I was fortunate enough to live in an NHL city.
Up until August 2002, I lived in San Jose, California, a great city for hockey
autographs. However, I'm currently a sophomore at Gonzaga
University in Spokane, Washington. Although I don't nearly do as much NHL
hounding, there is still hockey hounding to be had there: the Spokane Chiefs and
the Western Hockey League. During breaks from school, I may hound in San
Jose when I visit home, or whatever city I may be in during breaks (if they have
hockey).
From an
autograph-seeking point of view, San Jose is good. On a typical hounding day here, there are
some great successes, occasional failures, and frequent quirks, mishaps,
bloopers, and surprise appearances. The weather usually cooperates, you
don't have to worry about your Sharpies freezing or how freakin' cold it is
outside. And as for Spokane, I pretty much have the whole city to myself
for hounding. The visiting teams stay at a hotel right next to the Gonzaga
campus so it is super-convenient; I can get the Chiefs after their home games in
the Arena (but no visitors at the arena, hence going to the hotel). To read my many outing stories, click on a
season in the main menu and enjoy! E-mail
me if you have any questions or comments.
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2003-04 Outings (13) |
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2002-03 Outings (29) |
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2001-02 Outings (44) |
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2000-01 Outings (34) |
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1999-00 Outings (22) |
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1998-99 Outings (02) |
 The Shark Tank |
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 Spokane Arena |
12/17/03: Chiefs vs. Winter Hawks - An exciting study break
I took a break from studying for finals to go
see the Chiefs battle Portland in a very important WHL game; Spokane and
Portland are tied in the US Division, and Portland has had all the momentum
against the Chiefs this season. However, the Chiefs were able to win this
one 2-1! I got some more autographs in my team program, and also got a
couple of pictures signed from the Spokane newspaper. Mike Senseman, a new
player for the Chiefs, played in his first WHL game (he was called up from the
Spokane Braves of the KIJHL). I got him to sign my team program (his first
WHL autograph request!). Good times at Spokane Arena; that was their last
game before Christmas... my next outings will be NHL ones in California.
Total: 11 Chiefs, 1 Winter Hawks autographs.
11/26/03: Sharks vs. Blackhawks - Back in the South Bay for turkey weekend
After two WHL outings in below-freezing
conditions, it was refreshing to go back to San Jose for the Thanksgiving
holiday and get NHL autographs in nice weather. The Hawks were in town and
I did not have very much for them (compared to other NHL teams). My main
targets were the rookies (Travis Moen, Tuomo Ruutu) and players that I hadn't
gotten before, like Aitken, Nieminen, and Troy Murray (former NHLer, current
Chicago broadcaster). I got to the hotel in the morning, just as a cab
left with Mark Bell inside; there were only a few other hounds out there today
because the Hawks had been through San Jose earlier this season. Berard,
Moen, and a couple other players came out in a group, and I called Moen over
since I needed him the most out of that group. He was really cool about
signing a Rookie Index Card for me!
Steve Sullivan signed one each for us nicely; this is the nicest autograph
on a card I've gotten from him! I also got Calder, Dempsey, Andersson and
Leighton (both goalies on one index card), Karpovtsev, Korolev, Strudwick, and
announcer Troy Murray (got him on two cards). Not too shabby! Next
it was time for my first chance at getting Sharks autographs this regular
season, and that went exceptionally well! The only players who didn't stop
were Stuart, Harvey, McLaren, Nabokov. I got all my 03-04 rookie index
cards of the Sharks signed: Tom Preissing, Christian Ehrhoff, Pat Rissmiller,
and recent call-up Seamus Kotyk (who, as of December 5, has not seen any NHL
action; hopefully sometime soon!) I also was able to get autographed 8x10s
from Rob Davison and Alyn
McCauley! Vesa Toskala was a great signer as well. In the
afternoon I went for players that I had missed in the morning. Steve
Sullivan came out and said he signed this morning (which he did; the same people
that were there in the morning were back in the afternoon) so he was on his way;
no complaints, though; his autograph is great! I got Johnathan Aitken on
several cards, as well as Mark Bell, Kyle Calder, Al MacAdam, Steve McCarthy,
Brett McLean, Tuomo Ruutu, and Denis Savard. I finally got Bryan Berard on
my 99 MVP set card. I went to the game, which was great; the Sharks
won! Afterwards, I headed over to the press box and had Troy Murray sign
three cards and an 8x10 photo; he was pleasant about signing. Overall, I
couldn't have asked for a better day! My first NHL outing of the season
went well - I got the players I wanted and had a fun time.
Total: 24 Sharks, 35 Blackhawks autographs.
11/23/03: Chiefs vs. Cougars - Got there late but still got who I was after
It was still freezing outside today, the
Prince George Cougars were in town for a Sunday game. I was late to this
outing, as I got there a few players were on their way to the bus. The
majority of the team was already on the bus! Luckily all was not
lost. I got assistant coach Stewart Malgunas on seven cards, and head
coach Lane Lambert on 3. Both were very nice about signing, and took a
look at their cards. Upon seeing the batch of 7 cards I had for Stew,
Lambert quipped "Ya sure know your hockey!" Jonathan Filewich, Todd Ford, and a few others also
signed for me. I will just get the rest of the team on the sheet next time
the Cougars are in town (which is in a couple months) so I have no worries about
that.
Total: 19 Cougars autographs.
11/22/03: Chiefs vs. Pats - Hounding in the chill of winter
The Regina Pats were in town, and so I headed
to the hotel even though it was only about 15 degrees outside. I only had
to wait by the bus for about 10 minutes, luckily. Josh Harding was the
first player out; he is a very highly touted goalie prospect, and I could not
afford his Rookie Update cards that were released last spring. Instead I
had him sign two 8x10 photos, a couple
of index cards, and the sheet. He was very cool about signing. I
ended up getting the whole team to sign the sheet
for me. Andrew DeSousa, former Spokane Chief, signed a card from last
year's Spokane team set;
however, I smeared part of it on accident. Luckily he left the bus again
to go get something out of the hotel, so on his way back he was nice enough to
sign the first half of his signature over the smear, it doesn't look that bad
anymore. This was a good outing, I didn't freeze that much since it didn't
take too long for me to get my stuff signed.
Total: 26 Pats autographs.
11/06/03: Chiefs vs. Winter Hawks - Getting a few from both teams
This outing was not that eventful, other than
getting Jamie Huscroft on five cards after the game. Jamie was really cool
about signing, even though it looked like he was in a hurry to go
somewhere. The game ended in overtime as the Winterhawks overcame a 2-0
deficit, winning it in overtime on a goal by Brandon Dubinsky. After the
game there a bunch of Winterhawks came out of the Spokane player entrance, so I
got them to sign my Portland sheet. Head coach Mike Williamson came out
and I had him sign an old 7th Inning Sketch card of him. I also got Barry
Brust and Gary Gladue to sign some Spokane Chiefs items (the team programs).
Total: 11 Chiefs, 9 Winter Hawks autographs.
10/24/03: Chiefs vs. Silvertips - Just the Chiefs this time, since they won in a blowout
I was definitely looking forward to this game
since Kevin Constantine coaches the Everett Silvertips and he is one of my
favorite coaches of all time (93-94 Sharks!). I had brought a few items
for him (8x10, Sharks team photo) and since the 'Tips aren't a hotel team, I was
going to send the items into the locker room. Well, I got to the game a
little late with a few friends from SFCC, and after getting tickets and heading
to my seat, I looked up on the scoreboard and couldn't believe what I saw...
Spokane 4, Everett 0... only 7:18 into the game! Wow. The game ended
up being a 6-1 rout. I went down to the autograph area after the game, and
decided not to give any of the Constantine items to the usher, because the
Silvertips got destroyed on the ice - I've got plenty of chances this season to
get Constantine to sign. I worked on the team program and got a bunch of
Chiefs on that.
Total: 24 Chiefs autographs.
10/21/03: Chiefs vs. Blades - Jeff Lucky's return to Spokane... but not with Calgary!
Just ten days ago, I got former Chiefs player
Jeff Lucky to sign some stuff as a member of the Hitmen. I had talked to
him about how it was too bad that he wouldn't be visiting Spokane this season
because of the Hitmen's schedule. But as fate would have it, Lucky was
traded to Saskatoon just one day before this outing, so he would be here!
I was looking forward to seeing Saskatoon since they didn't visit Spokane last
season. I only had the team sheet to get signed, as well as a few Jeff
Lucky items, so this was a simple affair. The bus was parked in the River
Inn parking lot, and despite the awesome weather (high 60s, clear skies) no
players walked to the arena. This only made things easier for me, as I
just waited by the bus and got everyone on the team to sign. As with all
other WHL teams, the players
had no problem signing. In fact, after a few players had signed for me,
the entire rest of the team appeared, at the same time. They all waited to
sign my sheet, which was totally
awesome. While signing, some Blades were looking at the autographs on the
sheet and making comments about them... "oh, that's a good one!"...
"check out Barnes's!"... and my favorite, Devin Setoguchi: "wait'll
you see mine, it sucks!" (It actually wasn't that bad). This outing
was over with quick because of the whole team exiting at once. I had Jeff
Lucky sign the Saskatoon sheet, the Spokane sheet from this year (he did
play one game in a Chiefs uniform before his trade this season), and two 4x6
pictures. He said he was excited about playing for Saskatoon; after all,
Lucky is from Saskatchewan so playing closer to home is a plus. Oh yeah,
and this outing was a plus, too. I'm just lucky I finished my computer
engineering lab (2-5 on Tuesdays) early enough to get autographs! (4:35-4:45)
Total: 27 Blades autographs.
10/17/03: Chiefs vs. Blazers - The first River Inn outing of the season is a success!
Whenever Kamloops is in town, I have a
lot for them to sign. This time, I had a bunch of items for 2004 top
prospect Devan Dubnyk and 2003 draftee Erik Christensen to sign. I had
also found a few old ProCards of assistant coach Mark Ferner, so this turned out
to be a good outing. Dubnyk was very cool about signing for me. I
had printed out an 8x10 photo of him and he signed it and chatted for
awhile. I asked him if Kirk McLean was on the trip (McLean is the Blazers'
goaltending coach). Dubnyk said he wasn't, but went on to explain how
awesome it was to work with him. "He's my hero, I grew up watching
him." Cool! Speaking of cool, the rest of the outing was just
that. I ended up getting prospects Erik Christensen and Jonas Johansson to
sign some pictures, and coach Mark
Ferner to sign the old ProCards. Johansson and a couple other players
thought those were really cool and took a look at them! Overall this was a
great first outing at the River Inn. I got everything signed, including
the team sheet! The Blazers
are one of the better teams in the WHL so this was definitely good.
Total: 31 Blazers autographs.
10/11/03: Ice vs. Hitmen - Autographing in the Canadian Rockies
My first roadtrip outing of the season was awesome! My
roommates and I went up to Cranbrook, British Columbia - home of the WHL's
Kootenay Ice. We got up there from Spokane in just under four hours.
We were looking forward to a good hockey game and two of my roommates had never
been outside the United States so that was a first for them! We got to the
Cranbrook RecPlex early and
checked out the different things there; the RecPlex has some unique features: an
A&W restaurant, a swimming complex, and a sports card store inside the
arena! (Now that's convenience for collectors.) It is also the
smallest arena I've ever gotten autographs at (not counting practice
facilities). The Calgary Hitmen bus arrived behind the RecPlex and went
down this small ramp to an underground loading dock. Crap! For a
second I thought this spelled doom and I wouldn't get any Hitmen
autographs. I just went to the front entrance, instead, and got a couple
autographs of Kootenay Ice coming into the arena: assistant coach/former NYI
player Brad Lauer, and veteran goalie Bryan Bridges. Bryan was awesome
about signing, and we also talked about the city of Cranbrook and gave me a
couple of recommendations on where to eat after the game. Shortly before
the gates opened, I spotted three Calgary Hitmen players (not dressed for the
game) standing in line at the A&W, also talking with some fans. I got
those three (Dustin Kohn, Aaron Boogaard, and Jeff Lucky) to sign for me.
I chatted for awhile with Lucky about his experience with Calgary so far.
After that, I went into the arena and got some pictures during warmups.
While I was sitting down by the goal taking pictures, Bryan Bridges walked over
to me and asked how I was doing, and I showed him the pictures that I got so
far; Bridges is among the most fan-friendly players I have ever met in the WHL. The
game was awesome, the lead shifted several times, with Calgary finally winning
out 5-4. After the game, I went back outside to that ramp where the
Calgary bus went down. No security was around at all, so I just went down
to the bus and got some Calgary autographs. Ryan Getzlaf signed three for
me, asked if I was selling the autographs; I assured him I wasn't and he had no
problem signing for me. I went over to the Kootenay Ice side of the
RecPlex, and was in luck; the Ice had finished a lengthy postgame meeting so I
was able to get the whole team on the sheet. I got Nigel Dawes to sign a
bunch of Kootenay items; Nigel is one of the most talented players in the WHL,
and a NYR prospect. This was definitely an awesome outing, my first ever
in Western Canada!
Total: 31 Ice, 17 Hitmen autographs.
10/10/03: Chiefs vs. Giants - Mullet Mania!
The Giants were not at the hotel so this was
going to be a Chiefs-only outing. It was Mullet Night at the Spokane
Arena; many of the ushers and fans were wearing mullets (both real and
fake). The game ended with a 4-2 win for Spokane, as Doug Auchenberg had
two goals and Ned Lukacevic scored a highlight reel one-timer. During the
game, I spotted Canucks scout (and former Vancouver player) Ron
DeLorme during the first intermission; I got him to sign a Chiefs program
cover since that was the only generic item I had on me. After the
game I cleaned up on Spokane, getting the last three autographs I needed on my
Spokane Chiefs team sheet: Gary Gladue, Doug Auchenberg, and Barry Brust, as
well as numerous signatures inside the Chiefs' program. The only Vancouver
Giants player to come out, Mark Fistric, signed the Vancovuer sheet for
me. One of the Chiefs' ushers was kind enough to take a few cards inside
and get Giants coaches Dean Evason and Craig Bonner to sign them. Overall
this was not anything to write home about, other than seeing DeLorme... and the
mullets.
Total: 15 Chiefs, 1 Neutral, 4 Giants autographs.
10/03/03: Chiefs vs. Ice - An overtime thriller
I can't get Kootenay autographs in Spokane
because of the whole no-River Inn thing, but I didn't go home empty-handed, of
course! I went to the game with a few friends and we were treated to an
exciting overtime game, that Spokane
won on a Scott Scherger goal. During the game, I got a few Kootenay
Ice players that weren't dressed for the game: Brett Sutter, Jason Lloyd, Derek
Price. After the game, I got Sean Affleck, Adam Hobson, Chad Klassen,
Jason Lynch, Jeff Lynch, and Brad Schell on various Chiefs items, and Igor
Agarunov on the Kootenay sheet. Not a huge outing but I did get some
good signatures and had a good time at the game!
Total: 6 Chiefs, 7 Ice autographs.
09/27/03: Chiefs vs. Americans - Autographs at the home opener
The WHL season is back! The Spokane
Chiefs had their season opener tonight, drawing a crowd
of 9,500 against rival Tri-Cities. The Chiefs won 5-2 in a fight-filled, high-tempo
game. During the second intermission I got a couple Tri-City Americans
scratches to sign my sheet (McMullin and Meaver). Right after the game, I
headed down to the Chiefs player entrance, and got Chiefs scratches Joff Kehler,
Gustav Engman, Sean Zimmerman, and Jason Lynch to sign walking back into the
locker room. Since it was the home opener, the area was crowded with a lot
of fans waiting for the Chiefs to come out. Most of them didn't really get
autographs though. I ended up getting tons of Chiefs to sign (and tons of
pictures as well): Couture, Desautels,
Gillen, Hobson, Langhammer, Lukacevic,
Jeff Lynch, Scott Lynch,
Rupprecht, Scherger, Schenn,
Stoesz, Watt, and Zavisha.
Jeff and Scott Lynch are actually taking a couple of classes at Gonzaga this
semester so I chatted with them about that briefly. As expected, a few
Tri-Cities players showed up, and I got Ryan Kinasewich and Ian McDonald. The best part of the whole outing, however, was when 2003
first round draftee Shawn Belle
showed up. I got him to sign the Tri-City sheet, an index card, a custom
card that I made, and the WHL Top Prospects sheet that I decided to start
this year. Shawn saw my custom card and was surprised... "Whoa! What
the f*** is this!" He was very nice about signing and hopefully he
will make it to St. Louis soon. In all I got most of the Spokane Chiefs on
the sheet, a few Tri-City players on that sheet, and a bunch of sweet 4x6
photos. This outing was definitely a great way to start the season: an
exciting game and great time getting signatures. Thanks to Marty for
working the digital camera during the autographing!
Total: 29 Chiefs, 8 Ams autographs.
07/12/03: San Jose Sharks Prospect Camp - Getting the Sharks of tomorrow
The Sharks held a mini-camp in the middle of
summer, so I was treated to a rare summer hockey outing! Eighteen
prospects in the Sharks system were at camp honing their skills with San Jose
Sharks and Cleveland Barons coaches. The main players I wanted to get were
Milan Michalek (6th overall, 2003), Steve Bernier (16th overall, 2003), and Brad
Boyes. I also looked forward to seeing Josh Gorges, Craig Valette, and
Tomas Plihal - three players that I watched last season in the WHL! Lots
of fans were at the San Jose Ice Center watching the Sharks camp. In a scary
moment, Tero Maatta was smacked across the face by an errant stick, and fell to
the ice; he didn't move for awhile. He was helped off the ice and turned
out to be alright, thankfully! After the camp, I waited outside with a few
other fans. A van pulled up near the entrance waiting to take the players
back to the hotel. The first player we saw was Milan Michalek! He walked
out of some side exit, then walked up to where the van was and signed for
us! I got him to sign a puck,
a photo, an index card, the team
sheet, and a dual index card picturing him and Steve Bernier! He was
extremely cool about signing; in fact, the van driver said "Alright guys,
make it quick so he can go back inside and have lunch," and Michalek
replied "...but I already ate!" Milan went back inside after
posing for pictures with a few fans. Matt
Carkner and Josh Gorges
were the first players to leave; I got pictures with both of them and chatted
with Josh for awhile about the WHL. He remembered me from when I got him
to sign in Spokane! "Hopefully [Spokane] will have a better team next
year," he said! "Yeah, you guys sure blew away the rest of the
league last season!" I said, referring to the WHL Champion Kelowna
Rockets. Matt Carkner was also a great signer; he chatted with everyone
who he signed for and seemed like he enjoyed the fan attention! After
those two, there was a huge wave of players that came out: Michalek (again),
David Cloutier, Chad Wiseman, Craig Valette, Tomas Plihal, Pat Rissmiller, and
Yuri Moscevsky. Moscevsky liked the picture that I had him sign! Pat
Rissmiller looks exactly like one of my brother's best friends, so I had
Pat sign two of these photos (one for the friend look-alike!). Valette
signed the sheet and once I told him he signed for me in Spokane, he remembered
me. Plihal signed the sheet: while he's a really talkative and
fan-friendly player, his autograph is just "Plhl", really short.
After the first wave got into the van (and a rental car), Doug Murray came out
just as the van pulled away! So he was stuck at the Ice Center until the
van got back to take the second wave of players. Murray signed for
everyone and then chatted for a good 10 minutes. Although his name sounds
North American, Doug was actually born in Sweden, and later played college
hockey for Cornell. A few minutes before the van returned, Brad
Boyes came out and signed!
I had him sign a 5x7, an index card, and the sheet. I wish that I'd been
able to find his cards. The last players out were Tom Preissing, Willie
Levesque, Ryan Clowe, and Seamus Kotyk. They were all great signers; Clowe
looked at my 5x7 photo of him, and he came right over and signed it before I
could even ask! Kotyk signed a sweet-looking autograph on the 5x7; I also
got him on an index card and the sheet. I also saw Cleveland coach Roy Sommer
but I didn't have anything for him to sign. Overall, this
outing was an oasis in the desert that is the hockey offseason. I got the Sharks
Prospect photo sheet signed by all 18 prospects that were there, including a
couple of very high draft choices. All players were more than happy to
fulfill autograph requests.
Total: 34 Sharks prospects.
Back to Paul's Hockey Autograph Mania!
Copyright 2000-2003 Paul Buxton.
