The Blackhawks Convention 2009

I went up for the Hawks convention just on Saturday even though it ran all weekend.  I was sitting on my computer Thursday night and bought a cheap ticket on ebay, just a last minute thing I decided to do.  Wow it was over-crowded and took forever to get an autograph.  You either had to choose to wait in the basement area of the hotel and get autographs or you could go upstairs and enjoy the activities of the convention.  I heard there was a line of people waiting to get into the autograph area and they were not letting people go back in if you left.  So I chose to stay in the autograph area.  The lines were pretty bad, I waited in line for 2 hours to get Kris Versteeg only to see him standing around outside the hotel as I was leaving.  It took about an hour and a half to get Amonte and Probert and times on the other varied.  The quickest was Aaron Johnson... funny story... kind of.  Aaron Johnson was signed up for a Kids only signing at the same time Amonte and another popular player where signing.  So only a few kids were going into the line every once in a while.  So after I got out of the Probert line I walked me way over into the room where they were selling all sorts of stuff, bought a Johnson card, walked right through the line and got Johnson to sign my card for me.  That was the only autograph all day that didn't take forever.  Bob Probert, Tony Amonte, and Phil Russel were probably the nicest guys I got autographs from.  I thanked Amonte for coming and said he was glad to do it and appreciated all the great fans.  Probert was nice talking to all the fans.  He complimented me on my card and showed it to the security guard.  Russel was just a classy guy and I was able to have a short conversation with him.  Jim Pappin didn't seem thrilled to be signing, not talking much to anyone.  Most guys smiled and thanked you for coming which was nice.  I'm still glad I went, it was a fun experience and it was free autographs so I can't complain.  I also got to talk to a lot of people as I waited in lines all day.  Lots of nice people so that made waiting not as bad.  I was kind of disappointed that Toews, Kane, or Hossa didn't do any signings for the convention, the only way to get them was a VIP signing that only people who stayed at the hotel had an opportunity to go to.  A very long day got there at 8:30 Am and left at 6:30 PM.  

All in all 12 autographs

Cards: 1 each from Tony Amonte, Bob Probert, Kris Versteeg, Brent Sopel, Aaron Johnson, Jim Pappin, Lou Angotti, Steve Konroyd, and Phil Russel.  Jordan Hendry signed 2 cards for me.

Puck: Dave Bolland