Your Turn I

As promised, here is the first installment of Your Turn, Hound Central 5.0's platform for other hockey hounds -- young and old -- to share stories of their autograph adventures.

If you'd like to take part in future installments, and I hope you consider doing this, please send your stories to Hound Central 5.0.

In this offering, Hound Central 5.0 is pleased to introduce stories from these four hockey hounds:

Jordan

At 14 years old, Jordan is the youngest contributor, and does so with his parents' permission.

"After going to the American Hockey League's Manitoba Moose's first-ever skills competition, I had a feeling in my head of rookie hounding that simply I had to get the job done.

"How, though? Well, in advance, I asked my dad to take me there. He had no problem with it. It may have been busy, but my patience was rewarded by getting (center) Marty Murray, a former Carolina Hurricanes and Calgary Flames player on my second-ever signed hockey puck.

"I also got guys like (defenseman) Mike Funk and (goalie) Daren Machesney to sign what I presented to them. I had a good time and I will go hockey hounding in the near future.

"Thanks for reading!"

BEV

Bev shares his story of enjoying inside-the-hotel access during the recent Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2009's induction ceremonies:

"I was at the Westin Harbour Castle hotel in Toronto during the Hockey Hall of Fame Induction Celebration. On the eve of the induction ceremony (November 9), there was only about seven people in the lobby getting autographs (compared to a mob of about 30 local hounds/dealers out on the street).

"The hotel was packed with people. This year, hotel security staff did let registered guests get autographs from players in the lobby, but they were still discouraging it. Registered guests were allowed to call a player over to sign something, but security did not want anyone running up to players or forming crowds around them.

"In the past, if the security staff saw you getting autographs in the lobby, they would give you a warning and threaten to throw you out of the hotel ... even if you were a registered guest.

"People I saw signing included Lanny McDonald, Dale Hawerchuk, Borje Salming, Bryan Trottier, Steve Shutt, Billy Smith, Peter Stastny, Michel Goulet, Johnny Bower, Larry Murphy, Ted Lindsay, Chris Chelios and Rod Gilbert. Bobby Hull was an outstanding signer.

"There were many other Hall of Famers signing, but I did not know their names. I heard that Viacheslav Fetisov turned down many autograph requests, but did not witness it. Steve Yzerman, Luc Robitaille and Brian Leetch signed a few on their way to their limos.

"Brett Hull signed a few and used some very vulgar language indicating that he just wanted to be left alone. He then went to a secluded corner of the lobby bar, so he could visit with friends without being disturbed before he caught his limo ride.

"Yes, I did cherry-pick some selected autographs for my personal collection. Each year, this night is a great opportunity to load up on Hall of Famers if you are a registered hotel guest and if security leaves you alone. Some years, you can easily get 15 to 30 Hall of Fame signatures. On a year when security is grumpy, you may only get one or two."

Scott B.

Scott, out of South Florida, sent in many reports from his adventures hounding NHL teams at hotels. Here are a handful of his reports, with others to follow in future installments:

New Jersey Devils: "The Devils' PR guy is the worst in the league by far. Over the past few years, we have only been able to get Colin White and Martin Brodeur before he has the hotel throw us off of the property. This year was just a little better. We were able to get Zach Parise (2 of 4 cards), Brian Rolston (3 of 3), Bryce Salvador (1 of 1) and Rob Niedermayer (3 of 12). Then the PR guy had us all thrown off the property. After getting kicked out, some of the other (hounds) waited in their cars and were able to run up to the bus to get Brodeur. New Jersey is the only team that stays at this hotel that gives us a problem, thanks to the PR guy."

Los Angeles Kings: "We have not seen the Kings for several years, so we didn't know what to expect. But they were the best signing team by far this season. We got Dustin Brown (4 of 4), Alexander Frolov (2 of 6), Raitis Ivanans (1 Parkhurst card), Teddy Purcell (1 of 1), Brad Richardson (3 of 3), Wayne Simmonds (1 of 1), Jarret Stoll (3 of 3), Justin Williams (2 of 2), Drew Doughty (2 of 2), Jack Johnson (4 of 4), Randy Jones (1 of 1) and Jonathan Quick (1 Parkhurst card). A big key was that we were allowed to call over players, something that has been hit-or-miss at this particular hotel."

Pittsburgh Penguins: "The Penguins are not a good signing team. Usually they stay at a hotel on the beach, but this time they stayed at the same hotel used by the Los Angeles Kings. But the Penguins players walk around like gods because they won the Stanley Cup. And most of them even look bothered if you ask them for an autograph. Our friends told us that the only ones to sign were Pascal Dupuis, Ben Lovejoy and Nathan Guenin.I also heard that the hotel's manager didn't allow hounds to call over players."

Keith

Keith and his wife, who live in Memphis, Tenn., are devout Nashville Predators fans with a partial season ticket package. Their hounding adventures are just that; Both leave work early (usually around noon or so) to make it to the east side of the Sommet Center by 3 p.m. on game days to catch the earliest of the players.

"I have several stories tied to our hounding, but my most rewarding experiences are when I was just going for very few players or even just a single. The most recent was when the Edmonton Oilers came into Nashville earlier this season.

I've been a huge fan of Nikolai Khabibulin since the mid 1990s and I probably consider him my favorite player of all time. In college, I would play the arcade game 'NHL Open Ice' in the campus' arcade to make the Phoenix Coyotes a playoff team and to hear the announcer mispronounce his name ("Save from COBBY-BOO-LINN").

Anyway, I had never been able to catch him on previous visits, despite him playing in division rival Chicago for several years. My work schedule, his injuries, traffic, etc., had pretty much convinced me that I wouldn't ever pull it off.

"This season, I bought my ticket package in July, picking out the lone Oilers-Predators game in the first half of the season for the sole purpose of getting Habby's sig before the game.

"We showed up in plenty of time and spotted the team's bus parked at the Hilton Hotel, just across the side street from the arena, meaning that the majority of the players would simply walk across and enter through the player's entrance. Only one other hound was present and she easily added to her collection, scoring Shawn Horcoff, Sam Gagner, Jeff Deslauriers and others.

We chatted with her about really only targeting Habby, and she assured us that he was really friendly and would sign as long as he was walking over, rather than riding the bus. Strangely enough, some actually do ride the bus over rather than walk the 200 feet.

"After about 45 minutes, it seemed the entire team had walked over and the progression of players ended with no Habby. Determined (and with nothing better to do), we waited. Finally admitting defeat, we were retreating from our spot when I saw the familiar face exit the door of the hotel.

"I hate to admit that I can turn into 'fan boy' when encountering the players I watched as a kid, but I do. I simply stayed put and tried to play it cool, simply addressing him as 'Habby,' and asking him to sign an old Coyotes puck for me.

"My wife extended a McFarlane base to him and he signed after confirming with her that the same paint pen would suffice. He shook my hand and took his time signing and chatted a bit.

"The entire trip resulted in just a couple of autos from a single player, but it's been by far my most memorable hounding experience thus far."