I have lived near Toronto all my life but have only recently started collecting autographs from the hard to get Leafs. Even though I don't get to many autographs while hounding I still know what I need and here they are.
First of all you need to know who is playing who and what players are on the team. So try to get all the the cards of the players you can. Get some index cards just incase there is a player there that you didn't expect. Another thing you can use is jerseys, my autographing and web site partner Paul trys to get all of his autographs on his Leafs jersey and it looks GREAT! There are many things you can use, here are some other ideas, Hats (Paul and his Brother Tommy also get their hats signed), Pucks look great when signed but be shure to use the right marker, and the rest is up to you, so use your imagenation.
Next thing to know is what marker to use. There are three markers that I use, 1) My favorite marker to use is the Steddler Lummocolor, it sticks to anything and has some great colors you can use it on pucks, jerseys, high UV cards and hats of all kinds. 2) the legendary Sharpie is the first type I used but doesn't stick to high UV cards. 3) the paint pens are what I use on pucks and they look awesome and sometimes on cards but they don't stick well on jerseys or hats the ink stinks right through.
You also need know where to go, at the ACC there are not many places to go but I know the basics.
1)The Arena- The rink is probaly the most obvious the best place to go but the main thing is to know where to go when you get there on some of the new arenas there is underground parking which is a real pain but some players do stop and sign. Other times you can go to the gate where the players enter but some times players enter in diffrent places so then you gust have to take a guess.
2)Hotels- At the hotel is always a good place to go in a town like Toronto when the team has underground parking. If you don't know where a team is staying but you have an idea then call the hotel and ask if (for example) Mike Modano is there and if they say yes and they are about to conect you to the room then hang up right away (so not to disturb them). Then go to the hotel about an hour before the game or practise.
3)Practise-No practise facillitys have underground parking so they have to walk to there cars from the arena and sometimes it's pretty far. But the only problums I've incountered is that the Leafs practise at the Air Canada Centre.
4)Other- Some times players will be at special events like NHL Breakout (which I'm going to this year), Nike Breakaway, golf tournaments, and even some new stores will have a hockey player come to advertize it.
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