Springfield Falcons @ Albany Devils 4/19/14

For their last game of the regular season, the Albany Devils hosted the Springfield Falcons. I had already met many of the Falcons back in December. After the game, I was at my usual spot by the back door near the bus. 

I only had some stuff for a few of the Falcons, and they started coming out quickly after the game. There were a bunch of people outside in the back, and it made me wonder where those people were back in December when it was freezing out. 

The first Falcon out that I had something for was Tim Erixon, a former New York Ranger who was a part of the Rick Nash trade in 2012. He was very nice, signing everything for everybody. He signed the 4x6 photo I had. I'm pretty sure he signed six or seven cards for one of the other people that was there. I got a good photo of him signing for one of the other people that wanted his autograph.

The next person whose autograph I wanted was goalie Mike McKenna, a former Albany Devil. He came out, and signed for people who asked. He even stood and talked to the fans outside for a good 15 minutes. One person was wearing a McKenna jersey, and he seemed very happy to see someone was wearing his jersey. He signed that fan's jersey and signed everything for anyone else that wanted, including my photo. I also took a good picture of McKenna, in the backwards blue cap, signing for another person.

The last Falcon autograph I got was Dana Tyrell. As soon as he left the building, he walked far away from everyone to make a phone call. When he walked back to the bus, he signed very quickly. He only signed one item per person, good thing I only had one photo. It seemed like he made an effort to sign some cards for people as sloppily as he could. I thanked him for the autograph, and then he boarded the bus, which soon drove away.

I did get a couple autographs from the Devils, but I didn't have much for most of the team. The main person I was hoping to see was Jon Merrill. I printed out a picture from his first NHL goal, which was actually an overtime winner as well. He added the inscription that I asked for. He will most likely be with New Jersey for next season, but since New Jersey didn't make the NHL playoffs, he was back in Albany. He signed for the mob of Devils fans that assembled in the warm spring weather, then ducked into the parking garage and left.




The last autograph on the day that I got was of Tim Sestito. I had taken a picture with him back in January. I printed it out, and when he came out the door. He signed for everyone, including myself. I wished him good luck in the playoffs, and he went to his car and drove away.

That's it for now. I will be going to one of the Albany Devils playoff games this weekend. Thanks for reading! Good luck graphing! 

Springfield Falcons in Albany

Recently, I went to the Times Union Center after one of the Albany Devils games. The Devils had beat the Springfield Falcons, AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets. I arrived just as the game was ending, and this is going to be a brief entry.

Earlier, I had printed out a 8.5x11 photo from the Falcons' website commemorating their 20th season. That and a couple pucks were the only things I brought to get signed.

Here are a few blurry picture I took on my iPhone of some of the Falcons signing for me. It was freezing cold out, I was wearing gloves, forgive the blurriness.

Sean Collins

Jonathan Marchessault

While players were getting onto the bus, one of the coaches looked familiar to another one of the people getting autographs. That person turned out to be Manny Legace, former NHL All-Star and Stanley Cup Champion. I quickly rummaged through my pockets and picked out one of my pucks, and Legace had no problem signing it and signing for anyone else that wanted an autograph. 

As players were going to the bus, most of them stopped and signed for me. Tim Erixon walked all the way around the bus and said, "I'm not signing." I might have missed out on a couple players toward the end of the night as it got colder. But here is the photo I got signed and the autographs I got. 

In no particular order: Here are the autographs I got that I can recognize. 

4-Will Weber 24-Andrew Joudrey 40-Alex Aleardi 12-Ryan Craig 

32-Frederic St. Denis 33-Dalton Smith 39-Jean-Francois Jacques 

17-Sean Collins 22-Ilari Melart 26-Cody Bass 30-Jeremy Smith

16-Michael Chaput 27-Cody Goloubef 21-Jake Hansen

There is one other player, he wrote the #5 on the bottom middle part of the photo. I don't know who that is as there is no #5 on the roster. If anyone knows who that is, any help would be great. Assistant Coach Nolan Pratt signed on the NS in the word Falcons. Assistant Coach Jared Bedner also signed it, on the bottom right part of the photo. 

I didn't have anything for the Devils players, but I did get a good picture of Devils goalie Scott Wedgewood signing for someone else. I'll get him on something else when I find something else to get Devils on. 

The Devils have a few more home games in December, and I should be going to at least one of them before I go back to Long Island for winter break. Thanks for reading!