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.