Game Worn Jersey
01-16-2003, 8:18 p.m.

I got the most awesome surprise tonight, and I couldn't wait to come write about it, because.. well because it is totally awesome, that's all.

Let's see, as I was making dinner tonight, Stephen was cleaning up (doing dishes and such). He went to take the garbage out, and when he opened the back door, I heard him say, hey you got a package out here. Now, I hadn't been expecting anything, so I hadn't looked (I always look when I am expecting stuff, as the mailman often leaves the packages at the back door). He said that it looked like it was from the Wolves, which was strange, because I hadn't ordered anything from them recently. My first thought was that my friends or Stephen maybe ordered me the jacket that they know I want, but honestly, that didn't make sense, because they had already gotten me so much, but still, I had no clue what else it could be. I stopped cooking for a second to check it out, and I noticed that there was a packing slip on top of the box, so I took that out first. I opened it up to see what it said, and read.. JERSEY AUCTION WINNER. OMG, I started screaming "Oh My God... Oh My God", and crying at the same time. Stephen comes running, "what what?" LOL. I couldn't get that box open quickly enough, and there it was. I won the game worn jersey of the Chicago Wolves Captain, Steve Maltais!!!

When we went for my birthday, it was the weekend that they wear special jerseys. They do this every year, and then they auction the jerseys off for Charity. Last year it was Patriotic jerseys (man, I so wanted to win one of those last year, they were so awesome), and this year it was College Themed jerseys. You cannot buy these jerseys anywhere, the only way to get one is to either win the auction that they hold for the game worn jerseys, or to win one of the four that they raffle off. Well since the auctions often are up in the thousands of dollars, there is no way I am getting one that way, so I take my chance at the raffle, even though I've never won anything like that before.

I made sure that I had gone over to get my tickets before the game started, I even made Tricia go with me, hehe, and she helped me fill out the tickets. I had gotten 20 dollars worth (5 tickets) of tickets that night, all for Steve Maltais' jersey. I never dreamed I would win, never even really gave it another thought after I filled them out. I don't mind buying the tickets, because the money totally all goes towards charity, and I could think of a worse way to spend 20 dollars. I can't even tell you how excited I was tonight to find out that I won.

The jersey is awesome!!! It even still has black marks all over it from the tape they use on their sticks, hehe.. and Maltais autographed it too. They sent me an 8x10 autographed picture of him wearing the jersey and a certificate of authenticity. It is now my prized possesion to go along with my autographed goalie stick of Norm Maracle. Man, this is so totally awesome.. so totally totally totally awesome. I couldn't wait to tell everyone. I am a happy happy girl tonight. I can't wait to go to a game now so I can wear my new jersey. I told Stephen that now I get to be one of those cool people walking around with autographed jerseys that you know are game worn, because it's the only way to get one. I am so excited!!! What an awesome surprise, I so never expected it.

One of the really neat things. Stephen loved this style jersey. He said that he had walked around the arena that night looking to see if maybe they were selling them, and was disappointed that they were not. He wanted to get me one like it because it was so neat looking. Now I am glad that they were not selling them, because I have one of a few.. and that makes it so totally special.