Perfect conditions

If you're a hockey hound living in South Florida, it's well worth your time to take a trip now over to incredibleICE in Coral Springs, the Florida Panthers practice facility, says Moody, Hound Central 5.0's roving Southeast correspondent.

How good is it? Moody added 52 autographed cards in a single visit to the facility earlier this week. Among those taking part in the informal workouts and signing were Nathan Horton, Kamil Kreps, Steven Reinprecht, Cory Stillman (who signed five cards), Jeff Taffe, Stephen Weiss, Bryan Allen, Jordan Leopold, Tomas Vokoun, Evgeny Dadonov and Anthony Stewart.

Beyond an awe-inspiring number of autographs, Moody reports the construction work on a new rink, and the resulting precautions, means that players taking part in precamp workouts don't have an exclusive parking lot -- just yet -- and have to walk through the arena to get to the new sheet of ice.

When the facility is complete, the players will have their own gated parking area that has two separate entrances/exits. The bad news, though, is the new locker rooms are set up so the fans don't have access to players as they come off the ice. At best, hounds should expect to only get autographs outside.

Up next? The Panthers rookie camp from Sept. 7-10. The NHL club opens its camp Sept. 12, but immediately heads to Nova Scotia.