Band of brothers

For every hockey hound, there's a reason. It could be your favorite player. Maybe it's your favorite team. Then again, it's putting those 17,364 cards you've collected over the past umpteen years to good use.

For most of us, however, it's the thrill of getting an autograph. For whatever reason, it never wears off. The lucky ones, though, look beyond ink on cardboard, photo paper, plastic, wood or vulcanized rubber.

It's the total package that brings us out time after time, team after team, season after season.

At least that's what the clear majority of Hound Central 5.0 readers relayed in the most recent poll. When it comes to hounding, there's nothing better than getting an autograph, building a collection and getting to hang out with your buddies.

From a hockey hound's standpoint, it doesn't get much better than that. Does it?

Question: Best part of hounding?

All of the (now below): 29 votes out of 47 cast (61.7 percent)
Getting autographs: 12 votes (25.5 percent)
Building a collection: 6 votes (12.8 percent)
Camaraderie: 0 votes

Now, I have an idea. Actually, it's not a new idea, but it's an idea nonetheless. After four-plus seasons of sharing my stories, I'd like to open the floor, so to speak, to other hockey hounds across the world.

I'd like to read, as I'm sure so would Hound Central 5.0's faithful, about other's reasons why they got into the hobby. Was it because you met your favorite player? Did you get a team-signed stick or jersey? You can even share a story about getting a particular autograph.

Here's the deal: Though I'd rather get them in e-mails (my address is on the profile page), as I'd like to turn responses into a regular feature, feel free to leave them as a comment on this post. Scans of the autographs are welcome, too.

I'll leave it up to you. If you think this is a good idea and want to share your story/successes with others, Hound Central 5.0 will be more than happy to provide the platform.

So, who's up first?