Goalie talk

For those of you lucky enough to have made my son’s acquaintance, you’ve quickly found out that, almost to a fault, he’s a precocious little guy. Simply put, he has no problem endearing himself to anyone, especially hockey players.

As I wrote recently, he’s been telling me lately, with increasing frequency, that he wants to be a goalie. On Saturday, before the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 5-3 victory over Southeast Division rival Atlanta, Colin made friends with Thrashers goalie Johan Hedberg.

Now, most hounds know that Hedberg is a pretty nice person. He’ll sign anything and everything. Colin’s team sheet (which also includes autographs from Ilya Kovalchuk and Kari Lehtonen), shown above, was no different. Hedberg signed, at the bottom, near the middle.
What made the autograph remarkable, in my opinion, was the exchange when he got it:

Colin: Do you play goalie?

Hedberg: Yes, I do

Colin: I want to be a goalie.

Hedberg: You do?

Colin: Yeah. I have all the equipment.

Hedberg: You do?

Colin: Yeah, it’s my daddy’s. It doesn’t fit me yet.

Hedberg (looking over and sizing me up): Well, buddy, you’ll have some catching up to do.