Team report: Boston Bruins II

For most Eastern Conference teams, we're happy with only hounding adventure. When the Boston Bruins come to Hockey Bay, though, it's a different story. They could make four trips in a year and, yes, we'd have to make four trips out to see them.

It's not so much that they're a great signing team, because they're not. In fact, the Bruins have become increasingly rougher over the past few seasons as Hockey Bay gains a well-deserved reputation of large crowds of hounds.

Nope, we'd have to make as many trips because of Colin's allegiance to the Black and Gold. You know what, I don't have a problem with that. They're his team and, as a father, I'll do what I can so he can enjoy seeing his favorite team. It's even better, too, when he's able to get autographs from most of the players.

All told, we scored 29 autographs earlier this week from the Bruins, with Colin again outhounding his old man by a more than 5-to-1 margin. Among the two dozen cards he got signed (shown above):

Top row: Johnny Boychuk, Zdeno Chara and David Krejci;
Middle row: Milan Lucic, Adam McQuade and Michael Ryder; and
Bottom row: Marc Savard, Tim Thomas and Blake Wheeler.

Signing four cards each for Colin were Andrew Ference, top row, and Brad Marchand.

Regular readers of The Hockey Life column might recall a dust-up that Boston's Tyler Seguin had with some Hockey Bay Hounds, yours truly included, over his refusal to sign an item for a Wisconsin youth hockey team's fundraiser.

This trip, however, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2010 Draft, was a bit nicer, taking the time to sign this card for Colin and even tossing in a "Here you go, buddy."

It certainly was a step in the right direction to winning back one of the Bruins' biggest fans here in Hockey Bay.

Please know, too, that Seguin continued a reported habit of personalizing 8x10 photographs. For collectors like us, that isn't a concern. Maybe next season, or later this one should the teams make and meet in the playoffs, he'll sign one for Colin.

Other noteworthy events during our Bruins adventure:

~ Patrice Bergeron signing a personal picture for Colin;
~ the pesky problem of balky DecoColor paint pens posing a problem;
~ David Krjeci completing a road trip souvenir; and
~ Tuukka Rask and Shawn Thornton reportedly developing a case of the potty-mouths during their visit.