My Shrine to the Blue & White...

[bassjunky]

My friends have always told me that I should take pictures of my Leafs shrine to share with People, so I thought I would start off sharing with you guys. Here are the pics of my shrine to the blue and white....as you will tell..Iam a die hard

I'll start off with our Hockey Night in Canada Duo, You gotta love Ron & Don
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The next few are just an assortment of signed photos I have on my wall. I also have a bunch I have yet to frame. Iam trying to collect a signed photo from all living Maple Leaf Goaltenders, as well as my all time fav Leafs

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This is an actual seat from Maple Leaf Gardens, After the closed it up you could order the chairs from the Maple Leafs store. You can request any seat in any section (still available). The sticks are either game used or signed some are both. it's players like Belfour, Palmateer, McCabe, Kaberle, Newy, Leech to name a few. 2 are fully team signed from the ealry 90's and 2 are just Peterborough Petes team signed sticks (OHL).

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Now onto my jersey collection. I have successfully collected a signed jersey from every living  Leaf Captain. I have gone to signings, games and even mailed out numbers. Hell I had my friends dad introduce me to Sittler to get that one done. The Prize on these is the George Armstrong (who never signs) and Red Horner who just recently passed away. You cant see the Dave Keon in that last pic sorry

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This is my closet of signed and wearing jerseys that I have not framed. I go to so many signings that I cant keep up actually getting the jerseys stiched.

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And finaly here is where the Leafs need to go. Signed of course by "the Captain" Wendel Clark

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as you can see I collect everything, I have glasses, mugs, bobble head MCfarlances, blankets and you name it. Once again, Thank god hockey has returned.

[Hood]

Holy Cow man, thats awesome.... never seen anything close to that 

[bassjunky]

I'll take that as acompliment Big Red ....My buddies always come over and just sit down there and look around not saying anything they just  stare and smile. Those who are Leaf Fans anyway.

[bigredfishing]

I'll take that as acompliment Big Red ....My buddies always come over and just sit down there and look around not saying anything they just  stare and smile. Those who are Leaf Fans anyway.

dude, its totally a compliment, you have obviously invested a TON of your hard earned money and time on your leafs stuff and it is just an amazing collection.

[Chucker]

Impressive - hope you've got everything insured 

I'm not a total Sabres nut, but I've got a few items.  Jersey signed by the 2000 Xmas-time roster, minus Hasek -  Cory Sarich brought it out to Buff for me.  One of JEEP's old sticks.  Full collection of media guides from 1970 on up (I have to see if I can acquire one for the now "missing" season). 

[synergyboy10]

im a sabres fan and i think my jaw would jit the floor. that awsome

[bassjunky]

For those interested, I will tell you an easy way to start your own shrine....

1) take time to get to know your local sports store owners...they will make you deals (My local guy cuts all my jersey numbers for free...he only charges me for numbers when I get a jersey made up...that way i dont loss $10 for every Player who refuses to sign the number)

2) When collecting signed photo's....search e-bay for a seller who is selling a lot of photos of your team of choice. Contact him on the side and give him a list of player you are looking for. They will usually cut you a great deal. you have saved him e-bay listing fees and he will save you money.

3) Go to local signings, they are usually cheap, you can meet players and get multple items signed for little money. Most cover charges are 5 to 10$....a local siginig is more personal then a big show style signing.

4) Look for Address list on the Internet. I get alot of my autographs this way. I usally send a short letter explining my shrine and provide the player with the photo/jersey # along with a self addressed and stamped envelope. All they have to do is sign it and drop it in the mail....(I like to get mine personalized, players seem to respond better when they know you are not just going to turn around and sell the item

5) If you have a hard time finding a photo of a player you are looking for write him/her and explain that you have been looking for a photo of him and ask were you can BUY one. Usually the player may have an extra and will send it for free...but dont expect it. (a cool storey: I had a hard time finding a player photo, it took a long time, when I finally found it, and mailed it off, I got it signed along with a letter from the player asking if I could send him the photo, he could even find one!!!)

DONTS

1) Dont send a whole bunch of photo's or items....1 photo and 1 jersey is enuff...
2) Dont bother players in public for autographs unless its a public appearance




These are some simple rules I follow when building my shrine.....

[Bobman]

bassjunky that is a truly impressive collection, WOW !  Event though I'm a Sabres fan and the Leaf's are my first or second most hated team depending on standings (the other is Philly  ) I've got to give you credit for dedication. 

I have a few favorite Leafs from a ways back, like Rick Vaive (always were tons of rumors of him coming to Buffalo, unfortunately it didn't happen until the end of his career), Lanny MacDonald (got to meet him in the elevator at the Westin Harbor Castle when he was in Toronto for the Hall of Fame.  The Calgary Cup ring was huge!) and Borje Salming (not sure of spelling).  Being a Sabres fan you see all the connections between Buffalo and Toronto as far as players and staff as I'm sure you know.  Nothing more exciting during the regular season than a Sabres/Leafs game!  Grew up watching Hockey Night in Canada from our cabin in Southern WNY since it was the only station you could get that carried hockey (no cable or dish out there back then).  Snowy picture and you couldn't follow the puck but it is a great memory.

[bassjunky]

I also love a good Leafs vs. Sabers game. The Players you named I think are all around loved Players...another 2 leafs/Saber connections

Tim Horton
Dave Andrychuk
Alex Mogilny

Vaive is a great guy. i have met him in a few situations, he films for LeafsTV at gretzky's in Toronto. Another sort of Leaf Connection would be Darryl Sittler. He lived for years in Buffalo untill his wife died recently and he returned to Canada to work with the Leafs.

The leafs do a cool thing where the hire a ton of ALumni to work as ambassidors for the team, they do charity work and signings. Thats how I met Vaive the first time, Sittler and Wendle Clarke.

[Bobman]

I always liked Vaive, never got to meet him but I thought it was great when the Sabres finally got him.  31, 29 and 25 goals weren't too shabby for the end of his career.

Don't forget Punch Imlach, Eddie Shack, Dick Duff, Floyd Smith, Rene Robert, Doug Gilmour and Lou Franceschetti among others.

I also liked Mike Palmateer but for the life of me I can't remember any other Leaf goalies.  Usually I do, having played the position in my younger days.  One of my all time favs between the pipes being Mike Liut.

The Sabres have an alumni association as well but they don't seem to do as much publically as a lot of other teams do.  They do a lot of charity work at the local childrens hospital and other organizations but they only really have two or three public events each year.  A lot of that may have to do with all the ownership issues we've had lately.  Hopefully they do more now that ownership looks secure for a while.  I always enjoy the old timer games.

[bassjunky]

you cant remember any other leaf goalies...do you want them alphabetical or in order of appearance?

I wont do them all just some memrable names.

Johnny Bower
Terry Sawchuck
Jaques Plante
Turk Broda
Alan Bester
Eddie Belfour
Tom  Barrasso
Gerry Cheevers
Grant Fuhr
Peter Ing
Curtis Joseph
Trevor Kid
Bernie Parent
Mike Palmateer
Felix Potvin
Darren Puppa
Jeff Reese
Damian Rhodes
Kew Wregget

those are the well known named but there is more. Im a goalie nut

[Bobman]

I can't believe I couldn't remeber most of those guys.  Just drawing a complete blank, a few even came from the Sabres  :blink: !  Must be a few too many dead brain cells.

[Chucker]

Hmm, if memory serves, only 3 on that list crossed over to the blue & gold / black & silver & red.

[vancouvercanuck]

Nice shrine dude. All I have so far is a Canucks jersey and this:

[bassjunky]

thats a good start......Man Naslund is one rumor I wish came true..here in TO it was rumoured that Mats was trying to woo Naslund to the Blue and White.....