Now that hockey has returned, I suddenly had an urge to complete a project I started over a year ago: put all my hockey cards away in alphabetical order. It took me about 4 days to do this once I started...I have a crapload of hockey cards. If a player ever played on the Avs, I have their cards. If they retire or play for another team, I still collect them. And being the girl that I am, if they're cute I collect their cards. Hence my giant collection of Fedorov, Kidd, Selanne & Brodeur cards. What I also found while doing this was a bunch of pictures that I had from my time as an Avalanche groupie. I'm going to brag...um...I mean share these with you now.


First off we have the Avs TV announcer & former Bruin & Devil, Peter McNab. I love him - his smile is so cheesy and he's so funny to listen to. He's also super nice - I have about 6 cards of his and he's pretty much signed them all. This picture was taken at the 1998 Avalanche Luncheon where Christina & I payed out the nose to have lunch with the players. When I asked him for a picture, he said, "You don't want a picture with me. Not with all the big stars around here." But he slung his arm around me and smiled his cheesy grin anyway.


I love this picture!! Not of me but the fact that I'm standing next to then-Florida goalie Trevor Kidd. I actually started liking him because I liked his helmet when he played for Calgary. I started collecting his cards because of this and then I saw what he looked like and I was hooked. Florida came to the Pepsi Center 11-17-99 and I went, determined to meet Trevor Kidd. When he went inside The Can, I yelled "Good luck" to him and he flashed me the peace sign. After the game when he came out, I hollered, "Do you have time for an autograph? PLEASE, please, pleeeease?" He acquiesced and came over, signing my program and taking the picture with me. A bunch of Avs fans swarmed him when he came over then walked away asking, "Who's that?" Uh! If you don't know, keep your Sharpies in your pockets!!!


Hee hee!! Mike Ricci, former Av, former Shark, now a Coyote. He was the reason I started watching hockey. I waited 5 years for this picture. This was taken on January 4, 2001. I will always remember the date because Christina got to meet Peter Forsberg that night and the date was drilled into my head!! I just remember that Ricci was kind of snotty when I finally met him but I didn't care too much. Notice my awesome Avs leather coat that Mom & Dad bought me for Christmas and my cool Foote "52" hat.


Ahhh, Stephane Yelle. One of my favorites. He was always willing to stop & sign autographs and pose for pictures. The day I had this picture taken (notice Big Mac aka the late McNichol's Arena in the background.) I had just bought a Yelle jersey. When he came over, there was a young girl next to me in a wheelchair waiting for autographs so I figured he would go to her first. Nope! Came right to me and said, in his high girly voice, "Nice jersey." You'll see the picture is signed - I did that a lot when I forgot to bring cards.


Cute little Alex Tanguay. He's always so sweet. When I took this picture back a week later to have it signed, he gave me the greatest smile.


Dan Hinote. He's so adorable. And the only one to always stop for autographs when I was hunting them. Great smile. This was taken at their practice facility which is why he's in his vehicle. My hair was so long then. I miss that.


Milan Hejduk. He's one of my faves based soley on his play. It took me a long long time to ever meet him. He rarely ever stopped. This was a banner day for me. And I actually like the shot of me! :-) Oh, yeah...my hedgehog in my sidebar is named for him because Dad always called him The Hedgehog.


Saving the best for last, #33, the winningest goalie of all time, three time Conn Smythe trophy winner....PATRICK ROY!!!!! My favorite player ever ever ever! Now that he's retired I have to give that honor to Martin Brodeur but I still miss Roy. This was taken at training camp down here at the World Arena. I had been there wanting Hejduk to sign my jersey but he didn't even stop. I was so upset I looked up, saw Roy and said, "Can I have a picture with you?" he said sure and the rest is photographic history. Notice he's wearing a Broadmoor Golf Club hat. The autograph happened about two years later when he stopped and I didn't have anything else for him to sign. This was the first picture that I ever had blown up to an 8x10 size at Walgreens.

So there you have it. Me & my hockey guys. There's more to come....there's always more to come! :-) Have a great weekend!!

Labels: Avs, Pictures

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