Team report: Carolina Hurricanes

For as long as I can remember, going back to our days of watching the Carolina Hurricanes play at the Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum, we've always had pretty decent luck with them during our hounding adventures. After this week's visit, there's no reason to change that perception.

Granted, coaches Ron Francis (after 4 p.m. only) and Tom Barrasso (expect a flat-out refusal) continue to be difficult, but the Hurricanes, save for rookie Jeff Skinner (a former figure skating champion), don't shy away from Sharpies and paint pens.

Some players may sign only one, but one's better than none. All told, Colin, enjoying his first day of his Christmas vacation, and I added another 29 autographs to the collection.

Among those signing cards, shown above, were:

Top row: Zach Boychuk, Erik Cole, Tim Gleason (one-per) and Jussi Jokinen; and
Bottom row: Chad Larose, Tuomo Ruutu (one-per), Sergei Samsonov (one-per) and Cam Ward.

Before moving to Charlotte, N.C., this season, the Albany River Rats had been the Hurricanes' American Hockey League affiliate for the past few seasons. Former River Rats players, from left, Zach Boychuk, Justin Peters and Brandon Sutter paid homage to their days in the Empire State's capitol.

Given the thin signatures, I'm thinking of having Boychuk and Sutter resign these during Carolina's next trip to Hockey Bay.

Even Patrick Dwyer got in on the action, signing this cheap skate card. No, that isn't a big zit or a scab on his chin, it's a splotch from the printing process. Sorry, Patrick.

Rounding out a day of Hockey Bay hounding:

~ Eric Staal kicking off another hounding project;
~ Joni Pitkanen becoming the latest NHL player to sign four cards for us;
~ Erik Cole and Ian White adding to the Threads project; and
~ Colin catching up with some of his Tampa Bay Lightning buddies.