I live in Ottawa so I was fortunate enough to attend the draft, even though it was only for the saturday (rounds 2 to 7). Me and my friends decided to get close to the players/managers entrance to see if we could meet some hockey celebs.. and did we ever.. First, we met Barry Trotz and Ted Nolan.. and then, walking towards us, were Sather, Renney and Schoenfeld.. Good thing I had my jersey with me as Schoeny and Renney signed it.. I spoke with Renney and asked if Jagr would be re-signed, he said "we'll try".. he also questioned if I was really a fan and not just some Sens fan looking for autographs.. haha..
Sather, however, didn't even look back and went inside.. anyway.. up next, I got Kevin Lowe to sign on my jersey! Inside, we went to sit right by the Draft stage.. Where Evgeny Grachev was waiting to be interviewed.. I motioned over to the camera man if he could come over to sign my jersey.. his translator pointed to me and he came over to sign it. Same thing with Tomas Kundratek!
After getting to meet alot more celebs, like Tony Granato, Peter Laviollete, Nikita Filatov etc etc etc.. the draft was over. We then went outside to see if we could catch another glimpse of any ranger related hockey personalities.. low and behold Iron Mike Keenan comes by, and also got his autograph! haha.. Finally, Sather comes out again and he reluctantly signs the jersey..
All in all a great day.. if anyone is interested I can possibly post up some pictures.
Last edited by McDonagh27: 06-22-2008 at 02:40 PM.
thats pretty cool, you should have told Sather to sign Avery or he's fired
I could have, except for the fact that he was either snubbing me or busy, but he didn't even utter more than 2 words. At least he signed for me though!
Another thing, just to approve of what Leslie is saying.. Every player/coach/whatever I talked to were great. All were willing to sign. Especially when they probably know most of the stuff they sign is going on eBay (not my situation) Everyone of em even took the time to take pictures with fans. Filatov, although really talented, really does look like a girl.
Another thing, just to approve of what Leslie is saying.. Every player/coach/whatever I talked to were great. All were willing to sign. Especially when they probably know most of the stuff they sign is going on eBay (not my situation) Everyone of em even took the time to take pictures with fans. Filatov, although really talented, really does look like a girl.
Glad to hear you had a good time. I went in Columbus last year and it was awesome. I spent alot of time with my friends and a bunch of other fans running between each hotel (across the street from each other) getting autographs from whoever was there. Every player/coach/scout/draftee we met could not have been nicer. I met Craig MacTavish, Joe Mullen, Alex Tanguay, Brian Lawton, Brad Shaw, Angelo Esposito, Kyle Turris, Kevin Shattenkirk and a ton of other guys. It was awesome and hopefully it comes to MSG or maybe somewhere close like New Jersey or Philadelphia in the next few years.
It seems like its been ages since the draft was held in the NY area. Maybe at the old Brendan Byrne was the last I can recall.
Well they generally seem to favor new arenas, so maybe the Prudential Center will get it soon. There's a perfect area outside the arena to have their block parties and everything. And it would be just another reason for Rangers fans to come to the arena en masse
