players to stay at the hotel and get his own cab, I hollered to Mr Oduya that I only had one card could he please sign it. I thought maybe I'd caught his attention, until he shook his head no and jumped into the waiting cab. That was the extent of my Blackhawk hunting for the day.
I returned to the Devils hotel because Jagr had told fans he would sign when they left for the game, after an hour and a half of waiting I had some nice Damon Severson, Adam Henrique, Jordan Tootoo, and Adam Larsson signatures on my scratch pad.
Finally Jagr came out, to 75 chanting fans who quickly surrounded the legend. I got jumped in front of unfortunately, and just when I figured I was out of luck I happened to be right in Mr Jagrs way back to the bus. He quickly slapped down JJ on my card, not the greatest signature, but still one of the hardest guys to get slapped something down on my card!
My fastest return thus far is Wetaskiwin, Alberta native Val Fonteyne. Fonteyne suited up for the National Hockey Leagues Red Wings, Rangers, and Penguins, then left the NHL for the rival World Hockey Associations Edmonton Oilers to finish up his career. Known as one of the cleanest NHL players for his time Fonteyne only racked up 26 PIM in 820 games over 13 years. He continued this trend in the WHA playing in 149 games, receiving only two minor penalties; even odder he never had a fighting penalty.
