The Kings are hosting Calgary tonight, but, for me, the most important thing will be a sidelight. A buddy who does publicity for the team let me know that he has a puck autographed by my Alex Frolov waiting for me!! This will be my sixth autographed puck, but the first one for which I didn't have to ask the player. Lucky me!!

~Adam

Congrats Adam and enjoy the game!....it looks like Andy has got the Kings back on track with 4 wins in their last 5 games -- they may even get back to the .500 level this weekend with a little help from Alex and his teammates (assuming the Kings don't complete their rumored salary-dumping "fire sale" this week, ala the Pens).

I'm sure you'll find the perfect place for the autographed puck in your home, Adam, but from reading a few of your posts (and seeing pics of Frolov's cute face wink ) something tells me you wouldn't have minded having to ask Alex in person for his autograph (and maybe his phone number too).

[ February 13, 2003, 05:44 PM: Message edited by: gamecock ]

gamecock: I'm actually a bit standoffish about approaching athletes for autographs (phone numbers are different wink .) A few years back, at a sports memorabilia convention, I brought my Derek Sanderson rookie card for him to sign & got nervous--even though that's what he was there to do!! I did screw up my courage and got the autograph. My favorite autograph moment came following a Kings game where I had nabbed one of Rob Blake's slapshots & waited with my nephew for Blake to sign the puck. I was going to let my nephew have it but Blake signed two pucks and gave me one, too! He liked the fact I'm knowledgeable about the game. (For what it's worth, if I grab a puck near me and there is a child in the vicinity, I always give it to the youngster.)

~Adam

That's awesome Adam!....even though I've never caught a puck at an NHL game (I did have one land about two seats away from me once at a Caps-Isles game at the old USAirArena/Capital Centre)....however, I have the same policy regarding baseballs if there is a youngster nearby....I've been fortunate to have "caught" two baseballs in Baltimore over the years (one at Camden Yards about five years ago and one at the Old Memorial Stadium in the late 80s) and on both occasions I gave them to youngsters that were sitting close by, which gave me as much of a thrill as it did them.

In fact, for some reason, I vividly recall the one I caught at Memorial Stadium because it was in the late innings of a game against the Red Sox that the O's were losing badly (as usual ), it was raining steadily and most of the fans had either left or gone back under the stands for cover....I almost NEVER leave a game early regardless of the score and I decided to move down to a closer field level seat just over the Boston dugout when a foul ball careemed off the siding of the second deck and virtually landed in my lap....anyway, there was a kid sitting in front of me with his parents in the rain (he was probably about 7 or 8 years old) and when he turned around to admiringly look at the ball I gave it to him, which produced a huge smile on his face....I remember his mother thanking me profusely but I know I got more pleasure from seeing the boy's reaction than I ever would have out of leaving it on a shelf or in a drawer at home.

Sorry to be so long winded and get off topic (after all, this IS a hockey thread) but your comment about giving the hockey puck to the youngster, Adam, reminded me of that....I'm sure you're at the game now (as I'm typing this) and I see the Kings are tied 1-1 after the first period -- I hope Andy's boys continue their winning ways and let us know if you had any "personal encounters" with Alex Frolov or any of his other cute teammates.

[ February 13, 2003, 08:41 PM: Message edited by: gamecock ]

Enjoy your autographed puck, Adam. I wonder if Frolov will sign his name in Russian!

Looks like your Kings are dominating my Flames tonight. It's currently 4-1 after two periods, and Los Angeles has had TEN power plays already (though I think some of the penalties against Calgary have been questionable). This is the first time I've watched the Kings on TV this season, so I'm not too familiar with the players, although I know they've had a lot of injuries. I noticed they have a player named Steve Heinz, and chuckled when I saw he wears #57. Looks like their playoff hopes are somewhat brighter than the Flames' chances which are frankly, almost nil. However, for what it's worth, they played decently last night against the other So Cal team; it was exciting to see them tie the Mighty Ducks with one-tenth of a second left in the game; only to have Anaheim win it ten seconds into overtime.

Hold on...was just about to post this, and Jarome Iginla scored early in the third period, now 4-2.

Adam,

I do understand what you mean about the autograph thing. I remember last year I went to training camp for the Caps, and TONS of people were harrassing players for autographs. No matter how minor they were (like people who'll never play in the NHL), they went for them. I just didn't want to be like them.

I do, however, get autographs when I go to the season ticket holder party each year. I like to have my jersey autographed by the player who's number it is.

My favorite moment was when I had Zubrus sign my jersey. It was a game worn one that I had gotten from e-bay from the Caps. He had never had one of his to sign in DC (this was right after he'd been traded here). He was SO excited, it was funny. He looked at Joe Sacco and was like "See, see, THIS is what I'm talking about!" then he looked at me and said "Do you want me to sign it real big?" He obviously hadn't been having a lot of fun that evening, but he certainly lit up when seeing that.

Trevor

Good game by the Kings--probably the best I've seen--first period to game end--in about two months. I have long been a fan of Jamie Storr & prefer him to Felix Potvin (I'm in the minority on this) and it's good to see Storr getting back into the form that led the Kings past the Red Wings a couple of playoff seasons back.

Even though I am standoffish about getting autographs, in addition to the numerous pucks, I have two baseballs (with lots of signatures) and a hockey stick with Joe Sakic and Luc Robitalle. That sits in my office cubicle, along with the Derek Sanderson card and Barry Melrose (from when he was the Kings coach) puck.

Gamecock: thanks for the great story about passing along the baseballs! Loved it!!

~Adam

Maybe I'm just being overly-sensitive, but I have the feeling I might have committed a faux-pas by focusing more on the Kings-Flames game last night than on the main subject of this thread, ie the autographed pucks. I guess I should have started a separate thread. Sorry

Marc: no apology is necessary--your comments were most definitely on target & anyway, I wanted to ask if the rumors about the Flames moving Jerome Iginla have any merit? At Staples that night, people were talking about the possibility he won't be in Calgary much longer in a serious manner. I can't believe the Flames would let him go--he's the posterboy for hockey in that city, isn't he?

By the way, the Frolov puck features two of his signatures--one in the Cyrillic alphabet. Very cool indeed!

~Adam

Hi, Adam...Indeed, 'poster boy' is an accurate description for Jarome Iginla. He is easily the most recognized Flame (no surprise there, as he is really our only star!), and seems like a really nice guy too. I hope Iggy stays, but of course it all comes down to money. Lots of other teams are interested, including New Jersey and Colorado. A recent fan poll asked if Jarome is likely to be traded, and current results are about 55% no, 45% yes (if the question had been 'should' he be traded, I think the 'no' vote would be considerably higher). This article from one of the Calgary papers today may shed some light on the situation:

http://www.canoe.ca/CalgarySports/cs.cs-02...02-16-0120.html

Congrats on receiving your 'bilingual' puck...I'm sure there aren't many of those around!