Stress relief

In all honesty, I never should have gotten a single autograph Thursday from the New York Islanders. Instead, I came home with another 28. You see, the Houndmobile, nearing the end of its long run, threw a belt as I made my way to Tampa.

After nursing it into a parking space, I came to the realization it couldn't be fixed there. I called AAA and arranged for it to be towed back to my mechanic in St. Petersburg. And then Moody, Hound Central 5.0's senior correspondent, agreed to drive me back home.

I figured what the heck, might as well get some autographs. What was I going to do? Sit around and stew about a car repair. That didn't sound like a whole lot of fun. So, Moody and I headed over to the team's hotel, albeit a bit later than normal.

But even that worked out. As we walked across a bridge, who did we run into? How about the Islanders' John Tavares, Jeff Tambellini and Matt Moulson? Needless to say, we put our private signing session to good use.

Among the 21 cards signed yesterday:

Top row: Blake Comeau, Bruno Gervais and Andrew MacDonald;
Middle row: Matt Moulson, Kyle Okposo and Richard Park; and
Bottom row: Dwayne Roloson, Rob Schremp and Jeff Tambellini.

The other highlight of the day? Getting Doug Weight to sign a couple career highlight cards.

Oh, yeah. the car repair? It was $230, plus a $95 tow. Who says hockey hounding isn't an expensive hobby?