Signature Sundays - Half a Dozen Hockey with a Hall-of-Famer

I need something to take my mind off of baseball until tonight's first pitch. Desperately. The worst part is that according to the way the rule is written the umps made the right call.  I would rather have seen the Cards crush a walk-off home run, no World Series game should end that way.  I don't really want to think about hockey either, after the Bruins' penalty-infused late game collapse to the lowly Devils last night.  Then there's the Patriots, who were robbed of a game last week due to a controversial rule that the league has already changed!  It's been a painful week to be a New England sports fan.

Anyway, to distract myself here's a handful of 2012-13 Panini Classics Signatures autos that recently joined my collection...

First up is Darryl Sydor.  I always remember him with the LA Kings during his first couple of years but he really made his mark in Dallas with the Stars.  He won a Stanley Cup there, and another with Tampa Bay.  Darryl was a two time All-Star and played in close to 1,300 career NHL regular season games.

Scott Mellanby came as part of a package deal with another auto.  I will always remember him for the rat trick.  This is definitely my first Florida Panthers autograph of any kind.

Next up we've got Mike Peca.  One of history's most memorable Sabres, although he played for a few other organizations as well.  He actually won gold playing for Canada in both the World Junior Championships and the Olympics.  For some reason I thought he was more of an offensive threat than he was, looking at his stats his career high in points was 60, and he never topped the 30 goal mark.

This is actually my second Brodeur auto.  I guess that makes the first available for trade if anyone wants it.  I would love to add an autograph of his time in the WHA to my collection someday.  Random fact, did you know that Richard capped off his NHL career with 6 games played for the Hartford Whalers in 1987-88?

I was glad to see Kevin Weekes included on the checklist, mostly because I listen to his analysis at least a couple of mornings a week on NHL Tonight on the NHL Network.  An interesting autograph complete with his odd #80 jersey number.

Closing things out is Hall-of-Famer Clark Gillies.  Clark certainly benefited from playing on a line with fellow Hall-of-Famers Bryan Trottier and Mike Bossy, but nonetheless was a skilled player who wasn't afraid to mix it up and spend some time in the box.  He'll always be fondly remembered by Islanders fans for his role in back-to-back-to-back-to-back Cup championships in the early '80s.  I love all the fans in shirts, ties and jackets in this photo.

Well, that helped me feel a bit better I guess.  These six bring me up to an even 40 autographs from the 2012-13 Panini Classics Signatures set!