civilized ku # 1067-71 ~ guys from Finland try to beat guys from the USA
Saturday, August 13, 2011 at 10:34AM 
USA Junior hockey ~ Lake Placid, NY • click to embiggen
USA Junior hockey ~ Lake Placid, NY • click to embiggen
USA Junior hockey ~ Lake Placid, NY • click to embiggen
USA Junior hockey ~ Lake Placid, NY • click to embiggenThis past Thursday was Hugo's birthday and one of things we did was watch the USA Hockey National Junior team (Juniors - under 20) play the National Junior team from Finland. For 10 days (ending on Friday), the USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp has been conducted in Lake Placid. National Junior teams from Finland and Sweden were invited to participate in tournament (capitalists vs socialists?) play as part of the camp schedule.
The level of play was extremely high. Many of the junior players are very high - some in the top 10 - NHL draft picks. In addition, there were NHL head/assistant coaches and scouts all over the place. I managed to have a nice chat with NHL Hall of Fame inductee and North Carolina associate head coach Ron Francis. Francis stands second all-time in career assists behind Wayne Gretzky with 1,249, fourth in career points (1,798), and third in games played (1,731).
In a twist on the standard fan/autograph-hound/athlete procedure, I gave Francis a gift with my autograph on it. Although, it is worth pointing out that his autograph was on it as well - an autograph he signed 20 years ago.
The gift in question was a limited edition lithograph I produced (under license to the Pens), to include the pictures, to celebrate the Pittsburgh Penguins' back-to-back Stanley Cup Championships. Ron Francis was a member of that team and under the terms of the license, some team members signed the lithos. Amongst the signers was Ron Francis, Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Joey Mullen - 3 NHL Hall of Fame members and 1 in-waiting.
Ron Francis had never seen the print and was absolutely delighted to have it.
FYI, that's my autograph, on the lower right, under my little drawing of a camera.
Raising the Banners • click to embiggen
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