Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Michael McCarron TTM Success

Mailed:  12/7/2015
Received:  12/22/2015
Days:  15
c/o: St. John's Ice Caps

I have been a big fan of McCarron since he was drafted by the Habs, and chose to go to the OHL to gain experience and further develop his skills.  He started with London and played there for 1 full season and then was traded to the Oshawa Generals in the middle of last season, which is where he helped them win the Memorial Cup.  He is a big power forward who can score, which is what the Habs need right now.  He has 24 points in 28 games in the AHL this year so far.  He got this card back to me in 15 days, and in the middle of all of that, he was called up by the Canadiens, for 2 games!  They sent him back down already, but I have to think he won't be down there for long.

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Radim Vrbata TTM Success

Mailed:  1/29/2015
Received:  10/25/2015
Days:  269
c/o: Vancouver Canucks

Radim Vrbata has been a great addition to the Canucks.  He had 31 goals and 63 points last season, playing with the Sedins.  He has bounced around a bit during his career, so maybe he will stick around in Vancouver for a while.

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Genevieve Lacasse IP

My daughter plays goal for our local rep team.  This summer, presented a huge opportunity for her right in our home town.  Fine Line Conditioning, is a hockey training company based out of Kingston, Ontario.  They ran a camp in Napanee, that was for female goalies only.  It was instructed by Kory Cooper(who is now a goalie consultant for the Ottawa Senators) and Genevieve Lacasse, who is the current goalie for the women's team Canada, and the Boston Blades.  She is an Olympic gold medal winning goalie, and you couldn't ask for a better role model for young female goalies.  At the end of the week, she signed autographs and posed with the kids with her gold medal.  I even tweeted out to her after my daughter won her first tournament.  I thanked her for the work she did with her in the summer.  She tweeted us back, congratulating my daughter.
Here are the cards she signed for us.

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Bryan Little TTM Success

Mailed:  10/5/2011
Received:  8/21/2015
Days:  1416
c/o: Winnipeg Jets

So this is 2 long outstanding returns I have gotten from the Jets recently.  I am not sure if its the team or the players.  This is by far the longest wait I have had for a return since I started back doing this.  Just shy of 4 years.  Its still pretty cool to add these to my collection.  I watched Bryan play alot while he was with the Barrie Colts and I was always impressed with his play back then.

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Devin Setoguchi TTM Success

Mailed:  10/2/2013
Received:  6/26/2015
Days:  632
c/o: Winnipeg Jets

I have had very limited success in mailing the Winnipeg Jets.  This one took over 1.5 years to get back to me.  Devin played for the Calgary Flames last year, but ended up spending some time in Adirondack in the AHL.  I am not sure where he will be next season.  I suspect that he will have to play his way on an NHL team.

Quicken Loans 400 Michigan International Speedway

I attended the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway.  My dad is better now after having quadruple bypass surgery last year, so I took him back to MIS as I had such an awesome time there last year.  We had the whole package for tickets this time.  Pit passes, driver intro passes, and tickets to the Arca, Xfinity and Cup series races.

Most of my autographs came during the Pre-race driver introduction pass that we bought.  Once the drivers were announced, some of them signed for the fans on their way to their cars.  I was pretty luck this year again, and I also got a bunch of autographs that I haven't gotten before.

Martin Truex Jr. signed a card for me.  He is having an awesome season so far, with a small race team.  He is already locked in for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Trevor Bayne signed card.  Trevor has moved over to the Roush team this year, but everyone seems to be struggling on that team.
David Gilliland signed race used shoe card.  I pulled this out of a box last year, so it was neat to get this signed.
Brad Keselowski signed card.  I don't mind "Bad Brad" too much.  I know he took some major flak last year for the incident with Jeff Gordon.  I love Jeff, but I gotta say, there was a hole there for Brad to take, and he took it.  I can't say as though I blame him.  It sucked that Jeff ended up wrecking out and losing any chance for the Cup, but it was Jeff's mistake.
Matt DiBenedetto signed card.  Matt drives for BK Racing, which I am throughly convinced that they are just happy in having their logo on a car.  They are never competitive, which is a shame.
Now for the holy grail for this weekend.  This was the last autograph that I got during the Driver intros.  As he was coming towards me, I was desperately fumbling through my pics trying to get the right one out.  I ended up just getting it out there as he got to me.  Anyway, I know there are plenty of people out there that would love to have this autograph.  There aren't any drivers more popular that Dale Earnhardt Jr., and I now have his autograph in my collection.
We watched qualifying from the pit area.  It is an awesome way to watch it.  You get to see what teams are doing out there between runs and see what they are doing to the cars to get a bit more speed out of them.  There are usually plenty of people down there, so autographs are few and far between.

I got Matt Kenseth to sign a card right after his qualifying run was over.
On our way out of the pit area, we spotted Carl Edwards signing autographs.  He literally signed for everyone that was in there, and then walked along a fence area and signed for everyone there, and even posing for some pictures.  Carl is a true class act.
I didn't have a card for J.J. Yeley, but since he was practically standing right beside me, I had him sign my pit pass.  He races for BK Racing as well.
Kasey Kahne had won the pole.  Jeff and him sorta got out of their cars at the same time, so when Jeff headed out of the pit area, everyone followed him.  I got him last year, so I figured I would take a shot at Kasey.  He came right towards me, so I just stayed where I was.  He grabbed my picture and signed it, and just after, he was completely mobbed.
I have said it before, and I will say it again.  Michigan International Speedway is the place to go.  I know they had some pissed off people due to the rain out, but I was ok with it.  They gave it their all that day, and honestly, coming back the next day would have been hell for us.  We would have had to watch the race, and then drive 7 hours home.  They do an amazing job at keeping the fan experience, the best that I have seen at any track.

Saturday, May 9, 2015

Christopher Gibson TTM Success

Mailed:  12/31/2014
Received:  5/8/2015
Days:  128
c/o: Toronto Marlies

Gibson was born in Finland and played his junior hockey in Chicoutimi.  He had a very good regular season with the Marlies going 24-17-3.  Maybe the Leafs will look to bring him up next season.

David Legwand TTM Success

Mailed:  1/9/2015
Received:  5/3/2015
Days:  114
c/o: Ottawa Senators

I actually only mailed him the jersey card, so he included the extra card for me.  The Senators used him mostly as a 4th line guy this year, and only dressed him for 3 of the payoff games.  He has carved out a decent career and he should have a few more years left for a team that needs some leadership.  Maybe Edmonton should take note.

Monday, May 4, 2015

Lance Bouma TTM Success

Mailed:  1/22/2015
Received:  4/30/2015
Days:  98
c/o: Calgary Flames

Lance had a nice little breakout year with the Flames this year.  34 points in 78 games before going down with an injury late in the season.  He hasn't made it back for the playoffs yet, and the Flames could use him.

Viktor Fasth TTM Success

Mailed:  12/2/2014
Received:  4/27/2015
Days:  146
c/o: Edmonton Oilers

Oilers' players usually return their TTM stuff after the season ends.  Viktor's numbers were down right bad this season, but whose wasn't for the Oilers?  The have Connor McDavid coming next year, so maybe they will be an instant contender.  There is an awful lot of young talent on that team so they are bound to start clicking soon.

Monday, April 6, 2015

Dustin Byfuglien TTM Success

Mailed:  10/24/2014
Received:  3/26/2015
Days:  153
c/o: Winnipeg Jets

I pulled this jersey card late last season, so I thought I would give it a shot to get autographed.  Dustin is a huge reason why the Jets are still in playoff contention right now.  It is going to come down to the last game of the season to see who gets that last playoff spot.

Sunday, February 15, 2015

James Van Riemsdyk TTM Success

Mailed:  3/13/2013
Received:  2/13/2015
Days:  702
c/o: Toronto Maple Leafs

I got this one back just shy of 2 years.  JVR has been great for an awful Toronto team.  He has 43 points this season, and that is with the Leafs virtually scoring no goals since January 1st.  It sounds like the Leafs' management are about to blow up the team, but I think they will build around JVR and hope for a good draft pick this year.

Dustin Tokarski TTM Success

Mailed:  2/14/2014
Received:  2/10/2015
Days:  361
c/o: Hamilton Bulldogs

"Ticker" has done an awesome job in Montreal backing up Carey Price.  He came in last season in the playoffs after Kreider took out Carey Price in game 1 of the semi finals against the Rangers.  He has won everywhere he has played so far, so hopefully the Habs can give him a cup ring this year too!

Monday, February 2, 2015

Sam Reinhart TTM Success

Mailed:  1/13/2015
Received:  2/2/2015
Days:  20
c/o: Kootenay Ice

20 days for Sam Reinhart is awesome!  Sam was pivotal for Team Canada at the World Junior Championships.  He had a great tournament and proved why he is an elite prospect in the Sabres' system.  He will be a full timer there next year, as the Sabres chose to send him back to junior before the 10 game mark so they didn't burn a year of his rookie contract and free agency status.  If they end up winning the McDavid lottery, they could be very dangerous in a couple of years.  These 2 guys playing together would be lethal!  I am extremely happy to add this one to my collection.

Monday, January 19, 2015

Sean Monahan TTM Success

Mailed:  11/27/2014
Received:  1/19/2015
Days:  53
c/o: Calgary Flames

Sean had a pretty good rookie season with the Flames last year and looks to be building on that success this season.  He has 28 points in 45 games so far.  

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Alexander Edler TTM Success

Mailed:  2/4/2014
Received:  1/16/2015
Days:  346
c/o: Vancouver Canucks

It was just shy of a year to get this one back.  The Canucks continue to be very TTM friendly.  Overall, I have gotten 76% of my cards back from them, but I also expect to get some of the more recent ones back, so that number may climb.  Alex is having a very good year with 15 points so far.  The Canucks are surprising everyone this year by contending for a playoff position.  Picking up Ryan Miller has helped them immensely, but there are lots of good role players on that team as well.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

David Desharnais TTM Success

Mailed:  11/10/2014
Received:  12/23/2014
Days:  43
c/o: Montreal Canadiens

I got Davey back when he was with the Bulldogs, but he is one of my favourite players on the Habs, so when I pulled this jersey card, I decided to take another shot at getting him through the mail.  He has 20 points so far this year, but he has been broken up from Pacioretty for the last while.  I am not sure that I like that, however, Gallagher and Galchenyuk need more prime time minutes, and so far, that mixture is working really well.  Chucky has been on fire since moving up to the first line.  The Habs struggle a bit to find scoring at times, and rely heavily on Price and the defence corps.