Winter Classic: Pittsburgh Penguins vs Wasington Capitals

With the Stanley Cup final on tomorrow, some people have shifted their attention over to the Winter Classic, being played between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals. In my opinion, I didn't think the choice of the 2 teams were really fair. Pittsburgh played in a Winter Classic game only a few years ago. A little more than 20 other teams have NEVER played in a Winter Classic before, and this is Pittsburgh's second time in the last 5-6 years. It is like Dallas hosting another All-star game, even though they did that 3 years ago. It is pretty obvious that this is an idea for the NHL to get more viewers. I mean, if it were Atlanta vs Tampa Bay...there would be no interest at all. Maybe only the die hard fans would be interested in that. But because 2 of the NHL's best teams are playing, you can bet that there will be a ton of interest. I hope Vancouver gets to play in the next Winter Classic. That would be a game to watch!

TTM Success From Kevin Bieksa!

Yesterday, I got a TTM autograph from Canuck defencemen, Kevin Bieksa! It has been a little hard keeping up with the sudden reply of all of these autographs, since I am not used to getting successes 2-3 times a week. I usually get 2-3 TTM successes every month. Kevin signed 1 victory card for me. I have gotten back 4 TTM successes from the Canucks, so far this month. This was the third ever TTM autograph that I ever mailed out. I mailed the letter out to Bieksa on September 5 2009, and received the card on May 20 2010.
Thanks Kevin!

TTM autographs back from Rick Rypien and Mikael Samuelsson

On May 14/10, I received 5 TTM autographs back from Rick Rypien, tough guy on the Vancouver Canucks. I mailed the letter to him on September 17/09 and received the autographs back on May 14/10.
Rypien apparently gave Richard Clune an injury to his left arm in a fight in game 5 against the LA Kings during this years playoffs. I never like seeing players injured but did not feel sorry for Clune at all. From what I saw, Clune was following Rypien around asking Rypien to fight. After jawing at each other, Rypien decided to fight. Clune was a thorn in the Canuck player sides all game, chirping at them. Well...Rypien decided to step up.

I also received a Mikael Samuelsson TTM autograph, which I received today. I got 4 signed index cards from him. At first, I had no idea whose autograph that was. I thought that it may have been Christian Ehrhoff or Brad Lukowich, but when I looked up their autographs, they did not match the autograph on the index cards. Samuelsson's autograph matched up. I was really happy and am still happy to have gotten these autographs back. Thanks Mikael!

Some Nice Stuff In the Mailbox Today...

Today, I got a couple things in the mail. I got a TTM autograph, and some cards from a member on Sportscardforum.com.
I'll start with the cards first. I ended up getting a Tobias Stephan Future Stars, Between the Pipes, In the Game autograph. It will make very nice tradebait. The autograph looks really good, I guess it is because it is hard-signed. He also added in a few goalie, In the game base cards which look pretty good. So, I am happy with that.

It was cool opening up a TTM autograph that I mailed last September. I was thinking earlier this afternoon how cool it would be, to get an autograph from a Canuck player that I had mailed a letter to, in September. Well...when I looked in my mailbox, my wish came true. I got 3 Darcy Hordichuk autographed cards. I sent him 3 lined index cards. But he was generous to send me 3 hockey cards of himself.

I mailed the letter to Hordichuk, on September 6/09
I received the autographs back from him on May 13/10

Really nice success.

Thanks for reading, and hopefully I will have some more mail in the next couple of weeks!

Canucks Lose Against Blackhawks

The Canucks have lost game 4 of the Western Conference Semi-Finals to the Chicago Blackhawks, by a score of 7-4. It was pretty disapointing, and I have doubts that they will win the next 3 games. Kyle Wellwood, Daniel Sedin, Alex Edler, and Henrik Sedin scored for the Canucks. Brent Seabrook, Jonathon Toews (who scored 3 of the 7 Chicago goals, and had 2 assists), Patrik Sharp, David Bolland, and Tomas Kopecky scored for the Blackhawks. "I don't want to get too confident," Toews explained. "They came back hard in the first period. Everyone knows that in a series, the fourth win is the toughest win to get."
"I think right now he's the second best goaltender on the ice, Alain Vineault said about Luongo.

The Canucks will have to put up a fight if they want to win the next game.

A few Nice Autographs that I have Received In the Mail In the Past Few Weeks

A couple days ago, I received a package in the mail. Inside was a 2009-10 Rich Peverley Gemography autograph from one of the members on Sportscardforum.com. I decided to collect Gemography autographs, and this is the first one that I have gotten. I have a Michal Handzus 2008-09 Gemography autograph incoming.

A couple weeks ago, I recevied a Brendan Shanahan signed photo in the mailbox. I had mailed out a TTM autograph request out to Brendan Shanhan a couple months earlier, to the NHL office in New York. They responded and sent me a nice signed photo with a letter explaining that Shanahan is a very respected player, and that he gets tons of fanmail and that he doesn't have time to respond to his fans. It was a very nice letter, and I am very happy to get an autographed photo from one of the best players to ever play the game.

I also received a signed card from Yvan Cournoyer, retired player that used to play for the Montreal Canadians. I sent him a couple index cards with a self, addressed, stmaped, envelope and a letter to him. He sent me a very sweet looking, autographed card. Thanks Yvan!

I am trying to keep up with all of my TTM autograph successes. I also received something from Emile Bouchard. Also a retired player that used to play for the Montreal Canadians. I sent him a couple of index cards, a self, addressed, stamped, envelope, and I also sent him a nice letter. He responded and sent me a hockey card. The same type of card that Yvan Counoyer sent me. I am very happy with that success, and hope to get a few more successes back, in the next couple of months.

Thanks for reading!

2 Awesome TTM Successes

Sorry that I haven't been writing in my blog. I have just been really busy.
The Canucks/Hawks series has been really exciting, even though the Canucks are down 2-1 in the series. Luongo has kept the Canucks in every game. That is what they need to keep winning.

I have received a bunch of TTM autographs back lately. I will just talk about 2 that I received back the other day. I got 2 signed and personalzied index cards from Brian Rolston of the New Jersey Devils. That was really sweet, and a fast return from a current player in the NHL. I mailed the letter on Apeil 16/10 and received it back on May 3/10. The letter was mailed to his home in New Jersey. The Devils, as many of you know...have been eliminated from the playoffs, which was really shocking and surprising, since I thought that they be a team that would have made a serious run for the cup this year.

I also got another TTM autograph return back, on May 3/10. It was from Ted Lindsay! Former Red wing superstar. I got 2 signed index cards with an inscription on it. I also got a signed biography, which he was nice of to add in. The letter was mailed on Febuary 28/10.

I was super happy with these 2 successes. And will talk about the other successes that I have gotten back, tomorrow, or in the next few days.

Thanks for Reading!