Not that bad, I'd say

I'd heard earlier this season to expect a rough time when the Anaheim Ducks came to town. In fact, "rude and crude" was a term used to describe one's hound's perception of the team. As a result, I went into the two-day hounding adventure with lowered expectations.

After dealing with the Ducks last week, though, I'm guessing that specific hound, who caught up with Anaheim in New Jersey, was unfortunate enough to witness the team on a bad day. Now, I won't say we all gathered around a campfire, roasted marshmallows and sang Kumbaya, but every player signed at least once for Colin and me.

When all was said and done, meaning four sessions over 32 hours, we added 78 autographs (two away from tying our season best) and a variety of items for our efforts. Know, too, that I passed on several more opportunities to add to the haul, being satisfied with the items we'd gotten signed.

Signing pucks Friday, shown above, were Saku Koivu, left, and Scott Niedermayer, on the Canada souvenir and Ducks 2007 Stanley Cup Champions pucks. On Thursday, Colin snagged Teemu Selanne, as well as a funny exchange, on a puck.

Among the bigger names signing cards were, from left, Jean-Sebastien Giguere (now with the Toronto Maple Leafs), Jonas Hiller, Bobby Ryan and Teemu Selanne.

Among those also signing cards were:

Top row: Evgeny Artyukhin, Matt Beleskey and Troy Bodie;
Middle row: Mike Brown, Ryan Carter and Kyle Chipchura; and
Bottom row: Todd Marchant, Ryan Whitney and James Wisnieswki.

Other highlights from the Ducks:

~ Getting Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Bobby Ryan and Steve Eminger on an AHL Portland Pirates practice jersey;
~ Tough guy George Parros signing an AHL Manchester Monarchs practice jersey;
~ Adding Jonas Hiller to the right-handed goalie glove;
~ Colin loading up a Mighty Ducks jersey and running out of ink on a team sheet;
~ Scott Niedermayer, Saku Koivu and Nick Boynton adding to the Threads project; and
~ Dan Sexton signing the first North American Hockey League puck of the collection.