Dear Mats Sundin

[1specter]

Has anyone gone to one of these book signings?

I'm about to meet my hero tomorrow, just wondering if there's any heads up there.

Went to the one at Eaton Center Indigo. Don't expect to talk to him for long, they moved people pretty quickly and to their credit it was fairly organized and smooth, they had segregated everyone into grouped timeslots based on when you checked in. They also offer to take your phone and snap some candids while he is doing the signing which was nice. You can probably get away with bringing an extra piece of memorabilia to sign, they were even selling second copies of the book to people in line that he would also sign in addition to the copy included with your ticket, it would just not be personalized with your name. As expected he was classy and nice, but he also was a bit stressed/rushed from how fast they were ushering people through (he had a second signing to get to later in the evening in Orangeville that was sold out). Either way it was awesome to meet him

 

[SmoggyTwinkles]

Went to the one at Eaton Center Indigo. Don't expect to talk to him for long, they moved people pretty quickly and to their credit it was fairly organized and smooth, they had segregated everyone into grouped timeslots based on when you checked in. They also offer to take your phone and snap some candids while he is doing the signing which was nice. You can probably get away with bringing an extra piece of memorabilia to sign, they were even selling second copies of the book to people in line that he would also sign in addition to the copy included with your ticket, it would just not be personalized with your name. As expected he was classy and nice, but he also was a bit stressed/rushed from how fast they were ushering people through (he had a second signing to get to later in the evening in Orangeville that was sold out). Either way it was awesome to meet him

This all sounds pretty good and thank you so much for relaying your experience. I'm honestly a little nervous and yet this sounds great.

What do you mean segregated those into time slots?

This is the info I'm after. Are you saying the earlier the better? And I don't want to bother the guy at all. The surrealism of meeting the guy in any way is good enough for me (and supporting him and reading his story)

Born and raised in Canadastan btw.

 

[1specter]

This all sounds pretty good and thank you so much for relaying your experience. I'm honestly a little nervous and yet this sounds great.

What do you mean segregated those into time slots?

This is the info I'm after. Are you saying the earlier the better? And I don't want to bother the guy at all. The surrealism of meeting the guy in any way is good enough for me (and supporting him and reading his story)

Born and raised in Canadastan btw.

No worries, and yes, go earlier. I think the check in opens a half hour before the signing starts. I got there at 11:25 (check in was supposed to begin at 11:30, and the signing started at noon) and they were already checking people in so I scanned my ticket where they gave me the book and a sticky with my name on it, then told me I was in 'group 5' and to come back at 12:30, they also gave me a card that had my group number and timeslot on it. I then went to line up where the signing was happening at 12:30 and they verified and took my time card, after which I only waited for 15 minutes before I got to meet him. My understanding is that the timeslots were about 10 minutes for each group? But could be wrong. I was hella nervous as well but made sure to just tell him that he made me into a Leaf fan, inspired me with his leadership and professionalism and I was grateful for everything he did for the team. He thanked me for the 'kind words' and was very humble.

 

[SmoggyTwinkles]

No worries, and yes, go earlier. I think the check in opens a half hour before the signing starts. I got there at 11:25 (check in was supposed to begin at 11:30, and the signing started at noon) and they were already checking people in so I scanned my ticket where they gave me the book and a sticky with my name on it, then told me I was in 'group 5' and to come back at 12:30, they also gave me a card that had my group number and timeslot on it. I then went to line up where the signing was happening at 12:30 and they verified and took my time card, after which I only waited for 15 minutes before I got to meet him. My understanding is that the timeslots were about 10 minutes for each group? But could be wrong. I was hella nervous as well but made sure to just tell him that he made me into a Leaf fan, inspired me with his leadership and professionalism and I was grateful for everything he did for the team. He thanked me for the 'kind words' and was very humble.

Cool!

Right, I think I'll try and get there earlier than suggested, thinking 11am.

 

[SmoggyTwinkles]

Wow, so glad I went to this! Haha. I can't even remember what I said or what he said. Dude is so genuinely nice!

 

[SmoggyTwinkles]

Not sure how many more stops he has, but I showed up like 1h 10 minutes early and was in group 2. There was a lot of people there, many who didn't buy tickets (good luck to those people) and there were people I was talking to who were in group 20 which is where I think they capped it.

So yeah, if you're going to see him, show up an hour early and you won't be waiting long at all (and you need to buy a ticket)

 

[1specter]

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Wow, so glad I went to this! Haha. I can't even remember what I said or what he said. Dude is so genuinely nice!

Nice to see you had a good experience as well. Mats is a beauty and total class act.

 

[MSZ]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1852747475037094082

 

[Darcy Tucker]

I remember when Mats clapped home number 500 goals reg with Na against Calgary . It was a good Hockey game to enjoy a beer with.

 

[LeafsNet]

I remember the flack you got don cherry at the start your leaf career and the controversy behind your captaincy (I also experienced borderline racist memories with him as an immigrant child).

Be very careful bringing up Don Cherry’s name like that. He’s become some sort of martyr for the “Canadian Nationalists” (I use this term very loosely), especially online. Ron McLean is like the human form of the devil to some of them.

Never understood what people liked about Don Cherry to be very honest. This is the same guy that was crying about the Leafs picking Willy Styles over Nick Ritchie.

His silly poppy comment was mild compared to some of the drivel he yapped in the 90s about French people, Russians and god only knows what else. I used to listen to Coaches Corner too back in the early 2000s.

I considered it more entertainment than anything else. DIdn’t really take this comments seriously.


EDIT: Just to make it very clear, I support people wearing poppies and never had an issue with Don Cherry bringing up poppies. Nobody did. It’s his comments about “you people who come here” that was the issue, implying that only immigrants don’t wear poppies. That’s a complete lie…poppy wearing is just down across the board…it’s a generational thing. World War 1 was over a century ago…many view it no differently than the War of 1812…just something we read in books. Go to any high school or mall in rural Ontario and you’ll see the same with the younger people.

 

[The Shadow]

This is an epic story