Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Top Shelf: 2009 NHL draft prospects

Want to know who was the first Hockey Bay hound to get an autograph earlier today from John Tavares, the likely No. 1 overall pick at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft?

How about Colin? Yeah, Colin. My Colin.

After nearly four hours of waiting out convention crowds, false alarms and near 90 degree temperatures, Tavares and his two fellow top NHL Draft prospects -- forward Matt Duchene and Swedish defenseman Victor Hedman -- signed autographs for all three of us before their dog-and-pony show for the Tampa Bay Lightning braintrust.

As they left the Marriott Waterside, walking toward a waiting Escalade, we decided to each pick one prospect to stop. I stopped Hedman, Chris took Duchene and Colin, using his "cute kid" status to its full advantage, singled out Tavares.

Guess what? It worked. He got all three to sign this Nike stick blade.

Colin's effort, too, made up for his old man's miss on Tavares. Not bad for an 8-year-old, huh?

3 comments:

kc said...

Good shot dude....We don't have kids yet but I know that will come in handy...I use the cute wife thing now, hey it works.....

Puckhound said...

Yes, it does.

Still, I should've gotten one from Tavares. I imagine it'll be a circus whenever the Isles (should he land there) hit the road.

Remember, too, that he picks his spots to personalize.

kc said...

The Isles are having part of their training camp here in Sept. It will be a Gong show if they land Tavares...They are making themselves accessible to the public so we'll see.