Hounding Report: Dallas Stars Alumni

For the third year in a row, the Stars hosted an alumni game and for the second time, they've had a pregame autograph signing. I had high hopes this year-- Jason Arnott was on the list, and I haven't gotten him since he was playing for Edmonton.

Arron, Jake, and I went downtown early hoping to catch the Rangers at their hotel. Unfortunately the bus pulled up to a side entrance and about 12 other graphers were there. All I got was head coach Alain Vigneault on a puck.

We got in line pretty early for the alumni signing at least. Unfortunately Jason Arnott canceled and was replaced by Andy Moog... and I left all my Moog cards at home. Double suckage: I have a set card for him. Looks like it's going into the mail if I can figure out which address is best for him.

Aside from that, everything went well. They had spots for Shawn Chambers and Ed Belfour, but they had their on-stage commitment first so I missed out. Also pulling a no-show surprisingly was Bob Bassen, and not-so-surprisingly was Gerald Diduck. You may recall Diduck no-showed last year as well and was a one-per signer at a pregame alumni event a few years back. But as I'm sure I said with my Rangers' Alumni post a while back I don't mind that much. I'd rather a player be on the list and no-show than to not be on the list and show up. It's better to have cards that I don't need than to need cards I don't have.

On the plus side, those who did show up and sign were great. Brent Severyn signed four cards, as did Greg Adams, Stu Barnes, Bill Huard, and Al Secord. Dan Blackburn signed four cards and a puck, and Jere Lehtinen signed the three cards I had room for. I only put three because one was a horizontal jersey card. I did throw in a "Kiitos paljon" (Thank you very much in Finnish) and got a "Ole hyva" back. I'm half Finnish but I know incredibly little of the language-- I can introduce myself, say thanks, count to ten, and curse a lot.

Overall, not too bad despite the near-shutout on the Rangers. Had I not had to drive to Decatur on Friday I would have gotten them at their practice in Frisco. Hoping the Avs will practice when they come in a few weeks. I also got a few signed at the Sidekicks game on Thursday. Full details on that are on the Pacific Soccer Project blog.