Team report: Florida Panthers II

Even if it was the last regular-season home game and the team visiting Hockey Bay was the Florida Panthers, I was a bit surprised for the sparse showing before morning skate. All told, there were four of us. Yes, only four of us.

Maybe I've gotten used to bigger crowds, or perhaps people had run out of items to get signed, but it was a little disappointing that an NHL team, even one that's had so little success over the years, would draw so few hounds.

A hounding opportunity, to me, is just that -- an opportunity to add to collections. Oh, well, I didn't let anything stop me from adding a baker's dozen of autographs to the collection, including the 2,300th puck of the collection.

Signing the pucks were:

Top row: Sergei Samsonov (for No. 2,300) and Mike Santorelli; and
Bottom row: Tomas Vokoun and Stephen Weiss.

Signing cards were, from left, Steve Bernier, David Booth and Darcy Hordichuk.

Other highlights:

~ Putting a trio of specialty pucks to good use; and
~ having goalie Scott Clemmensen sign my only remaining Lowell Devils puck.

Making the connection

Colin got quite the kick out of former Tampa Bay Lightning player Brian Bradley last week when he signed this promo card for him at a Lightning radio show at a McDonald's in New Tampa.

Only the night before, Bradley ran a Lightning Made hockey clinic at the St. Pete Times Forum that Colin attended.

As Colin approached the Lightning's first All-Star to thank him for running the clinic, Bradley's face lit up:

"Hey, I remember you," he said. "You were at the clinic last night."

Team report: Pittsburgh Penguins II

All things considered, we should have stayed home last Thursday and not embarked on a hounding adventure for the Pittsburgh Penguins. It rained most of the day. The moisture affected my silver Sharpies. And I wasn't patient enough to wait another 15 minutes for Sidney Crosby.

But with circus known as the Penguins in town and Colin off on his spring break, I ignored that nagging, little voice in my head and made the trip. What's the worse that could happen, right?

Well, we had the nastiest storms of the year, with tornadoes reported throughout the Hockey Bay area. And, then, while truly enjoying our time at the Glazer Children's Museum, Moody called to tell me that Crosby, returning from his first morning skate in months, signed not one, but two items before dealers bumrushed him.

Am I complaining? Just a little bit, I suppose. The weather could have been nicer. And Colin could've gotten his 2010 Canada Olympic hockey gold medalist McFarlane base signed by Crosby. Then again, I did get to spend the day with my son, doing something we love.

The hounding, really, wasn't all that bad, as we added 19 autographs, including 15 cards. Later that night, we watched the Tampa Bay Lightning clinch its first playoff appearance in four seasons.

All in all, it was a pretty good day.

Signing pucks, shown above from left, were Tyler Kennedy and James Neal.

Signing cards were, from left, Pascal Dupuis, Eric Godard, Brent Johnson and Mike Rupp.

Other highlights from a rain day:

~ Commemorating Maxime Talbot's Stanley Cup-winning goal;

~ having Tyler Kennedy pull double duty for us; and

~ putting specialty set cards to good use.

Beyond the norm

Who among us doesn't have boxes upon boxes of hockey cards that you're unlikely to ever get signed? I do. It comes with the territory, I reckon, of being a collector.

One type of card I'll make an extra effort to get signed comes from a specialty set. These can be rookie stars, American Hockey League team or prospect sets or even one from the 2004-05 NHL lockout.

This variety of specialty cards proved handy when the Pittsburgh Penguins came calling upon Hockey Bay last week. Signing them were, from left, Mike Comrie, James Neal and Maxime Talbot.

Team report: Carolina Hurricanes III

Even without a calendar, it's easy to tell when the end of an NHL regular season approaches: division foes come calling to Hockey Bay in an increasing frequency. Though it's a time to add to the collection, you can find yourself running out of items.

That's the reason why I loaded up on cards, rather than this single puck signed by Jeff Skinner, during the Carolina Hurricanes' third and final visit to Hockey Bay recently. All told, 18 of the 20 autographs I scored that day came on cardboard.

For the second straight trip, too, I missed on Hurricanes captain Eric Staal. This time, it was because he said he'd sign after the morning skate. Too bad, I suppose, that I had to be at work by then. The 2011 All-Star Game and Team Canada pucks will have to wait. Maybe he'll be back for the playoffs.

Signing cards, shown above, were:

Top row: Bryan Allen, Drayson Bowman and Erik Cole;
Middle row: Patrick Dwyer, Tim Gleason and Jussi Jokinen; and
Bottom row: Justin Peters, Tuomo Ruuttu and Cory Stillman.

Other highlights from a morning of hounding:

~ Having Cam Ward find enough room on a mini jersey; and
~ Jiri Tlusty signing four cards -- finally.

About time

If you knew how long I've been waiting to get Carolina's Jiri Tlusty to sign these cards, you'd share in my relief. I'd dare say I've carried these for at least five trips, between his days with the Hurricanes and Toronto Maple Leafs.

For a variety of reasons (he didn't make the trip, simply missed or he was running late), it took until Carolina's most recent trip to Hockey Bay to get them signed. Thankfully, he signed all four.

Team report: New York Islanders II

For no other reason other than Blogger is having some technical issues with its blogs, including this one, I'm going to keep this short and, hopefully, sweet. Besides, after nearly 600 posts, I've run out of different ways to describe nondescript hounding adventures.

All I can say is that another 20 autographs, including nine pucks, were added to the collection during the Islanders last visit to Hockey Bay. Nothing spectacular, I hate to say, to report. No funny stories, either. I hope you understand.

Signing pucks, shown above, were:

Top row: Michael Grabner and Al Montoya; and Bottom row: Matt Moulson and John Tavares.

Signing cards were, from left, Jack Hillen, Zenon Konopka, Frans Nielsen and Mark Streit.

Other highlights:

~ Doug Weight completing our NHL career collection of him;

~ Moody returning a favor on Michael Grabner cards;

~ using a pair of U.S.A. souvenir pucks in our push to top 2,300; and

~ taking a risk, in a sense, with a couple of Bridgeport Sound Tigers pucks.

Team report: Ottawa Senators

Not that I'm a big Ottawa fan, but I was glad to see the Senators visit Hockey Bay a week ago. Seeing that I'd had a fairly unremarkable run with the Washington Capitals and Chicago Blackhawks, it was time to work a team known for taking a friendlier stance toward hounds.

Again, my work schedule limited my hounding to before the morning skate, but I put it to good use, or at least the best I could, despite not having any pucks on hand. Unfortunately, for me, I missed on Jason Spezza, as did everyone else that morning, as he headed straight from the hotel to the team bus.

I did manage, however, to add 18 autographs, including 17 cards, for my efforts.

Signing cards, shown above, were:

Top row: Craig Anderson, Erik Karlsson and Filip Kuba; and
Bottom row: Chris Neil, Ryan Shannon and Jesse Winchester.

Other highlights:

~ Taking a career approach with Sergei Gonchar;
~ Colin scoring 16 autographs on another neat team sheet; and
~ Providing, yet again, another reason to use cheap skate cards.

Team report: Chicago Blackhawks

By Colin
Hound Central 5.0 junior correspondent

Sometimes when you're a kid, it's just plain better, especially with the Chicago Blackhawks. When we went out hounding them a couple weeks ago, I got 11 autographs at game time, including signatures from Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp and Brent Seabrook. Lots of players didn't sign at all. Some of the guys I got on my team sheet signed just for kids like me.

How many did my Dad get all day long? Just these two, a puck from Marty Turco and this card signed by Fernando Pisani. I guess that makes me a better hound than my Dad. Funny, eh?

My Dad's been doing this for 16 years. I've been doing this for five years. No, really, it's funny.

Editor's note: Though Dad is confident in his abilities, Colin is absolutely right. He's become the better hound. I will say, though, that he's grounded until he's 18. Ah, just kidding.

Team report: Washington Capitals II

Every time the Washington Capitals visit Hockey Bay, I don't expect to get an autograph from Alex Ovechkin. There was a time when I'd carry a puck or two, but that was always nothing more than wishful thinking. I soon lowered my expectations, switching to cards so I could put those pucks to far better uses. Those, too, came up empty.

These days, I carry a single card of Ovechkin, part of a Russian set. It's no surprise, I suppose, that it didn't get signed during the Caps' visit earlier this month. This time, though, I can't say Ovechkin said no. The Great One did sign during the trip, after Washington's morning skate.

The only problem, however, was I was at work. Because I like the life we have, and need the cash to afford it, I won't complain. Besides, I did walk away with a baker's dozen, including 10 cards, from Ovie's teammates that morning.

Signing cards, shown above, were:

Top row: Jason Arnott, Jason Chimera and Eric Fehr; and
Bottom row: Mike Knuble, Tom Poti and Dennis Wideman.

Signing pucks were, from left, John Carlson and Braden Holtby.

Though I can't call it a highlight, Arnott also added to a quad jersey card project.

Too bad this happened

Something tells me that I should be happy that I'm halfway home with this 2008-09 NHL MVP 2 on 2 quad jersey card, now that Jason Arnott, in town with the Washington Capitals recently, signed it. But I'm not. And it has something to do with Arnott signing on the swatch.

To me, there's plenty of room to the right of his face to offer up a similarly sized signature. To me, it looks sloppy where he signed it, starting within the fabric. Funny thing, too, is that Arnott enjoys a solid reputation as a signer. I'd hate to think that he did it on purpose.

It's also a bit troubling because I consider these quad thread cards as centerpieces of the Threads collection. As a result, I'd like for them to really pop.

What I've learned from this is to ask the player to sign a specific area. If he does, that's great. The card only looks that much better with each signature. If he doesn't, well, then I know it's a conscious effort on his part to be a jerk about it.

Nashville's David Legwand kicked off the card earlier this season. Now, all we need are the Predators' Shea Weber and Steve Sullivan to complete the card.

Team report: Montreal Canadiens II

There was a time, and it wasn't all that long ago, when we could put in nearly a full day of hounding for a team like the Montreal Canadiens. Thanks to a different work schedule, though, we don't get to do that too much any more.

Most of our hounding adventures these days, unless they fall on one of my days off from the paper, are limited to before a team's morning skate. So, when we get a time to hang out, we do the best we can.

After scoring 32 autographs, including 18 on Colin's team sheet, from the Canadiens, I'd say we had a pretty good morning. And given the horror show at game time, when rabid Canadiens fans rushed the bus (or so I was told), I'm glad we were nowhere near that mob scene.

Signing all four pucks we had, shown above, were:

Top row: Brian Gionta and Max Pacorietty; and
Bottom row: Carey Price and P.K. Subban.

Other items we added that morning:

Cards signed by Hal Gill, Roman Hamrlik, Tomas Plekanic and Tom Pyatt; and

more cards, signed by David Desharnais, Brent Sopel and James Wisniewski.

Team report: New Jersey Devils II

All along, I figured it would be only one trip for the New Jersey's Devils' second visit to Hockey Bay during the regular season. Thanks to a quirk within travel schedules, we ended up making two trips for New Jersey.

Colin and I were hounding the Phoenix Coyotes when we heard, on scene at the Westin Harbour Island hotel, that the Devils would be arriving there that same day. Not knowing that (my bad, I'll say), we were caught lacking any specific items for New Jersey's lineup.

Funny thing, we did better, numbers-wise, on the first adventure (14) than on the second, better-prepared trip (10). Beyond the two pucks, shown above, signed by Henrik Tallinder, these were among the autographs we got over the course of the two trips:

Dainius Zubrus and Brian Rolston signed a handful (four) of cards; and

rookie Mark Fayne, a kid from our old stomping grounds of New Hampshire, signed this cheap skate card.

Among the other highlights:

~ Getting Martin Brodeur on a Team Canada puck;
~ Scoring a hat trick from Johan Hedberg; and
~ some quick thinking by Colin.

He's still learning

Proving a point that you don't have to let NHL rookies pass by, here's an instance where I wasn't caught shorthanded for New Jersey's Nick Palmieri. Not only did I have a card from the 2010-11 Score hockey set, but yet another cheap skate card.

I had to ask Palmieri to sign the cheap skate card after signing the Score card during a second trip for the Devils during their recent visit to Hockey Bay.

Most times, NHL rookies, aside from the handful with inflated egos, willingly sign anything you put in front of them. Now, I'm not saying Palmieri is one of those rookies, but, still, it caught me by surprise.

Team report: Phoenix Coyotes

Surprise! No, I didn't make a mistake. This is, in fact, a team report for the Phoenix Coyotes' recent visit to Hockey Bay. Don't be fooled by these three New York Rangers pucks, though. They were all signed by members of the Coyotes organization: Don Maloney, Michal Rozsival and Ulf Samuelsson.

I must admit, however, that I was getting a bit concerned. You see, these were the first three pucks I got signed, out of seven for the day, and I started wondering whether I'd have any that showed the Coyotes logo. Well, I did get at least one Phoenix puck signed:

From left, Mikkel Boedker, Shane Doan and Tyson Nash.

Thankfully, there were no shortage of Coyotes cards, as well as a few other teams, that got signed:

Top row: Eric Belanger, Paul Bissonette, Ilya Bryzgalov and Oliver Ekman-Larsson; and
Bottom row: Martin Hanzal, Lauri Korpikoski, Jason LaBarbera and Derek Morris.

All told, we scored 68 autographs, including 33 cards, in one day from Phoenix. The trip also marked the 25th hounding adventure of the 2010-11 campaign.

It gets better, too. The New Jersey Devils were staying at the same hotel on the same day. Though we were unprepared, we managed to snag a few. Expect those reports next week.

Other highlights, and one downer, from the Coyotes:

~ talking Colin out of drawing a lizard for his team sheet;
~ bragging about getting 20 autographs from five players;
~ making the call to move to silver Sharpies;
~ adding a couple of cards to the Threads project; and
~ using a cheap skate card for David Schlemko.

Two more, please

The Phoenix Coyotes' recent trip to Hockey Bay resulted in another two additions to the Threads collection, this time with Colin getting the honors.

Coyotes captain Shane Doan signed the double-swatch card. Apparently, the black Sharpie was left uncapped for too long, resulting in a pretty thin signature. Still, Doan was nice enough to sign it and, really, an autograph is an autograph.

Mikkel Boedker kicked off another quad-card project. We'll need Peter Mueller, now with the Colorado Avalanche, to complete this side. Los Angeles' Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar are featured on the other side.

Team report: Detroit Red Wings

I really need to learn to keep my mouth shut when it comes to complaining. In a recent e-mail exchange with a fellow hound, I complained that we got "only" 35 autographs from two days of hounding the Detroit Red Wings.

His response, and understandably so, was incredulous: "Oh, you poor thing," or something to that effect. "Complaining that you only got 33 autographs."

You know, I had it coming. Even despite the Red Wings' reputation for being a tough team to hound, there's a certain sense of entitlement whenever a Western Conference team visits Hockey Bay. Most teams come off as willing signers, meaning we routinely come home with more than 60 to 70 autographs.

Given the star power of the lineup, I should've been ecstatic that we scored that many from the Red Wings, including some from the team's bigger names.

So, the lesson has been learned. I'll take what I can get and keep my pie hole shut.

Signing cards, shown above, were:

Top row: Patrick Eaves, Valtteri Filppula and Jimmy Howard;
Bottom row: Jiri Hudler, Jakub Kindl and Drew Miller.

Signing pucks were, from left, Kris Draper, Nicklas Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski.

Other highlights from two days of hounding:

~ Adding the fifth puck to The Yzerman Project;
~ Colin catching up with Joey MacDonald;
~ Having Pavel Datsyuk, Johan Franzen and Tomas Holmstrom deepen the international flavor of our autographed pucks collection; and
~ being thankful for Jimmy Howard.

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.

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.

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.