Family day in Hockey Bay

Even though I had to work and wouldn't be in a position to help out, it was pretty easy to talk the Missus and Colin into hounding the Carolina Hurricanes this past Saturday morning. It didn't hurt, too, that they'd join some friends for the day.

After a little hiccup making their way through Tampa, as downtown streets were cut off, they met up with Moody, Hound Central 5.0's roving Southeast correspondent, and his delightful family to hang out, share some laughs and snag a few autographs.

As you can see, the Missus and Colin had a good time, scoring a nifty 30 autographs, including pucks signed by Cam Ward, left, and Sergei Samsonov, before and after the team's morning skate. Both, too, are part of his Colin's Pucks project.

The fun, though, went far beyond that, from what I hear.

The biggest laugh of the day came when Colin, stripped to the waist after soaking through a Hurricanes T-shirt running around a playground with Moody's daughters in 90-plus degree temperatures, ran down Ward and had him sign the puck, a couple of cards and, of course, his team sheet. The look on Ward's face, the Missus' said, was worth any hassles encountered that morning.

Among others signing cards were, from left, Eric Staal, Ward and the Missus' favorite Hurricanes player, Ray Whitney. Rod Brind'Amour, the 'Canes captain, added to the Threads project.

The Moody's haul


While Mikayla, Moody's oldest, went about getting 30 cards signed herself, including cards from notorious toughie Tom Barrasso (the Canes' goalie coach), Stall and Ward, her dad put some of his fan pack freebies to good use.

Not only did goalie Michael Leighton sign a mini poster from his Chicago days, but Tim Gleason, Tom Kostopolous, Niclas Wallin, Ward and Whitney also signed team-issued player cards.

Moody added Chad LaRose to his work-in-progress Plymouth Whalers helmet visor. Others signers include Whalers alums Peter DeBoer, Stephen Weiss and Greg Campbell, all members of the Florida Panthers organization.

Looking ahead, there will be a few more family outings with the Moodys. Thankfully, I'll have those days off. It looks like I missed a productive and pretty fun day.