Chicago Wolves @ Adirondack Flames 11/18/14

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go up to Glens Falls for the morning skates of the Adirondack Flames, AHL affiliate of the Calgary Flames, and the Chicago Wolves, AHL affiliate of the St. Louis Blues. The Flames are brand new, having moved to Glens Falls, N.Y. from British Columbia in Canada. Last season, the Adirondack Phantoms played in Glens Falls as the Flyers AHL affiliate, but they moved to Lehigh Valley, P.A. prior to this season, which left the Flames to come to New York.



After showing up bright and early for the morning skate, I just went up to the tunnel where the Flames would be leaving the ice after their skate. During the skate, one of the Flames goalies made a save, sending the puck over the glass and into the stands. With pretty much nobody else there, I walked over and picked up the puck. It is just a blank puck, no logos on it or anything like that. I'll probably end up getting it signed one day in the near future.


Eventually, the Flames started coming off the ice one at a time. I had a team sheet for them and a few 4x6 photos of some of the players. One of the first guys off was Joni Ortio, the starting goalie for that night's game. He was nice and signed. The backup goalie that night was Brad Thiessen, former Pittsburgh Penguin. He also was nice and signed as soon as he came off the ice. That's him signing on the left.

One of the main reasons I wanted to go to Glens Falls was to see former New York Islander Trevor Gillies. Many fans know him for being in this brawl against Pittsburgh in 2011. Earlier this season, he was suspended for an illegal hit against the Rochester Americans. He was back from his suspension by the time I was in Glens Falls.

After he got off the ice, he was going to sign, then realized he was really sweaty and needed a towel. He said he would come back in a couple minutes. A few minutes later, Gillies showed up without his jersey and with a towel. I told him I was from Long Island, and he extended his right hand and said, "Trevor, nice to meet you." I shook it and handed him a sharpie. He signed the two 4x6 photos I had of him and personalized one of them. He said he liked the photo he ended up personalizing, and I didn't even ask for it. He just did it once I told him my name. I then took a picture with him, wished him luck, and he went back into the locker room. The photo is on the right. You can see the autographs further down in this entry.

Since I spent a solid two minutes talking to Gillies, I missed a couple of players coming off the ice, but it was worth it to get to hang out with a player who has some sentimental value to me.

I got a few 4x6 photos signed by the Flames, and here they are in no particular order.

Trevor Gillies

Brad Thiessen

Trevor Gillies

Corey Potter

And below is the Adirondack Flames team sheet I got signed by as many people as I could, as well as the number they signed with. One player apologized for writing the wrong number with his signature. 

6-Dustin Steven 5-Tyler Wotherspoon 46-Bill Arnold 16-Matthew Tousignant 

7-Ryan Culkin 44-Corey Potter 28-Ben Hanowski 48-Bryce Van Brabant 

14-Mark Cundari 7-John Ramage 39-Brad Thiessen 31-Joni Ortio

14-Trevor Gillies 32-Patrick Sieloff 38-Nolan Yonkman

Assistant coach Todd Gill signed in the top left corner under Steven's signature. 

After the Flames left the ice, the zamboni went on the ice and I went over to the other side of the rink to watch the Wolves skate. I took the panorama below while the Wolves were on the ice. 

Eventually, the Wolves started coming off the ice. I got autographs from pretty much everyone that was on the ice for them, including a few Stanley Cup winners. As the Wolves were doing their skate, I was told that former goaltender Ty Conklin was on the ice as one of the coaches in the Blues organization. In the photo on the left, Conklin is the one in the Blues apparel mentoring young goalie Matt Clime. Conklin signed a puck for me once he came off. Clime is the goaltender in the photo the left who signed. He was quite sweaty, so some of his sweat dripped onto people's items. 

Here is the team sheet I got signed by the Wolves and names and numbers of everyone that signed it. 

49-Gergo Nagy 9-Shane Harper 28-Brett Regner 38-Sebastian Wannstrom 42-Jake Chelios  5-Mathieu Brodeur 33-Matt Clime 24-Colin Fraser 21-Ben Ferriero  

12-Pat Cannone 6-Jani Hakanpaa 4-Petteri Lindbohm 

7-David Shields 15-Jeremy Welsh. 37-Terry Broadhurst

Ty Rattie, Jordan Binnington, and Yannick Vielleux signed without numbers. 

Coaches Mark Hardy (bottom left) and Brad Tapper (top center) signed without numbers. 

Brent Sopel

I got other items signed by some of the Wolves. Here they are.

Colin Fraser

Colin Fraser

Ty Conklin

Mark Hardy (Index Card)

Ty Rattie

That's it for this entry. It was quite a successful day in Glens Falls. I have a few more entries to catch up on, and I will have those up as soon as possible. Thanks for reading, good luck graphing, and have a great day.