Exception to the rule

Rumor had it that the Detroit Red Wings were a tough team to hound. Given the potential Hall of Famers who fill the roster, such as Nicklas Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and, possibly, Chris Osgood, it's easy to see why.

And while these guys may be hard to hound, there's one member of the Red Wings who was more than willing to sign multiples.

In the two times that goalie Jimmy Howard, a former University of Maine Black Bear, signed for me during Detroit's recent two-day visit to Hockey Bay, I came away with two pucks, shown above, and four cards, including this addition to the Threads collection.

In fact, I believe he signed multiples for anyone with more than a single item. Hopefully, I just haven't jinxed other hounds and Howard continues to be a prolific signer. If not, you can blame me.

The Hockey Life: Week 19

Going into this hockey-hounding campaign, I knew February was going to be a rough month. The Tampa Bay Lightning would find itself wrapping up a 12-game homestand, entertaining such Western Conference teams as the Detroit Red Wings, Phoenix Coyotes and St. Louis Blues.

That alone, I thought, would make for some long days. Sadly, that's not what has made this month, even moreso this past week, especially painful.

In case you haven't heard, David S. Crawford, a St. Petersburg police officer, was shot and killed last week, the third member of the department to be killed in less than a month. Just as a city we now call home began to move along in the grieving process, this sad scene will play out again.

Rather than a wanted felon pulling the trigger, as what happened in late January when St. Petersburg police Sgt. Tom Baitinger and canine Officer Jeffrey Yaslowitz were struck down, it's a 16-year-old boy who now stands accused in Officer Crawford's death.

Yes, a 16-year-old boy who, in an instant, destroyed two lives and shook an already stunned city to its core.

Before this unfortunate and senseless act happened, there was another twinge of sadness last week. Monday marked the one-year anniversary of the passing of Tyler Dobies, a 15-year-old who participated in the same hockey program as Colin.

Sadly, Tyler died of a drug overdose. Yes, at 15. Before his death, Tyler was like an older brother to Colin, one of a handful within the program who'd taken Colin under their wings. Unfortunately, we knew nothing about Tyler's demons. Very few people did.

Last Sunday, as Colin skated on his home rink, he stopped to look at Tyler's No. 46 Pinellas Police Athletic League jersey hanging on the wall. Tears soon fell down Colin's cheeks. For good or bad, Colin misses him. He knows Tyler made a mistake. Colin also knows that's all it takes to lose your life.

Over the past year, Colin has kept one of Tyler's prayer cards tucked in his helmet. He also has a "TD46" written on his helmet. That hard lesson, as sad as it is, is the only good thing to come from it.

Thankfully, Colin remembers.

Team report: Philadelphia Flyers II

In one of the quirks on the NHL schedule, the Philadelphia Flyers traveled to Hockey Bay twice within two weeks. To some, that's often too short of a time between visits. While it may help hounds recognize more faces, it also affords players the same opportunity.

Having said that, though, I'm not chalking up lower numbers -- 15 in total, including 11 cards -- in the Flyers most recent visit to mutual facial recognition. No, most of the same players signed, including Daniel Briere and Jeff Carter.

Some, like Chris Pronger, Daniel Carcillo and Jody Shelley, took a hotel van over to the morning skate.

In the case of Mike Richards, I'm still perplexed, but not exactly losing any sleep, why he refused my request to add to the Threads collection while he was signing other items. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, though. Maybe he had a hangover.

One puck each from Claude Giroux and Ville Leino, shown above, were also part of the scaled-down haul.

Also signing cards, shown above, were, from left, Scott Hartnell, Darroll Powe, Kimmo Timonen and James van Riemsdyk.

Other highlights:

~ Finally getting an Atlanta Flames puck signed; and
~ saving my rookie cards of goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.

Opportunity knocked

For the past few years, I've had this Atlanta Flames puck kicking around in a plastic bin. I'd see it every so often, but, for the most part, I'd forget about it. Sooner or later, the right opportunity would come along.

Earlier this month, with the Philadelphia Flyers down here in Hockey Bay, I recognized Bill Clement, a former NHL player turned analyst with the team. At the time, I had him sign a Flyers puck.

Last week, the Flyers were back in town. This time, I remembered the Flames puck, because I knew that Clement played for the Flames early in his career. It was no surprise, either, that he did, too.

"I think I scored a few goals for them," he told me.

Team report: Carolina Hurricanes II

Though stay-at-home defensemen seldom score big goals or make headlines, every team has as least one. It's their job to hang back and make sure no one gets behind them.

In a way, that's my approach when it comes to hockey hounding. I prefer, for the most part, to hang back and be one one the last people to get an autograph. That way, if another player comes out, especially one I need to sign a specific item, I don't get caught up in a crowd.

Well, when the Caroline Hurricanes came to Hockey Bay a couple of weekends ago, I got caught pinching in. With a larger-than-expected crowd, I let myself get sucked in close to the hotel, keeping the back-door entrance wide open for Hurricanes captain Eric Staal.

Sure, we got some autographs, but my getting caught out of position meant it was the first time in years that I hadn't gotten at least one autograph from Staal when hounding Carolina. Oh, well, we all can't be perfect.

Snagging another 28 autographs, including this 2020 NHL Draft puck signed by Jeff Skinner eased the pain. Signing the cards were:

Top row: Zach Boychuk, Troy Bodie, Ryan Carter, Tim Gleason; and
Bottom row: Chad LaRose, Jamie McBain, Sergei Samsonov and Brandon Sutter.

Other highlights:

~ Goalie Cam Ward adding an 8x10 and two pucks to the collection;
~ Colin scoring 15 autographs on a wallpaper team sheet; and
~ yet another cheap skate card coming in handy.

I'll know better next time

By Colin
Hound Central 5.0 junior correspondent

On Feb. 12, we hounded the Carolina Hurricanes. We ended up 27 getting autographs, including 15 on my team sheet.

Unfortunately, I didn't get Eric Staal on my team sheet. The reason is because he had already walked into the St. Pete Times Forum before I could get him. If I didn't try to get my big picture of him out, I could have made it.

I should have gotten him to sign the team sheet when I could have. So, I learned a lesson, but I had fun.

Editor's note: Among those who did sign were Tim Gleason, Chad LaRose, Jamie McBain, Sergei Samsonov, Jeff Skinner and Brandon Sutter. he also got an 8x10 signed by goalie Cam Ward.

That's why I make them

The day before Carolina was scheduled to play the Tampa Bay Lightning, Brett Sutter got called up from the Hurricanes' American Hockey League affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers. Because I don't have any cards for him, it proved to be another case of where my cheap skate cards come in handy.

Sure, I could've ask him to sign a Reed Deer Rebels puck, seeing the family ties to the Western Hockey League junior club. Maybe next trip, provided he's on the roster.

By the way, Brent, an alternate captain for the Hurricanes, is his cousin, not his brother. And, yes, they were walking together to the morning skate.

Team report: Buffalo Sabres

As a child, I'd always get excited about a parade. It didn't matter if it took place on Memorial Day, the Fourth of July or at the Maple Festival in Franklinville, New York. If there was a parade, I wanted to see it.

I loved seeing the shiny red fire trucks. I liked hearing the marching bands, playing patriotic tunes as they strode, in perfect unison, past my curbside perch. And, yes, I loved scooping up the candy thrown as floats passed by.

As a hockey hound, however, I'm not a big fan of parades. I prefer having NHL players come out in two or threes, not in one, gigantic group as the Buffalo Sabres did last a couple weeks ago after gathering for a team meeting before the morning skate.

When it happens, there's little you can do to stop it. You just have to make the best of it, picking out the players you want and letting everyone else walk by. As a result, I came home with only 14 autographs, including the Sabres puck signed by Tim Connolly.

Signing cards, shown above from left, were: Nathan Gerbe, Steve Montador, Tyler Myers and Thomas Vanek.

Other highlights, so to speak:

~ Getting greedy and having Ryan Miller sign a McFarlane base;
~ Adding Thomas Vanek to the Threads collection; and
~ recognizing Brian Engblom, a former Montreal Canadiens defenseman turned TV analyst.

Wearing the red, white and blue

Had he been playing travel team hockey, there's a good chance that Colin would have been an active participant in Sunday's Hockey Day in America. Instead, he went skating at his home rink. We'll see what we can do next year.

The Hockey Life: Week 18

Last Thursday, I started writing a post explaining the absence of reports earlier in the week. The reason was as simple as this: the Detroit Red Wings were in town. And, as any serious hockey hound knows, the team demands your full and undivided attention. That alone meant I didn't have time to finish it.

From the future Hall of Famers on the roster -- Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk come to mind -- to the history surrounding the Original Six team, the Wings always draw a big crowd. Thursday night, a sea of red nearly filled the St. Pete Times Forum, where the Wings spanked the hometown Lightning, 6-2.

A funny thing happened, though, when it came to hounding the Wings. While most of us expected big crowds, numbering into the high 20s at the least, the most at any one time was a baker's dozen -- 13. Not that we were complaining, mind you.

With baseball spring training camps opening up nearby, most of the dealers likely turned their attention elsewhere. Baseball, I hear, sells better than hockey. It helped us, too, that we kept it a secret the Red Wings stayed in St. Petersburg, not at one of the three Tampa hotels frequented by NHL teams.

Still, no complaints. It was nice being among friendly faces. And, as you'll read in the days ahead, once we share the bounty of trips for the Carolina Hurricanes and Philadelphia Flyers, the hounding wasn't all that bad.

Stepping up

It was with more than a little bit of pride that I sewed an "A" on Colin's Pinellas P.A.L. Stars jersey Saturday morning before his first game of the winter-spring campaign. Entering the fourth season with the program, his coaches saw fit to make him an alternate captain.

Gaining the "A" carries some extra responsibilities. Though he tries to lead by example on the ice, playing hard and as best as he can, he has developed a growing voice in the locker room, keeping his teammates, even some a little older, focused on the upcoming game.

For the record, too, the Stars kicked off the campaign in fine fashion, beating one of the Ellenton teams, 8-0. Colin had a goal and an assist.

A milestone for Moody

Here's a tip of Hound Central 5.0's battered, old Cooper SK600 to Moody on the one-year anniversary of his authoritative voice on collecting autographs through the mail, Moody's TTM Blog.

Between the in-person reports here at Hound Central 5.0 and at Hockey Hounds Universe, Moody's TTM Blog rounds out our comprehensive look at the hockey-hounding hobby.

Join me, please, in wishing Moody congratulations on his efforts -- over the past year and the many days ahead.

Quote of the week

"Go home, shovel snow!"
Our response to Red Wings fans chanting "Let's go Red Wings" at Thursday's game.

Sorry, Mr. Al

As Buffalo's Ryan Miller walked up the sidewalk, a flash of guilt struck my conscious. Given the item in my hand, I knew it would be the only item -- a base for McFarlane figure -- that I'd get signed. The only question was whether I'd keep it.

Al, Hound Central 5.0's senior correspondent in Toronto, is one of the very few people we'll get autographs for down here in Hockey Bay. Between all of the the work he's done for this blog and Hockey Hounds Universe, as well as his inspiring, but unsuccessful, attempt to covert Colin to the long-suffering existence of Leafs Nation, it's easy to say "yes" when he sends down the occasional item he'd like for us to get signed.

In one of his recent parcels, Al sent a McFarlane base for Miller. Later, he sent a Miller McFarlane for us, too. So, going into he Sabres recent visit, I faced the prospect of carrying both. That, to me, posed a little bit of a problem.

It's my belief that anytime you offer two same items to a player, you immediately come off as a dealer. After spending as much time as we have cultivating a collection, that's the last thing I wanted to do. And when it comes to the Sabres, I must remain true to my allegiances. Even if it means appearing greedy.

Besides, should both team make the playoffs and ultimately meet in the early rounds, I'll have another chance to get Al's signed. If not, there's always next year.

On display

If I was only a collector of hockey cards, this Hat Trick Heroes triple jersey swatch memento of Buffalo's Thomas Vanek would likely end up near the front of a three-ring binder showcasing some of my favorites. Well, in a way, it did.

After Vanek signed it last week, making it the latest installation of the Threads project, it ended up at the front of a three-ring binder -- the one that holds the collection. Top left corner of the sheet, too, right where (Sabres fans will enjoy this) Mama hides the cookies.

The Hockey Life: Week 17

For Colin, one of the best parts of going to a Lightning game is hanging out down by the boards, before and during warmups. He'll go off by himself, survey his surroundings and escape into his own little world. If there's a new issue for the game program, like there was last Sunday, he'll bury his nose in it until the lights come up, the music starts to blare and the players hit the ice.

The real reason he heads down there, though, is to snag pucks. Rather than crowd into the Lightning's side, where fans stack up three to four deep, he prefers the visitors side. Not so much that he'll root for them, but there's often less competition for a player's gracious gesture. Some times it works, some times it doesn't.

There have been a few times, like last Sunday, when he shares the wealth. Though St. Louis' Vladimir Sobotka clearly intended to flip him a puck, his aim was a bit off and another little boy scooped it up. Though I thought he'd be disappointed, my little man surprised me.

After the little boy's mom walked over and tried to give him the puck, Colin told her that it was OK. Her son could keep it. He told her he'd gotten pucks before, and it was good to see another kid get his first puck during warmups.

Yeah, he's my kid, but I'm not sure too many others would've done the same thing. He may not always be the best behaved, and his hearing is a bit selective (ask The Missus, not me), but he's got a heart of gold.

Going solo

Of all the times I've waited outside the St. Pete Times Forum after a Lightning morning skate, I can't recall ever getting an autograph from Steve Downie. Mostly, it's because he's usually with Steven Stamkos, who seldom, if at all, stops at those times.

That changed Thursday, when Downie appeared at a St. Petersburg motorsports dealer for a 90-minute, meet-and-greet signing session. After walking away with seven autographs, including the four cards shown above, it'll be a long time before we'll need to have anything else signed.

I'd heard through the Hockey Bay hounding grapevine that he'd sign multiple autographs during these appearances. After getting ours and watching some folks make multiple trips through the line, there's no doubt in my mind.

Even better, as gritty as he plays on the ice, he was pretty friendly with fans. When Colin told him about how he got yelled at for skating too fast at a mall rink, Downie looked incredulous.

"What's up with that? You got yelled at for skating fast?" he asked Colin. "Dude, that's just wrong."

With just a few words, I'm thinking Downie gained two new fans.

Quote of the week

"It's easier on the body, but I don't get the same buzz."
Bill Clement, a former NHL player and announcer, on the difference between his two occupations.

Team report: St. Louis Blues

Given the fluid situation we faced last weekend, and I'm not just talking about rain, we weren't even certain we'd be able to hound the St. Louis Blues last weekend during their one and only trip to Hockey Bay during the 2010-11 hockey-hound campaign.

After spending Saturday in Orlando, using the last day of out three-day pass to Disney theme parks at Animal Kingdom, we thought we were heading south to Ellenton for Colin to kick off his rec league season Sunday afternoon. From there, we'd zip back around Tampa Bay to watch the Blues play the Lightning at the St. Pete Times Forum.

Well, that changed.

On Friday night, hours before we would take a late-night drive to Orlando, we learned that Colin's game was postponed. Something about a Super Bowl and parties, we were told. While that meant we'd be able to hound the Blues, it also meant I'd have to scramble to get ready. So there I was, sitting outside the hotel at nearly 1 a.m. Saturday, prepping an inch-high stack of cards I cobbled together.

Really, I shouldn't complain that we added only 33 autographs. Only days before, I didn't think we'd be getting any.

Signing pucks, shown at top, were:

Top row: Ben Bishop and Brad Boyes; and
Bottom row: Alex Pietrangelo and Scott Mellanby.

Signing cards, shown above, were:

Top row: Patrik Berglund, Matt D'Agostini and Cam Janssen; and
Bottom row: Roman Polak, Alexander Steen and Brad Winchester

Other highlights were:

~ Colin, who had a much better day at hounding than his old man, scoring 20 autographs on a hand-drawn team sheet; and
~ putting a less-than-thrilling jersey swatch card to good use.

They're really nice guys

By Colin
Hound Central 5.0 junior correspondent

I couldn't believe how nice the St. Louis Blues were as a team. I expected them to be a little grumpy, because they're a team that hasn't had the best season. That's why I was surprised that I got so many of them to sign my team sheet.

My Dad tells me I did pretty good, getting 20 autographs. He knows the players better than I do, but he said I got guys like Patrik Berglund, Brad Boyes, Eric Brewer, Barret Jackman, Erik Johnson, T.J. Oshie and Alexander Steen (he's on our fantasy hockey team). My Dad said I even got Scott Mellanby on it.

I wanted to get David Backes to sign it, but he walked out the hotel's back door or something. That was a little disappointing. He's an American-born player like me and I wanted to ask him a question about taking faceoffs.

What's up with this?

If there were really any rules within our Threads project, where we use jersey swatch cards as platforms for autographs, one would likely be that the swatch itself has to come from a jersey (or sweater, for the purist) worn in an official NHL game.

Well, that isn't the case here. The swatch on this card, which St. Louis' Brad Winchester signed for us last Sunday, came from a photo shoot.

If so, which photo shoot? The photo, taken during Winchester's days with Edmonton, shows him wearing a white jersey. As you can see, the swatch is dark blue.

In a way, I feel a little cheated. Not by Winchester, mind you, but by Upper Deck. Then again, I really shouldn't have been surprised, should I?

Thankfully, I got this card as part of an eBay lot, where the average cost was about $1.50 per card.

Making a case

So, this is what happens when my normally reliable supplier of puck cases remains out of stock for the second straight month. All 62 pucks we've gotten signed since November stack up on one of the display cases, collecting dust rather than being put away or on display.

Thankfully, the supplier, Anderson Enterprises KTP, has finally restocked its shelves. I was going to ask if any readers used another supplier that offered bulk quantity discounts. Seeing that I order at least a case (72 puck cases at 65 cents each) at a time, there's no need to pay inflated retail prices.

Don't have to do that now, do I?

However, should you know of a better deal out there, please let me know. Whatever we can do to make this hobby cheaper, by cutting out another layer of middlemen such as card stores and eBay sellers, the more affordable it becomes.

The Hockey Life: Week 16

I don't think twice anytime I have the chance to add the owner of an NHL team to our autographed puck collection. Though their names never end up on the score sheet, they're much more important than any star player.

That's particularly the case down here in Hockey Bay. After the circus that was the Tampa Bay Lightning over the past few seasons, Jeff Vinik has brought stability to the franchise.

Hiring Steve Yzerman as the Bolts' general manager saw to that. The Guy Boucher hire has turned out pretty good, too.

So, when I saw Vinik pull into the St. Pete Times Forum not too long ago, I knew exactly what I'd do with the spare Lightning puck that had been kicking around the hounding bag.

Now, about those new uniforms. Well, I'm not sure about them. To me, they look like they were borrowed from the comic book character, The Flash. I'm wondering, too, if the team won't be soon known as the Sha-Zams!

Tip of the helmet

Just a quick note to thank you for stopping by Hound Central 5.0 and its family of hockey autograph blogs. Last month, HC5.0 posted its best-ever monthly numbers for visitors (1,885) and page views (4,341) since it went live in August 2009.

Not only that, but Moody's TTM Blog and Hockey Hounds Universe, the latest addition to the Hound Central family, had their highest numbers ever.

With all the blogs and sites available on the Web, we truly appreciate your time.

And to Moody and Al, Hound Central 5.0's two senior correspondents, as well as the others who've contributed over the past two seasons, a sincere thanks for all of your efforts.

Quote of the week

"I don't think a kid asking me to personalize a photo to him will end up putting it on eBay, that's why."
Freddy Meyer, an Atlanta Thrashers defenseman, to a pouty dealer wondering why Meyer signed two autographs for Colin and only one for him.

Team report: Philadelphia Flyers

Due to a unwelcome change to my work schedule that affects my personal life in many ways, I'm finding that my hockey-hounding adventures over the past month have become a bit more abbreviated.

No longer am I able to hang out until after the visiting team's return from morning skate. Nope, my time is limited, for the most part, to only before the morning skate. While I'm thankful for my job, as it's what pays the bills, I miss the sliver of "downtime" spent adding to our collection.

All told, I fell just one autograph short from having what I view as a good day, snagging 19 autographs, including eight pucks, in about an hour.

Signing these pucks were, from left, Sergei Bobrovsky, Bill Clement (remember him?) and James van Riemsdyk.

Signing cards, shown at the top of this post, were:

Top row: Brian Boucher, Daniel Carcillo and Matt Carle; and
Bottom row: Braydon Coburn, Scott Hartnell and Paul Holmgren

Other highlights from the quick trip:

~ Getting a trio of Canada-related pucks from some pretty big names: Jeff Carter, Chris Pronger and Mike Richards; and
~ adding the 2,222nd puck of the collection.

Puck No. 2,222

Maybe it's a stretch to call this a milestone puck. I'll give you that much. It's not like it's puck No. 1,000 or No. 2,000.

But it is kinda cool to honor a puck, as well as the player who signed it, when you hit a number like 2,222 for the collection.

In this case, it was Philadelphia's Danny Briere providing the honors, who was named the MVP of the 2007 NHL All-Star Game.

Looking back, I should've done for this puck No. 1,111. I promise, though, to do it for puck No. 3,333 should we reach that level.

Team report: Toronto Maple Leafs II

For a hockey hound, the three worst words you can here are: optional morning skate. But that's what happened last Tuesday, when the pickings were slim for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Like any good hound, where adding to the collection is the motivation, you do the best you can. If getting nine autographs is the reward for a morning's worth of effort, well that's nine more than we had before I headed out that morning.

The biggest score came from assistant coach Keith Acton, who signed the pucks shown above. It's always a good day, I believe, when we add a couple of old logo pucks to the collection.

Beyond that, though, the rest was standard fare:

Cards signed by, from left, Francois Beauchemin, Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolai Kulemin; and

a cheap skate card signed by rookie goalie James Reimer.

Team report: Atlanta Thrashers II

Seeing that we've hounded the Atlanta Thrashers more than one time this season, our expectations were considerably lower. That's the thing, I suppose, with division foes. They come to town so many times during the season that, at times, it's easy to pass on the hounding opportunity.

Having said that, though, I'm glad we went out for the Thrashers. As usual, they lived up to their reputation as one of the more fan-friendly teams in the NHL. Aside from Tobias Enstrom, who's become increasingly tougher with each passing season, you're limited only by the number of items you have for the Thrashers.

Proof of that are the pucks shown above. Though we carried twice as many, walking away with two, from Alexander Burmistrov, left, and Freddy Modin, was more than sufficient. We had a pair of pucks for Dustin Byfuglien, but he grew frustrated with double- and triple-dipping dealers, before walking off. No worries, though, as the Thrashers will be back next season.

All told, our game-time session added another 43 autographs to the collection.

Signing cards were:

Top row: Nik Antropov, Niclas Bergfors, Eric Boulton and Zach Bogosian; and
Bottom row: Nigel Dawes, Johnny Oduya, Ondrej Pavelec and Rich Peverley.

Other highlights from the day:

~ Colin resorting to his Plan B for a team sheet;
~ hooking up with a fellow Rochester, N.H., kid; and
~ getting captain Andrew Ladd to complete a nice gesture.

Colin's Plan B

Over the course of his growing number of hockey-hounding campaigns, Colin has built up a sizable collection of team sheets. For the most part, he'll use one of his hand-drawn logo team sheets to load up on autographs.

After hounding a team for the third or fourth time, and running out of alternate logos to use, he didn't want to give up on his tried and true approach. That's why he's turned to using a team's wallpaper image, like this one for the Atlanta Thrashers, as a platform for his team sheet adventures.

The players and coaches don't seem to mind, either. Last Sunday, Colin scored 23 autographs on this one, including signatures from Nik Antropov, Alexander Burmistrov, Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd, Bryan Little, Freddy Modin and Ondrej Pavelec, among others.