Finding some room

He sure didn't have a lot of room to sign this mini-jersey, but Carolina Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward did the best he could. It's tucked in, right next to his number 30.

After having Ward sign many pucks, cards, photos, goalie masks, a Lowell Lock Monsters jersey and a couple of sticks, there isn't much left for him to sign for us.

Thanks, Easter Bunny

So, what did Colin do with the Stephen Weiss jersey that the Easter Bunny left for him earlier this month. Really, now, do you have to ask? Of course, he had his favorite Florida Panthers player sign it for him.

Since then, Colin's worn it to practice, drawing admiration and questions from his teammates. Hopefully, the signature will withstand washings.

Weiss, one of the nicest players in the league, also signed an 8x10 of he and Colin, taken during an earlier visit to Hockey Bay.

Top Shelf: Vinny Lecavalier

Provided you arrive early enough -- as in 90 minutes, at the least -- a promotional signing is a hockey fan's best friend. It's one-on-one access in an autograph-happy environment. Like little else in life, it's a sure thing.

But when one of these signing sessions involves one of the game's big names, well, as a hockey hound, you take full advantage of the situation. That's exactly what Colin and I did Wednesday afternoon for Tampa Bay's Vinny Lecavalier.

The Lightning captain, at a Champs store at International Plaza with teammate Alex Tanguay, was throwing down some pretty nice signatures, as these items, including a well-worn Lecavalier Bolts third jersey personalized at Colin's request, will attest:

Just a couple days ago, I stumbled upon this card tin for Vinny at a local Target. Different enough, I believe, to get signed. Did you notice, like Colin did, that the hockey pants are dark blue, instead of the normal black?

And, for good measure, he also signed these two cards.

Four nice signatures in less than a minute? Certainly worth our wait.

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

Bruins bonus

Thanks to Chris, one of Hockey Bay's ablest hounds, we added a couple of autographs from Hall of Famer Gerry Cheevers moments before going into Thursday's game between the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Cheevers, the former Bruins goalie known for his stitch-marked mask, was in town for an in-game signing session and was making his way to the St. Pete Times Forum. After being tipped off to Cheevers' presence and proximity, as well as being loaned a Sharpie (I'd put away my hounding bag for the night), we caught up with him along a walkway.

Sitting on a bench by himself, as groups of hockey fans walked past in wonder who was this man signing autographs, Cheevers signed Colin's 2010 Winter Classic Tim Thomas replica jersey, above, as well as on the spoked-B logo of my Bruins Vintage Hockey series jersey.

Growing Monarchy

We've had a bit of a run on the AHL Manchester Monarchs practice jersey. Less than a week after getting Anaheim's George Parros to sign it, New York Islanders players Jeff Tambellini (far left) and Matt Moulson (bottom right) added to the work-in-progress project Thursday.

Parros' signature is above one from Los Angeles' Dustin Brown.

For the rest of the season, we can hope to add the Rangers' Brian Boyle, Carolina's Joe Corvo and Tim Gleason, Phoenix's Jason Labarbera and Buffalo's Adam Mair.

Random sample

It shouldn't come as a surprise that Anaheim's George Parros, one of the NHL's premier tough guys, is a highly sought-after autograph. I suppose, then, that's why he was shooting down some requests before Friday's morning skate.

I must have been one of the lucky ones, though, using a bit of name-dropping when I asked if he'd sign this AHL Manchester Monarchs practice jersey, a team he played for when he was in the Los Angeles Kings organization.

"A Monarchs' jersey?" he asked. "Sure."

For the record, another former Monarchs player, Denis Grebeshkov, signed the jersey when Edmonton visited Hockey Bay in December.

A mighty effort

Colin may have had some trouble working a team sheet for the Anaheim ducks, but he absolutely nailed his old Anaheim Mighty Ducks jersey before Friday's game, getting 22 members of the organization to sign it. Not a single player or coach he asked, including Randy Carlyle, Ryan Getzlaf, Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Saku Koivu and Corey Perry -- didn't take the time to honor his request.

The only big name he missed was Teemu Selanne, but I believe Colin didn't mind all that much.

They know Salty Pete

Because the AHL's Portland Pirates have been affiliated with three NHL organizations over the past few years -- the Washington Capitals, Anaheim Ducks and Buffalo Sabres -- there's quite a few former players who can sign this practice jersey depicting the club's mascot, Salty Pete.

Last Friday, with the Anaheim Ducks in town, four former Pirates signed it, from left, Ryan Getzlaf, Bobby Ryan (on the red glove), Steve Eminger and Corey Perry (the faint scribble).

Pirates bounty

Given the sometime revolving door of affiliation of American Hockey League teams, one would think this Portland Pirates practice jersey would be loaded with signatures by now. Since 2004-05, when I began following the team during the NHL lockout, the Washington Capitals Anaheim Ducks and, these days, the Buffalo Sabres have sent their top prospects to Maine for seasoning.

Unfortunately, it's remained something of an afterthought, though it's been getting a bit more attention this season. Through early December it's gained another five signatures to it, matching the entire output of the 2008-09 campaign.

To date, the former Portland Pirates to sign, from left, are: Edmonton's Ladislav Smid (during the 2009-10 campaign), Tampa Bay's Zenon Konopka (2009-10), Colorado's Brian Willsie (2009-10), Edmonton's Dustin Penner (2009-10), Tampa Bay's Jeff Halpern (2008-09), Washington's Alex Semin (2008-09), then-Tampa Bay's Matt Pettinger (2008-09), Washington's Tomas Fleischmann (2008-09), then-Columbus' Aaron Rome (2008-09) and San Jose's Kent Huskins (2009-10).

Here's the wish list for the rest of the 2009-10 campaign: Anaheim's Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan, Buffalo's Nathan Gerbe, Calgary's Curtis Glencross, Montreal's (not Philadelphia's) Glen Metropolit, the Islanders Brendan Witt, the Rangers' PA Parenteau, Ottawa's Ryan Shannon, Vancouver's Shane O'Brien (our favorite Pirates player) and Washington's Brooks Laich.

Predictable? Perhaps

Part of the beauty of cherry-picking autographs is looking for specific players to sign specific items. In some cases, I'm able to take it a step further. I did just that Monday, getting Colorado captain Adam Foote to sign the Bigfoot shoulder patch on my Avalanche jersey. I've seen other hounds/fans have Foote sign there and thought it was a heckuva idea.

Foote joins Avalanche legend Joey Sakic, who signed the jersey two seasons ago.

Prime spot

Sure, it would've been nice to get, say, Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux to sign the top of the Canada crest of our Team Canada jersey.

Instead, I had Los Angeles' Ryan Smyth, known as "Captain Canada," sign in the spot of honor before the Kings' game against the Tampa Bay Lightning last week. he joins New Jersey's Martin Brodeur, left, and Boston Bruins' legend and Hall of Famer Cam Neely.

There's still room, too, for a few notable players, don't you think? who knows, maybe Steve Yzerman, who's leading Canada's 2010 Olympic efforts, will be in town over the next week or so.

Earlier, Nick Schultz, a defenseman for the Minnesota Wild, signed the work-in-progress jersey. Being a part of two gold-medal-winning World Championship squads certainly made him worthy of inclusion.

He'll be there

With USA Hockey working toward building a competitive team for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, I think it's a safe bet that Los Angeles' Dustin Brown, who signed the Team USA jersey last week when the Kings were in town, will be part of the roster. That's his signature to the left of Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller's autograph.

Nothing minor about these

Having lived in New England, a hotbed for American Hockey League teams, it was easy to get my hands on Monarchs memorabilia. Because we lived in New Hampshire, the Verizon Wireless Arena, home to the Los Angeles Kings' AHL affiliate Manchester Monarchs, was a regular stop.

It was during one of these stops that I scored, for a mere $25, a team-issued and practice-used goalie jersey. As a result, it entered the hounding inventory. Last week, with the Kings in town to play the Tampa Bay Lightning, it went back into circulation.

Joining Mathieu Garon (far left, off the logo) and Richard Petiot (middle of silver part of logo), who both signed it last season, were right winger Dustin Brown (on the black of the left side of the logo), goalie Erik Ersberg (top on silver part of logo) and goalie Jonathan Quick (below Petiot's signature).

Signing this Monarchs mini stick last week were, from left, Jonathan Quick, Dustin Brown and Erik Ersberg.

Back in rotation

San Jose's Joe Thornton became the first NHL player this season to sign the work-in-progress Team Canada jersey, adding the 24th signature Wednesday to one of Hound Central's favorite items.

Jerseys like this provide another platform to snag autographs from the game's top players one you've gotten your fill of cards, photos and pucks. Many of Hockey Bay's hounds work similar national items, primarily Sweden, Czech Republic, Finland and Russia jerseys.

Besides this Team Canada jersey, I'll be working USA Hockey and Slovakian jerseys this season.

Completing the Team Canada hat trick, so to speak, on Thursday were:

defenseman Rob Blake; and

forward Patrick Marleau.

Door prize winner

Besides having the opportunity to ask Tampa Bay's Mattias Ohlund and Matt Walker questions during the Lightning's Unplugged event and score some autographs, the biggest draw for the event were some pretty neat door prizes -- tickets to next Thursday's home opener against New Jersey, autographed hats and T-shirts and jerseys signed by the guests of honor.

As you can see, we won one of the door prizes -- an autographed Ohlund Lightning replica jersey.