I've been to two drafts as well (1994 - Hartford and 2003 - Nashville) and had a lot of fun at both events. Admittedly, I'm a hockey fanatic as well so I studied throughly on most of the top prospects and also each team's needs heading into the draft. At both events I was there for all of the first day's picks and probably about 75% of those made on the second day as well.
At the Hartford draft I was very familiar with the building (I lived there until two years ago) and walked around collecting autographs from many of the prospects and some management and coaching staff as well from the different teams. One person that I remember was very nice to me was Jamie Storr (Kings first round pick in 1994). Storr talked with me for probably about 20 minutes as he signed autographs. Being 13 at the time, it was a great experience. I remember trying to grab Eric Lindros's autograph too, but just missed him (he was there for his brother Brett Lindros - Isles first round pick). Bobby Clarke quickly signed an autograph for me as he was walking - I don't think he even broke stride. Overall, it was a great experience (although that was the same weekend that Peter Karmanos bought the team from Richard Gordon).
In Nashville I sort of totally lucked out that the draft was there. I was heading down with my mother for an medical conference she was attending at Vanderbilt and when she went to book the hotel room the clerk explained to her there would be a lot of hockey players at the hotel that weekend and asked her if that would be a problem. She asked what was going on? A tournament? And she quickly found out that they were the host hotel for the prospects at the draft. She quickly said that that wouldn't be a problem and in fact it would be a bonus. It was a great time as they actually stuck us on the top floor of the hotel with many of the prospects. I got to talk with several of the guys in our floor's lounge Saturday night. It was really cool. The Nashville draftees had to stay around after the draft for a rookie mini-camp that ran Tuesday and Wednesday (IIRC) and during the week I met Shea Weber and Kevin Klein as they hung out around town on their free time. The best part of that event though was the "Garage Sale" the Predators held to support their charity foundation. I picked up two never-used, but taped up one-piece sticks for only $100. Had I known the sale was going to be going on...I would have brought more money.
In comparing the two drafts, I think both had some great events going on around them, but I believe that the event has grown in the past 10 years and is really something to experience if you are a hockey fan and have the opportunity to do so. The first day is much more exciting than the second day, but both are great to go to if you want the experience.
