Given the number of hockey jerseys that fill the closets of our home, I'm surprised we don't have more team-signed items, such as this one from the Toronto Maple Leafs, added to the collection. But, like most any other subset of our hockey memorabilia, it has to start somewhere.
Honestly, to call this Leafs jersey, which Colin had 23 players, coaches and a general manager sign, a team-signed item is a bit of a misnomer. Despite the numbers, it lacks signatures from two of Toronto's bigger names -- Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul.
Who did sign? Well, most everyone else, including Dion Phaneuf, James Reimer, Nazim Kadri, Tyler Bozak, James van Riemsdyk, Colton Orr, Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolai Kulemin.
As for Kessel and Lupul, it's not as though Colin didn't try.
Putting in a quick session before attending a hockey clinic, he asked Kessel to sign it before he boarded the team bus before the game. Kessel, who can be a little frosty, simply kept on walking, dropping of his luggage and then getting onto the bus, a good 15 minutes before its departure. As for Lupul, we never saw him.
Even without their autographs, the jersey is pretty special to Colin. Mr. Al, our buddy in Toronto, gave it to him a few years ago. We later added the patch, from the Toronto fire station where Mr. Al once worked. I'm sure he'll wear it next summer, when we visit Toronto.
Up next: Leafs team report
No comments:
Post a Comment