Last season, I refused to take part in the circus that was known as the Pittsburgh Penguins. It wasn't just because of the team's big names. No, it had to do more with them being the then-reigning Stanley Cup champions and the big crowds that flock to the team.This season, though, we'll make two trips out for the Penguins. The first came in October when the Penguins arrived a few days early for a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. While that may not seem out of the ordinary, strange circumstances turned the day into a bit of a circus.
You see, it wasn't just the Penguins who were staying at the Westin Harbour Island hotel. The Nashville Predators, also in town to play the Lightning, were staying at the same hotel. Thanks to some shared intel, we had items for both teams that Sunday.
All told, we added 75 autographs, including 32 from Pittsburgh, in our best day, so far, of the 2010-11 hockey-hounding campaign. For the record, I added another two before the Penguins' game-day morning skate. By then, the team had been pounded and hounded for three days and ignored most requests.
Signing pucks, shown above, were:
Top row: Mike Comrie, Alex Goligoski and Chris Kunitz; and
Bottom row: Paul Martin, Zbynek Michalek and Eric Tangradi.
Players signing cards, shown above, were:Top row: Comrie, Eric Godard, Goligoski and Brent Johnson; and
Bottom row: Tyler Kennedy, Kunitz, Kristopher Letang and Evgeni Malkin
Also adding to the stack of cards were, from left, Michalek, Brooks Orpik, Jordan Staal and Maxime Talbot.
We also put a cheap skate card to good use for Tangradi.Other highlights from hounding the Penguins:
~ Colin scoring autographs from Sidney Crosby and Malkin;
~ Getting a scribble from Malkin; and
~ Doubling up, so to speak, on Gilles Meloche and Tony Granato.
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