Keep this to yourself

I'll let you in on a little secret. Using specialty pucks is one of the quickest ways to get NHL players to stop and sign. After seeing the same old team pucks, city after city and season after season, players gravitate toward something new to sign.

Signing these three, during the Florida Panthers' visit to Hockey Bay last week, were, from left, Niclas Bergfors, Dmitry Kulikov and Stephen Weiss.

Moody's Olympics Gold: Team Russia

Team Russia Last won gold in 1992, but finished fourth at the last Olympiad held in Torino, Italy. Of the 23-man roster, I've managed to get 13 players from the partially NHL-filled squad.

Cards signed by some of Team Russia's players:

Top row: Montreal's Andrei Markov and San Jose's Evgeni Nabokov; and
Bottom row: Pittsburgh's Sergei Gonchar, Washington's Alex Semin, and Ottawa's Anton Volchenkov

More cards signed by Team Russia's players:

Top row: Russian Federation President Vladimir Tretiak, Columbus' Fedor Tyutin, Phoenix's Ilya Bryzgalov and Salavat's Victor Kozlov; and
Bottom row: Washington's Semyon Varlamov, Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin, Edmonton's Denis Grebeshkov and Salavat's Dmitri Kalinin.

Atlanta's Max Afinogenov.

New Jersey's Ilya Kovalchuk

Most of these items have been signed over the past two seasons, either in Hockey Bay, Atlanta or South Florida.

Home rink advantage

Maybe it's strong national pride or a major case of wishful thinking, but there was no doubt among Hound Central 5.0 readers about what nation will stand atop the podium with gold medals in mens hockey -- Canada.

Really, it's easy to see why. Team Canada fields a very strong squad. Lots of talent and, as always, stellar goaltending. To win, though, it'll have to go through Russia, Sweden and Team U.S.A., which won't be easy.

Imagine the pressure, though, of not winning gold in your home country. That's why, I believe, Team Canada has to play desperate hockey. Anything less than a gold medal will likely demoralize a nation.

Question: Hockey gold in Vancouver?

Canada: 31 votes out of 51 cast (60.8 percent)
Russia: 9 votes (17.6 percent)
U.S.A.: 5 votes (9.8 percent)
Sweden: 3 votes (5.9 percent)
Czech Republic: 2 votes (3.9 percent)
Finland: 1 vote (2 percent)

My bad

Thanks to Moody, Hound Central 5.0's senior correspondent, for noticing that Russia wasn't included in the HC5.0 poll asking which nation would win the hockey gold medal at the Olympics in Vancouver.

That oversight, certainly not an intended slight to a talented squad based on residual feelings from the Cold War, has been rectified.

Positive spin

There are times over the course of a hockey-hounding campaign when it's best to measure your success under different terms. On days when you add a bunch of pucks to a stack of cards, it's easy to tout quantity over quality. There are the times, too, when low numbers are the intentional result of pure, unadulterated cherry-picking.

And then you have days like Wednesday, when the Montreal Canadiens were in town to play the Tampa Bay Lightning. Though I added only 20 items from 12 players and an assistant coach, I didn't walk away disappointed. Even better, I finally got Habs goalie Carey Price to sign a McFarlane base for Al, Hound Central 5.0's man in Toronto.

Had I carried items for every player, the numbers would have been higher. But, I had no more items for such players as Tomas Plekanic, Maxim Lapierre, Marc-Andre Bergeron, Benoit Pouliot, Glen Metropolit, Ryan O'Byrne and Mathieu Darche.

In fact, the only two players I missed were Paul Mara, who I never saw before or after the morning skate, and Scott Gomez, who apparently has a good memory (I'll have more about that Sunday).

The numbers may not be that impressive, but to snag 13 players (present and past) out of the 15 who I had items for certainly made the trip well worth the time.

Signing pucks, shown above, were Brian Gionta (Montreal Canadiens and U.S.A. souvenir) and Andrei Markov (Quebec Citadelles and Russia souvenir).

Among those signing cards, shown above, were:

Top row: Josh Gorges, Jaroslav Halak, Roman Hamrlik and Sergei Kostitsyn; and
Bottom row: Ben Maxwell, Travis Moen, Kirk Muller and Jaroslav Spacek.

For the record, and to have the numbers add up, Hal Gill also signed a couple of cards.

Though I'm grateful that Montreal's Mike Cammalleri added to the autographed puck collection, I believe the young man could use a lesson in manners.

Top Shelf: Alex Kovalev

There are points during a hockey-hounding campaign when the Hockey Gods align and present a perfect opportunity to score some quality autographs. The first of the 2009-10 season came last Thursday, when Ottawa's Alex Kovalev signed this pair of pucks.

With a little luck, perhaps I'll match last season's Top Shelf signings, which represent the best autographs collected during a campaign.

Much better

After learning a lesson Wednesday about priming paint pens, and making a move to a different brand, I wasted no time in getting San Jose goalie Evgeni Nabokov to sign this Russia souvenir puck.

A well-working paint pen looks so much better, doesn't it?

A day later, Nabokov signed the 2004-05 UD Hockey All-World Edition card. Produced during the NHL lockout of that season, the cards are another example of a specialty set that proves pretty useful for card-hounding efforts.

Family day in Hockey Bay

Even though I had to work and wouldn't be in a position to help out, it was pretty easy to talk the Missus and Colin into hounding the Carolina Hurricanes this past Saturday morning. It didn't hurt, too, that they'd join some friends for the day.

After a little hiccup making their way through Tampa, as downtown streets were cut off, they met up with Moody, Hound Central 5.0's roving Southeast correspondent, and his delightful family to hang out, share some laughs and snag a few autographs.

As you can see, the Missus and Colin had a good time, scoring a nifty 30 autographs, including pucks signed by Cam Ward, left, and Sergei Samsonov, before and after the team's morning skate. Both, too, are part of his Colin's Pucks project.

The fun, though, went far beyond that, from what I hear.

The biggest laugh of the day came when Colin, stripped to the waist after soaking through a Hurricanes T-shirt running around a playground with Moody's daughters in 90-plus degree temperatures, ran down Ward and had him sign the puck, a couple of cards and, of course, his team sheet. The look on Ward's face, the Missus' said, was worth any hassles encountered that morning.

Among others signing cards were, from left, Eric Staal, Ward and the Missus' favorite Hurricanes player, Ray Whitney. Rod Brind'Amour, the 'Canes captain, added to the Threads project.

The Moody's haul


While Mikayla, Moody's oldest, went about getting 30 cards signed herself, including cards from notorious toughie Tom Barrasso (the Canes' goalie coach), Stall and Ward, her dad put some of his fan pack freebies to good use.

Not only did goalie Michael Leighton sign a mini poster from his Chicago days, but Tim Gleason, Tom Kostopolous, Niclas Wallin, Ward and Whitney also signed team-issued player cards.

Moody added Chad LaRose to his work-in-progress Plymouth Whalers helmet visor. Others signers include Whalers alums Peter DeBoer, Stephen Weiss and Greg Campbell, all members of the Florida Panthers organization.

Looking ahead, there will be a few more family outings with the Moodys. Thankfully, I'll have those days off. It looks like I missed a productive and pretty fun day.