A pleasant surprise

When a team as good as the Anaheim Ducks comes to town, there’s usually two constants. One, the team will draw a crowd. Secondly, the team’s big stars will be tough to get.

In both cases, I'm wicked psyched to say, neither held true this morning.

Granted, there were about a dozen or so hounds and dealers, a pretty manageable crowd for everyone involved. And much to our collective surprise, Anaheim’s big guns, including Jean-Sebastien Giguere (above, left), notorious toughie Chris Pronger (above, right) and Teemu Selanne (see below) all stopped to sign.

It’s one thing to have the third- and fourth-liners stop, but to have these stars willing to put pen to puck was like an early present from Santa.

Other Ducks signing pucks for me this morning were coach Randy Caryle, Chris Kunitz, Andy McDonald, Shane O’Brien, Samuel Pahlsson, Dustin Penner, Corey Perry and Ryan Shannon. In all, I added another 20 pucks to the collection this morning.

We’ll be heading back for the game tonight, so I’m hoping to add even more from those I missed or let pass.