Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Helping out

Not too long ago, a friend of the family asked a favor. Her brother, a youth hockey coach in Wisconsin, needed items for a fundraiser. She wanted to know if we could get this Boston Bruins logo banner signed for it.

I'll be clear here. I deny, for a multitude of reasons, about 97 percent of the multiple requests I get from people asking us to get autographs for them. If we honored every request, we'd never get autographs for our own collection.

Besides, I subscribe to the theory that anything worth having is worth going out and getting it yourself. Always have. Always will. In fact, I get uncomfortable asking others to get something signed for us. When they do, we reciprocate.

There are exceptions, though, to shooting down requests for getting items signed for others. Helping out a fellow youth hockey team, especially one coached by a good friend's brother, is among them. We know how much it costs to play hockey, and if we can help hockey parents save a couple bucks, it's our pleasure.

That's why we devoted the better portion of the Bruins' first trip to Hockey Bay this season loading up this banner with signatures from Bruins players. In all, Colin, not me, scored 27 autographs on it. Those who signed, among others, included Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, David Krejci, Tuukka Rask, Mark Recchi, Marc Savard and Tim Thomas.

The only two players we missed? Boston's Tyler Seguin, the No. 2 overall pick at the 2010 NHL Draft, and Brad Marchand. It wasn't for the lack of asking, though. We asked. They denied. Seguin, in particular, was pretty rude about it.

Imagine that? An overhyped rookie, presently providing a great disservice to the No. 19 once worn by Joey Thornton, and his buddy rejecting a request from a kid to help fill out an item for a youth hockey fundraiser. And, yes, both were told what the banner would be used for.

Well, that's another story for another day. Sunday, to be exact.

2 comments:

  1. Well, This is the Brother of the friend. I first want to thank you Colin, for the great effort to help us here "up north" in Schofield Wisconsin. We will be using this banner to help offset the cost of youth hockey registrations here at EYH Everest Youth Hockey. The banner will be presented for raffle at the WAHA State Bantam B2 tournament held the first part of March or if we can put everything together in time, The Midwest Freeze tournament held over the New Years weekend in the greater Wausau area. Everest Youth Hockey will be hosting 1/3 of this event. We are expecting 56 teams from around the Midwest, Mites,Squirts,PeeWees,and Bantams. Thank you ever so much again of your wonderful help and effort. "It is a Great Day to play Hockey".

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  2. Like I said, it's our pleasure. Good luck with the fundraisers. Have fun playing hockey.

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