| St. John's Maple Leafs vs. Manitoba Moose |
| April 4th/2003: Well this was the last game of the Leafs regular season since they hadnt made it into the playoffs so we were hoping to get a lot of autos today, we left really early to go out, almost 5 hours before the game started, we needed to pick up some cards to get signed so after we got that done we went overto the stadium at about 4:30 (the game starts 7:30) and thats about the time the players were coming over to the arena so we hoped to get some guys before the game so we wouldnt have to get everyone after the game, so we were waiting around and players started coming over to the arena 1 by 1, sometimes in groups of 2 and 3. We got everyone who came either on cards or our sheets and before we knew it, we had close to EVERYBODY we needed before the game! I dont remember the order in which they came but I (Matt) got Bouck on 3 cards as well as one for my set, Moss on 2 cards, Nielsen on three, Obsut on four, Kavangh on one and Vasiljevs on three. On my sheet I got Roy, Minard, King, Obsut, Helmer, Bouck, Craighead, Vasiljevs, Smith, Komarniski, Kurtz, Ready, Reid, Moss and Jokela. Darren got Vasiljevs on 2 cards, Moss on five, Obsut on five, Bouck on three, Kurtz on two, Kavanagh on two, Komarniksi on two, Minard on three, Reid on four, Ready on one, and Smith on two. On his sheet he got Craighead, King, Ready, Kurtz, Roy, Helmer, Vasiljevs, Komarniski, Kavanagh, Jokela, Morrison and Smith. This was great, all we needed was Smyl and we could get him after the game. The game itself was pretty awesome, it was 2-1 for Manitoba for most of the game but St. John's scored with a few seconds left in the 3rd to make it go into OT. I said to Darren... "it'd be cool if Jason King (Newfoundlander) scored in OT to win it (I am not a St. John's Leafs fan btw) and just a few seconds later he did just that, it was awesome! Anyway after the game we went out to Gate 5, there were a bunch of people in there so we decided to wait outside, as players came out, both Darren and I got a bunch of pictures taken with each one, Smyl still hadent came out and we were getting impatient, Darren asked Nathan Smith if Smyl was still there but he told us he had already left... what the hell?? this was the third time this season that he slipped past us, twice in one day! ahhh well... I called our ride and while we were waiting, King was inside talking with some people, possibly relatives so we went in to get a picture, we congratulated him on the OT goal and we both got our pics taken with him, he was really nice about it, Darren also got him to sign an index card for Paul Buxtons RIC set... OK you see the deal was that we were to meet King privately before or after the game thanks to my Mom's friend who is King's cousin, but oddly enough, my mom hadent seen her that day and couldnt get in touch with her to really set something up so that pretty much sucked but King still knew about how Darren and I were supposed to meet up with him after i explained the situation. And well my mom was just talking to her friend and found out that King has left me a signed card and is also going to try and hook us up with some tickets next season whenever the Moose roll in town so thats pretty sweet! Thanks Jason!!! This was our best hounding experience yet as we got more autos this game then we had at any other game this season, plus it was a great day altogether! TOTAL AUTOGRAPHS: 81 Well that sums up the 2002-2003 AHL Season for Darren and I, so till next season, this will be our last hounding story, thanks to everyone who took the time to read our stories, hope you enjoyed reading them. |
