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: 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.

I can live with this one

As much as I hate making mistakes, I certainly don't mind that I missed on the Chicago Blackhawks winning the Lord Stanley's Cup in Game 6, not Game 7 as I predicted.

Having a fellow Buffalo kid -- Patrick Kane -- score the Cup-winning goal and then give props to his hometown was pretty cool. Though the Sabres didn't win it, the Stanley Cup will get to spend at least one day in western New York.

Poetic justice

Seeing that the Chicago Blackhawks can close out the Philadelphia Flyers tonight to claim Lord Stanley's Cup, I figured it was about time to share the results of the latest Hound Central 5.0 poll. In it, HC5.0 asked what was a bigger upset earlier in the playoffs -- the Montreal Canadiens beating the Washington Capitals or the Pittsburgh Penguins.

When it comes down to it, the results were hardly surprising.

Given the the Caps seemed destined to win the Cup, HC5.0 readers overwhelmingly picked the Habs' stunning upset as far greater than the club's follow-up act against the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

I must admit that I was pulling for the Canadiens in both series, but more so against the Caps. There's a certain smugness among most of the Capitals, beginning with Alex Ovechkin down to, if you can believe this, Shaone Morrisonn, that made it very easy to root against them. I still smile at the thought of the long faces on the Caps' bench as the Habs celebrated the upset. Good stuff, I tell you, good stuff.

Bottom line? Ovie's a great player, but not the kind of guy who will win championships. It was a huge mistake, I believe, when the Capitals named him captain. He's far too selfish, and self-centered, to ever be a team guy. Maybe he'll learn that with age. I doubt it though.

Question: Bigger upset?

Habs over Capitals: 17 votes out of 24 cast (70.8 percent)
Habs over Penguins: 7 votes (29.2 percent)

Oh, yeah, before I forget. The Flyers will force a Game 7, but the Blackhawks will lift the Cup. Dustin Byfuglien scores the Cup winner, too, tossing the puck to Chris Pronger, so "Chrissy" can add add it to his collection.

Thanks, Phil!!! Finally ...

After two previous requests for Hall of Famer Phil Esposito to complete this mini project in progress, it is now done. My first request was shot down with a simple "No!" The second was much more colorful as he dropped an F-bomb in with the "No!"

This past Saturday, Esposito, after showing a slight hesitation, finally signed the card previously inked by fellow Hall of Famer Bobby Clarke.

Thanks, Phil, and sorry for inconveniencing you at your place of business.

A select few

Every so often, I remember that our work-in-progress jersey for University of New Hampshire alumni in the NHL. One of those times came Tuesday, when the Phoenix Coyotes, and former Wildcats player Daniel Winnik, paid a visit to Hockey Bay.

Granted, there may not be too many former UNH players in the NHL, but this jersey represents those who've played over the past few seasons. In fact, Winnik became the fourth player to sign it this season, joining Philadelphia's James van Riemsdyk, Atlanta's Jason Krog and Lightning goalie coach Cap Raeder.

Others who've signed it are St. Louis' Ty Conklin (then with Detroit) and Atlanta's Darren Haydar.

A letter-by-letter guide to the signatures:

U: Jason Krog and Daniel Winnik
N: Ty Conklin and Cap Raeder
H: James van Riemwsdyk (the tiny scribble) and Darren Haydar

Back in the saddle

After a couple of weeks away from hockey-hounding because of the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, the Philadelphia Flyers kicked off the final push of the 2009-10 campaign here in Hockey Bay. Going into Tuesday's session, I wasn't sure what to expect.

Would the Flyers be in a good mood, buoyed by gold-medal-winning performances from teammates Mike Richards and Chris Pronger? Or, would they be grumpy, having to deal with dealers and hounds for the first time since their midseason respite?

After adding two dozen autographs to the collection, including 22 cards, it's safe to say the Flyers were in a reasonable mood, with nearly all (save for Kimmo Timonen) signing before the morning skate. On the way back, though, very few honored repeat requests.

As always, though, very few complaints. Among those signing cards (shown above) were:

Top row: Daniel Briere, Daniel Carcillo and Matt Carle; and
Bottom row: Jeff Carter, Braydon Coburn and Riley Cote.

Also signing cards were:

Top row: Simon Gagne, Scott Hartnell and Ian Laperriere; and
Bottom row: Ryan Parent, Chris Pronger and Mike Richards.

Other highlights from the first day back from the two-week 2010 Olympics break:

~ Getting Claude Giroux to sign this Gatineau Olympiques puck, from his days in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League;
~ Adding a Calgary Flames puck from Hall of Famer Joe Mullen, a Flyers assistant coach; and
~ Learning that I wasn't the first person to confuse Darroll Powe for Giroux.

Proper recognition

This isn't a knock against him - no, sir, not in the least little bit -- but getting an autograph from Hall of Famer Joe Mullen, an assistant coach with the Philadelphia Flyers, just doesn't carry the same oomph, I believe, as getting one from, say, Bobby Clarke.

I wonder why that is?

Mullen had a solid career, becoming the first U.S.-born player to score 500 goals and 1,000 points, and turning a humble beginning in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood in Manhattan, N.Y., into a full ride into hockey's hallowed hall.

Still, adding a Hall of Famer is adding a Hall of Famer. In fact, I wouldn't mind adding him to a few more pucks, namely the Pittsburgh Penguins, St. Louis Blues and USA Hockey.

Won't get fooled again

Twice this season, I'm loathe to admit, I've confused Philadelphia's Darroll Powe for teammate Claude Giroux. Thankfully, Powe took Tuesday's momentary lapse of critical thinking skills in stride.

"Don't worry about it," he told me. "It happens quite a bit."

I'll try harder next time.

Your Turn II

Given that the Tampa Bay Lightning isn't always at home, there are gaps within the schedule where fresh content, culled from our own hockey-hounding adventures, is, in a word, impossible. But that's where you come in.

After years of sharing these stories with you, I've asked my fellow hounds to pass along their tales of hounding -- good or bad. So, here we are again, turning over the platform afforded by Hound Central 5.0 to hockey hounds to share stories of their autograph adventures.

If you'd like to take part in future installments, and I humbly repeat my request to lend your voice to this effort, please send your stories to Hound Central 5.0.

In this second offering, Hound Central 5.0 offers stories from a trio of hockey hounds:

Cory D.

Cory, out of Kansas, shares his appreciation for minor league players:

"I live in Topeka, Kansas, which isn't exactly a hockey hotbed, but we've been lucky to have four different teams in the past 10 years, so I've gotten to see a lot of players at two different levels go through this town.

"I remember when we first got a team in 1998, the CHL Topeka Scarecrows, this team was pretty darn good and one of my favorite things to do was get to the games early with my family (I was 10 years old at the time) and look for pucks. I found quite a few and started building a collection of autographs. It was always so awesome to see the guys take the time to sign autographs. I especially remember when they came to my elementary school and signed for everybody and played scooter hockey for the kids.

"Another one of my favorite stories comes from the 2000-2001, my family had went to a Scarecrows practice over Christmas break and when one of the goalies (Scott Hay, current goaltending coach for the Bakersfield Condors) was coming off the ice, he handed me his stick and told me to keep it. It just made my day because he was one of my favorite players."

J.R.

J.R., who filed this report from San Jose, shares his recent successes of attending a Sharks practice. Sounds like it was well worth the time:

"After reading the reports on this site since the beginning of the season, I finally decided to attend my first Sharks practice. I just moved to San Jose from New York about three months ago and have been considering going to a practice since I’ve been here. Despite having the best intentions, I truly believe this site kicked my enthusiasm into high gear.

"Since I’m new to the area, I carefully mapped my route to the practice facility and made it there unscathed. Of course, however, I did manage to go to the wrong rink once I got inside. Once I realized my error, I did find the correct rink thanks to a member of the Sharks Ice staff.

"Practice was already under way when I made it to the south rink and I must say I was rather disappointed to find only eight Sharks on the ice (Devon Setoguchi, <strong>Torrey Mitchell, Brad Staubitz, Jody Shelley, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Jay Leach, Kent Huskins and Thomas Greiss). Perhaps because of the small on-ice turnout, practice only lasted approximately 30 minutes.

"Shelley was the first Shark to leave the ice and after he signed for a couple of fans, he was kind enough to sign a puck for me. I mentioned that I enjoyed the fight he had last night with Cam Janssen of the St. Louis Blues, not so much for the action, but the duration, and he chuckled.

"Setoguchi was the next player to depart and he went immediately into the locker room, despite being asked for autographs from two or three fans. I brought one of his hockey cards with me in case signed, but wasn’t disappointed that he kept walking.

"I managed to snag autographs from Staubitz and Huskins as they left the ice surface. Both players signed for anyone who asked (and there weren’t many autograph hounds in the small crowd) and appeared to be quite fan-friendly.

"I promised myself that if I received one or two autographs in my first venture to practice, I would be thrilled. Well, I exceeded my hopes, acquiring three signed pucks for my collection.

"However, much to my surprise, the collecting was not over. As it turned out, the Shark Olympians, and there are eight of them, were at the facility to conduct interviews with the local NBC affiliate. I was fortunate to also get autographs from Joe Pavelski, Patrick Marleau and Evgeni Nabokov when each concluded their interviews, well after the practice had concluded. Marleau also took the time to pose for photographs with a couple of young female fans.

"Douglas Murray also signed for two fans after he spoke with the reporter, but since I only brought six pucks with me, I was not able to get his autograph. Oh well, maybe next time.

"All told, I walked away with six autographed pucks. A very successful day, in both quantity and quality, in my book. I am very much looking forward to attending my next practice.

"Good luck to all the hounds out there."

Scott B.

Scott, who hounds in South Florida, has provided numerous reports from his NHL hounding adventures at less-than-friendly hotels. Here are a few more:

New York Rangers: "The Rangers usually stay at a certain beach hotel, but this time they stayed elsewhere on the beach. They are usually not a good signing team, but this year they were better. If we don't have a card for a player, we use the 2005-06 Parkhurst team logo cards. We were able to get Artem Anisimov (1 Parkhurst card), Donald Brashear (1 of 1), Chris Drury (2 jersey cards), Marian Gaborik (2 of 4), Chris Higgins (6 of 6), Michal Rozsival (1 of 3), Henrik Lundqvist (1 of 3) and John Tortorella (1 Parkhurst card)."

Philadelphia Flyers: "The Flyers had almost a week here in South Florida before their game, so they stayed at a hotel on the beach in Fort Lauderdale. They have always been a good-signing team and this time was no exception. We got Aaron Asham (2 Parkhurst cards), Danny Briere (2 of 3), Dan Carcillo (1 of 1), Riley Cote (2 of 2), Simon Gagne (2 of 3), Claude Giroux (1 of 1), Scott Hartnell (1 of 3), Ian Laperriere (3 of 3), Darroll Powe (2 of 2), Mike Richards (1 of 1), James van Riemsdyk (2 Parkhurst cards), Braydon Coburn (1 of 1), Kimmo Timonen (1 of 1) and Brian Boucher (3 of 3). We also got a Chris Pronger "Waving the Flag" card signed that I have been trying to get him to sign for a few years."

Washington Capitals: "By far, the worst signing team in the NHL. Since Alexander Ovechkin's rookie year when he signed, he and most of the Caps completely ignore the fans. The hotel where the Caps stay is a lot tougher on us, making us stand across the street from the team bus. One of the managers there actually was telling players not to come and sign for us. Luckily, Brendan Morrison was there this year. He is from the old school of treating the fans with class. He signed all four of his cards. And he told Eric Fehr (1 of 1) and Alexander Semin (2 of 3) to walk over and sign for us."

Quality time

Given how our schedules can limit our time together, I truly look forward to Colin's vacations during the school year. It gives us time to hang out, goof off and, most importantly, spend time together.

This past holiday break, which lasted two weeks, was no different. We bought Momma her birthday presents. He had cinnamon buns and lingonberry juice from Ikea. We went looking for trains. He went skating. We played street hockey. I got a fat lip.

Being the hockey hounds that we are, though, we also spent a quite a few days pounding the pavement supplementing the autograph collection. All told, we added 180 autographs, including one special puck, in four trips for five teams within eight days.

Here are some of the highlights:

~ Montreal's Carey Price, Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk and Tampa Bay's Alex Tanguay adding to the Threads collection;
~ Loading up on 2010 Winter Classic pucks from the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers;
~ Snagging signed sticks from Philadelphia's Jeff Carter and James van Riemsdyk; and
~ Colin getting 70 autographs on team sheets for Montreal, Boston, Atlanta and Philadelphia.

It appears, too, that we weren't alone in hounding over the holidays. An overwhelming majority (as in nearly 3 to 1) told us, through Hound Central 5.0's latest poll, that hounding would, indeed, be a part of their holiday break:

Question: Will you hound over the holiday break?

Yes: 29 votes out of 39 cast (74.4 percent)
No: 10 votes (25.6 percent)

In the ballpark

Given that the 2010 Winter Classic, featuring the Philadelphia Flyers meeting the Boston Bruins, takes place Friday at venerable Fenway Park, it made perfect sense yesterday to add a few Bruins players to the mix:

Top row: Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci
Bottom row: Marc Savard and Tim Thomas

My only regret is that I didn't buy more of these pucks.

Nothing good comes easy

On a day when Christmas came early to a couple of kids and two fairly big-name players each signed a pair of pucks, it's hard not to be ecstatic over Wednesday's hounding trip for the Philadelphia Flyers. So much so, that rather than get some much-needed shut-eye before the unwrapping of presents begins, I couldn't wait to share the news.

Honestly, the hounding was, at best, a little rough. Thankfully, though, we used our inside access -- for likely the last time ever, though -- to significantly add to the quality and, to a lesser degree, the quantity of the collection.

Despite a large crowd of hounds, dealers and fans (nearly 40 people), an unfortunate incident and a team not happy with its performance, we were fortunate to add another 32 autographs, including eight pucks, to the collection:

Among those signing pucks were, from left, Daniel Carcillo, Scott Hartnell and James van Riemsdyk; and

Matt Carle, from left, Braydon Coburn and Ryan Parent, added these three of the 10 cards we got signed.

The highlights from a holiday vacation day of hounding:

~ Colin getting signed sticks from Jeff Carter and James van Riemsdyk;
~ Top Shelf items from Simon Gagne and Chris Pronger;
~ A dozen Flyers honoring Colin's requests to sign his team sheet; and
~ a photo gallery from the youngest hound in the stable.

Christmas came early

Through the hounding grapevine, we'd heard that the Philadelphia Flyers were a team willing to give up sticks for the asking. It helped, of course, if the request came from a child. So, with that mind, we put that intel to the test.

As you can see, it was pretty accurate, as Colin scored not one, but two sticks from members of the Flyers organization. And, to be honest, they were pretty sweet snags:


Jeff Carter, one of the first players off the ice, was the first one to hand over a stick to Colin.


James van Riemsdyk, a former University of New Hampshire Wildcats player, also made a little kid's day.

It gets even better, too, as Mikayla, one of Hound Central 5.0 correspondent Moody's daughters, also took home of pair of sticks. Hers came from Aaron Asham (a Christmas present from Colin, as Asham handed him the stick) and Simon Gagne.

All four players signed, too, even personalizing at the kids' requests, as they walked back to the team's hotel following the morning skate.

Tough crowd

You know a team is tough on hounds when Colin gets repeatedly shot down when asking players to sign a team sheet. Take the Philadelphia Flyers, for instance. Though a dozen players did take the time to sign, more than a few requests fell upon deaf ears Wednesday.

Oh, well, when you're having a season like the Flyers, I guess there are more important things to think about.

Thankfully, a couple of Flyers made it up to him later. Captain Mike Richards, however, wasn't one of them. "What," he said. "so it can end up on eBay."

So, who did sign? How about Flyers players and staff, from left, Matt Carle, Craig Berube, Ian Laperriere, Aaron Asham, Ryan Parent, Chris Therien, Daniel Carcillo (I believe), Simon Gagne, Mika Pyorala, Darroll Powe, Braydon Coburn and Riley Cote.

Top Shelf: Simon Gagne

It's not too often that I score a pair of Top Shelfs from a single team, but I believe that getting Philadelphia Flyers left winger Simon Gagne to sign this pair of pucks, along with getting Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger to sign a pair, certainly fills the bill.

Top Shelf: Chris Pronger

I've always heard that Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger could be a tough autograph. Now that he signed these two pucks following the team's morning skate. I'm not so sure. It's nice when you're in the right place at the right time, I suppose.

Gallery: Philadelphia Flyers

For the most part, it's either myself or The Missus who takes pictures for Hound Central 5.0 galleries. This time, though, it's a little different. This gallery, taken during the Philadelphia Flyers' morning skate earlier this week, features photographs taken by Colin.

Not bad for a 8 year-old, huh?

Teammates Jeff Carter, left, and Daniel Carcillo chat at the bench before the start of the morning skate.

Goalie Michael Leighton, plucked from the Carolina Hurricanes off waivers recently, waits for a shot. That not a new mask for Leighton, either. It's strips of white athletic tape covering the design he wore with the 'Canes.

New coach Peter Laviolette, right, skates past as the team gathers at the center ice circle at the St. Pete Times Forum to stretch before running through drills.