Tavis Hansen Autograph Card

Tavis Hansen was born in Saskatchewan, but playing Junior Hockey with the WHL's Tacoma Rockets (now the Kelowna Rockets) in the early-to-mid-1990s paved the way for his moving to Seattle upon retiring from hockey in 2007.

Between that, the Winnipeg Jets third-rounder played 34 NHL games with the Jets (1) and Phoenix Coyotes (33), but mostly toiled with the AHL's Springfield Falcons, even climbing the ranks to become their captain.

He also played sparsely for the Hershey Bears after suffering an injury against them that plagued him for much of the 2000-01 and 2001-02 campaigns, before moving onto the San Jose Sharks organization and playing with their AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Barons.

During the 2004-05 lockout, Hansen made his way to the Asia League (nine teams split between Russia, Japan and China, mostly), playing for the Oji Eagles, scoring 21 goals with 18 assists for 39 points in 39 games, then suiting up for two seasons with Austria's Innsbruck HC Tiroler Wasserkraft, who play at the OlympiaWorld Innsbruck complex, site of the 1964 and 1976 Olympics as well as the 2005 World Championships. Today, HC Tiroler Wasserkraft currently employ former NHL prospects Andy Chiodo and Jared Spurgeon, among others.

Here is Hansen from his days in Tacoma, on the signed version of card #14 from minor-league set 1995-96 Draft Day by Signature Rookies, with the team's logo airbrushed out:

It's a card I got in a repackaged box that guaranteed autographs, probably at the beginning of the decade; he signed it in blue sharpie, and it's numbered 2436/4500.