Murphy's Law-Anything that can possibly go wrong, does

I'm not talking about Larry Murphy either although.....Nah, that's a whole other story

84/85 OPC #204

On Feb 19, 2011 the Brant County Twin Pad Arena had their grand opening.



Honourary campaign co-chairs were Walter Gretzky and Paris native Jay Wells. Bothe men were in attendance as were former NHL'ers Rick Vaive and Marty McSorley. There was an autograph signing scheduled. Here's where the fun part begins. Now I haven't done any hounding for probably 3 years and thought this would be fairly routine. Opening was advertised as between 1:00-4:00. I figure if I'm there by around 12:45 I should be able to scout things out. I get there around 12:50 and read the sign that says autographs were between 12:30-1:30 in the lower lobby. I'm there but I don't see anything set up. Now I spot Rick Vaive standing by the door to enter the ice surface for the opening ceremonies that start at 1:00. I do get him to sign two items .

One was the Rick Vaive 1984 Molson Cup winner poster 16"x10 1/2 ". He won the trophy as he had the most 3 star selections during the 83/84 season. Also got signed was a Gillette 24"x16" poster advertising their superskater contest. I have a  Jim Peplinski(Flames) and Dale Hawerchuk (Jets) unsigned. This piece is probably from the mid-late 80's. When I asked him for his autograph, he whipped out his blue sharpie and took a good look at the Gillette poster.

Now, Marty McSorley comes by but wants to get on the ice for the opening ceremony so he says he will sign later.  After the ceremony, one of the girl's teams that was going to play wanted his autograph but nobody had anything for him to sign with. Being the nice guy I am, i offered my sharpie and he signed their sticks. Somehow my sharpie disappeared. Of course, my backup pen did not work. I did have a retractable sharpie pen but he did not want tp use it. Somehow he ended up with some kind of blue marker. Whatever it was, it did not work well.

90/91 Upper Deck #212,90/91 Pro Set #124, 91/92 Upper Deck #199

All the while he was giving tips to the girls, like skating stance and the whipiness of sticks. He also talked on fighting in the game. Very entertaining.

Clark vs McSorley  1985

Jay Wells was not scheduled but was there so I brought a few cards just in case. He started with a pen but then switched to a black sharpie.

85/80 OPC # 178, 86/87 OPC #217, 87/88 OPC #151

I have obtained Waler Gretzky's signature a few times.

Signed Jello pudding cup shaker--notice he signs W Gretzky

All in all, it brought back memories of futures past. With all the little hiccups, it was still fun and did get some signed items to add to my collection. Am still trying to get to the alumni game tomorrow. Fingers crossed.