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It's not just because the Colorado Avalanche are my favorite Western Conference team that I get jacked up any time they come to Hockey Bay. There's a lot more to it than that. It's because the Avs are one of the best-signing teams.

Last season, Colorado provided the front half of the biggest haul of the 2009-09 campaign. This season's no different, as the Avs tied the Los Angeles Kings as the most productive team. And though Colorado lacks Joe Sakic this season, it's no reason not to load up on autographs.

All told, we added 79 autographs, including a dozen pucks, from Avs players between the morning skate walk and the gametime bus.

Among those signing pucks, shown above, were:

Top row: Matt Duchene, Adam Foote and Milan Hejduk; and
Bottom row: Marek Svatos and Darcy Tucker.

Even members of the coaching staff got into the act, including, from left: Adam Deadmarsh, Steve Konowalchuk and Joe Sacco.

It should come as no surprise, either, that cards (36, altogether) made up for nearly half of the day's haul:

Top row: Craig Anderson, Peter Budaj, T.J.Galiardi and Scott Hannan
Bottom row: Matt Hendricks, John-Michael Liles, Cody McLeod and Darcy Tucker.

Also signing cards, especially in the specialty variety, were:

Top row: Milan Hejduk, Ryan O'Reilly and Paul Stastny; and
Bottom row: Chris Stewart, Marek Svatos and Wojtek Wolski.

Other highlights:

~ Colin filling up a team sheet with 26 signatures; and
~ Adam Foote signing an appropriate patch on an Avalanche jersey.