My 2010-11 NHL awards picks

Hart Memorial Trophy (MVP): Marty St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning
Vezina Trophy (best goalie): Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins
James Norris Memorial Trophy (best defenseman): Shea Weber, Nashville Predators
Calder Memorial Trophy (top rookie): Jeff Skinner, Carolina Hurricanes
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy (gentlemanly conduct): Marty St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning
Frank J. Selke Trophy (top defensive forward): Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks
Jack Adams Award (top coach): Guy Boucher, Tampa Bay Lightning (yes, I know he's not a finalist)
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy (dedication, perseverance and sportsmanship): Ray Emery, Anaheim Ducks (pretty weak field, too)
Ted Lindsay Award (players' MVP): Daniel Sedin, Vancouver Canucks

The thrill of victory

At practices Monday and Wednesday, Colin wore his Bruins Patrice Bergeron jersey, taking some ribbing from his teammates who, suddenly, were Vancouver Canucks fans. Well, after Boston's 4-0 victory Wednesday night, it looks like the Hockey Gods have once again smiled upon Colin.

At game's end, Colin donned his Bergeron jersey again and lofted a Stanley Cup in celebration. "I have a lifelong right for bragging now," Colin told me.

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.

Returning the favor

A few weeks ago, Moody asked Colin help him get Hall of Fame goalie Tony Esposito on more than one item, a sweet black-and-white 16x20 photo from his younger days. Seeing that we had only one item for Tony O, it was a pretty easy call.

Last week, Moody returned the favor, getting New York's Michael Grabner, as pleasant a surprise as there has been this season, to sign these four cards when the New York Islanders came calling to Hockey Bay.

Adding up

Though hockey hounds often use nineboards when getting cards signed, we're happy, for a number of reasons, with offering only four cards at a time. It has nothing to do with not wanting to be greedy because, yes, we like getting as many autographs as we can.

Instead, I like using a compact card book, one that fits easily into a pocket. Even moreso, I don't want to take the time involved in not just putting together nineboards, but actually working that many cards for players.

Another reason, especially this season, is the cardbook is easier for Colin to handle. After last week's visit by the Atlanta Thrashers, he has a significant number of reasons why he's finding cardbooks useful.

All told, he scored 47 autographs from Thrashers players, including these five who signed all four cards he offered:

Forwards Nik Antropov and Evander Kane;

forward Bryan Little and goalie Chris Mason; and

defenseman Brent Sopel.

Editor's note: This is the 500th post of Hound Central 5.0. Special thanks to those who've helped out and to our faithful readers.

Handy items

When it comes to training camps, there's no limit to the items that hockey hounds can get signed. Beyond 8x10s and cards, as well as a handful of pucks, jersey swatch cards are one of the first items to make the wish list.

Over the past week, Tampa Bay's Adam Hall, Mike Lundin and Marc-Antoine Pouliot added to our growing Threads collection, one of Hound Central 5.0's primary projects for the 2010-11 hockey-hounding campaign.

While Hall and Pouliot signed individual cards, Lundin kicked off a work-in-progress project featuring NHL defensemen. Only after Atlanta's Tobias Enstrom, Dallas' Matt Niskanen and Vancouver's Kevin Bieska sign it will the 2 on 2 Jerseys card, part of the 2008-09 NHL MVP set, be complete.

Enstrom and Niskanen are scheduled to visit Hockey Bay this season. Bieska, a reported toughie on hounds, will have to wait until the Canucks return to Florida.

Stockpiling material

One of the more enjoyable projects during the 2009-10 hockey hounding campaign was adding to the Threads collection of signed jersey swatch cards. Though we'll be scaling back during the 2010-11 season, in terms of items and trips, continuing this project will represent a major part of our efforts.

Thanks to eBay, I've been cherry-picking some jersey swatch cards over the past few weeks, adding to the inventory. As you can see, some fairly big names, including Buffalo's Ryan Miller, Hall of Famer Joey Mullen, Ottawa's Jason Spezza and Florida's (for how long?) Tomas Vokoun were part of the haul.

A couple of cards from the 2009-10 MVP Two on Two quad memorabilia series have also made the 2010-11 campaign lineup:

The top card of the two shown, featuring younger NHL defensemen, won't get completed this season as Vancouver and reputed toughie Kevin Bieksa won't travel to Hockey Bay this season.

The bottom card, showing members of Nashville's 2009-10 roster, will get worked in October, when the Predators play the Tampa Bay Lightning, but will have to wait until Jason Arnott and his New Jersey teammates hit Hockey Bay in January to be completed.

To the defense

In nothing more than sheer coincidence, it's a bit amusing, if you ask me, that three of the five Phoenix Coyotes who signed multiple pucks earlier this week were defensemen. Perhaps it's because they're more grounded and less prone to shameful acts of self-importance.

Following that line of thinking, let's just say that most NHL defensemen are the consummate team players. Most aren't afraid to get their noses dirty, stick up for their teammates and, as you can see, sign more than one puck at a time.

For that, I'm grateful to these three players, from top: Adrian Aucoin, Ed Jovanovski and Zybnek Michalek.

Custom work

Editor's note: Please allow Hound Central 5.0 to introduce Brett, one of the blog's most faithful readers and commenters, a very talented custom card maker (they look better than those produced by major companies, don't you think?) and owner of My Hockey Card Obsession blog.

Here, Brett, who hails from Alberta, shares his passion for the hobby as well as his talent for designing cards:

Brett's custom cards

I absolutely love custom cards. I enjoy making them and I enjoy seeing what other people come up with.

For me, custom card making started probably five years ago. I was a regular on the "Beckett boards" and noticed one guy constantly posting custom cards. My mind just started racing from there. One day, this guy decided to hold a custom card making contest for fun. People would make a card and we would go head-to-head with another designer (kind of like the playoffs). The other board members would vote for a winner and a few rounds later -- we had a champion.

At first, my skills were pretty slim, but with each card I made, I saw improvement. Eventually, I won a couple rounds. One time, I even won the whole contest.

I delved into the "retro" cards. Taking an old OPC design and putting a current player into it. I've seen many people try it, but only a few were at a level that I thought "this looks bang on ... you can't tell that it's a custom." I'm happy with the ones I have made, but the retros never really quenched my thirst for customs.

One of the other advantages to customs is you can make your own sets. The ideas and concepts were (and still are) aplenty. I started with the "Ultimate Masks" set as I am a huge fan of the goalie mask (especially the old fibreglass ones). Eventually, I'd like to send some off through the mail as I think they would make a great-looking card.

I've also developed a "Flashback Autographs" set or "FA Authentic" as I like to call them. I want it to span not just hockey or sports, but pop culture in the 1980s. Along with this Curly Neal card, I've made a Mr. T card and a Marc Singer (star of the 80s miniseries V). I'm excited to send those off as well.

At the start of this season, I tried making a set featuring a card for every day of the regular season. A hectic work schedule and the holidays have put me too far back and I'm going to have to abandon the set. I'm hoping to do something along the same lines during the playoffs.

Most recently, I have been working on a set that I have wanted to do for over a year now. I was lucky enough to be at the game where Trevor Linden's jersey was retired. I thought it would be cool to create a set of cards commemorating his career. There will be 16 cards in the set (his jersey number). I'm about half done with the fronts, but am hoping to upgrade on some of the photos.

Recently, I have had a couple people ask if I could do some cards for them. One person even sent me some autographs he got when he was a kid. The big one was Maurice "The Rocket" Richard (shown at top). I've finished a couple, including this one of Jean-Guy Talbot , and have got them printed and cut.

I'm really happy with the way they turned out and am excited to continue on with them. This guy also had a ticket stub from one of The Beatles' final concerts ever. As you can see, I created a card that enshrines the ticket stub.

As you can see, I love making custom cards. For me, for others. ... I've even got my 11-year old niece into it. We've designed a template for some Twilight cards (her favorite movie). We're hoping to get some cards out in the mail this year and hopefully we can snag some autos.

Moody's Olympics Gold: Team Sweden

Team Sweden won its last gold medal in 2006 at the last Olympiad held in Torino, Italy. Of the 23-man roster, I've managed to get 16 players from the NHL-rich squad.

Cards signed by some of Team Sweden's players:

Top row: Atlanta's Tobias Enstrom, New York's Henrik Lundquist, Columbus' Fred Modin, Tampa's Mattias Ohlund; and
Bottom row: Vancouver's Henrik and Daniel Sedin, Bufalo's Henrik Tallinder and Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg.

More cards signed by Team Sweden players:

Top row: Detroit's Johan Franzen, Dallas' Loui Eriksson; and
Bottom row: Nashville's Patric Hornqvist, Detroit's Niklas Kronwall, and Washington's Nicklas Backstrom.

San Jose's Doug Murray

Ottawa's Daniel Alfredsson stadium poster

Toronto's Jonas Gustavsson.

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

Moody's Olympics Gold: Team Canada

Team Canada won its last gold medal in 2002, but failed to medal in the last Olympiad, earning only a seventh-place finish. Of the 23-man roster, I've managed to get 21 players from the NHL-rich squad, only missing out on Philadelphia's Mike Richards (kinda) and Dallas' Brenden Morrow

Cards signed by some of Team Canada's forwards:

Top row: Anaheim's Corey Perry, Columbus' Rick Nash, San Jose's Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatley; and
Bottom row: Calgary's Jarome Iginla, Anaheim's Ryan Getzlaf, Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby and Boston's Patrice Bergeron.

More cards signed by Team Canada players:

Top row: Philadelphia's Chris Pronger, Anaheim's Scott Niedermayer, Chicago's Duncan Keith and Los Angeles' Drew Doughty; and
Bottom row: San Jose's Dan Boyle, Chicago's Jonathan Toews, San Jose's Joe Thornton and Carolina's Eric Staal

Even more cards signed by Team Canada players:

Top row: Vancouver's Roberto Luongo; and
Bottom row: Pittsburgh's Marc-Andre Fleury, New Jersey's Martin Brodeur, Nashville's Shea Weber and Chicago's Brent Seabrook.

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

Concerning Richards, I do have an autograph from him. Unfortunately, though, it's on a wrong card.

Well, that was different

Thanks to Vancouver's Darcy Hordichuk and Mason Raymond, a handful of Hockey Bay hounds witnessed one of the funniest attempts to discourage us Wednesday. As you can see, however, it didn't work.

Hordichuk and Raymond were headed to practice, walking along the Riverwalk in Tampa, when they noticed us mobilizing our forces, so to speak, before asking for their autographs. Rather than simply keep walking, the pair sat down on a bench, side by side, and Hordichuk threw his arm across Raymond's shoulders.

After a few moments, they got up and started walking again. We didn't fall for the ruse. We knew who they were. Much to our bewilderment, though, they did it again, stopping at the next bench and sitting down. Hordichuk again threw an arm across Raymond's shoulders.

They soon realized that we weren't going away. "We thought you wouldn't think we were hockey players." Hordichuk told us, drawing a laugh and a few comments from the crowd.

Sorry, guys, but it didn't work, as I added 40 signatures over two hounding adventures from the Canucks. But it did make for a good story, didn't it?

Among those signing pucks, shown above, were:

Top row: Steve Bernier, Alex Burrows (a strict one-per, if you can imagine that) and Alexander Edler; and
Bottom row: Shane O'Brien, Mason Raymond and Henrik Sedin.

Those signing Canucks cards were:

Top row: Steve Bernier, Alexander Edler and Jannik Hansen; and
Bottom row: Mason Raymond, Sami Salo and Kyle Wellwood.

Also signing cards were:

Top row: Christian Ehrhoff, Ryan Johnson and Shane O'Brien; and
Bottom row: Andrew Raycroft, Rick Rypien and Mikael Samuelsson.

Shane O'Brien, our favorite Portland Pirates player, signed the work-in-progress Pirates practice jersey, too.

The other highlights of the two hounding adventures:

~ Goalie Roberto Luongo on a Canucks big logo puck;
~ Twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin on Sweden souvenir pucks; and
~ Forward Ryan Kesler on a U.S.A. souvenir puck.

Rained out

Before Thursday's morning skate, Vancouver's Roberto Luongo told Hockey Bay hounds, including myself, that he'd sign on his way back to the tam's hotel. Unfortunately, a steady rain kept the Canucks goalie from keeping his word.

I'm especially thankful, then, that he signed this puck Wednesday, before the team held an afternoon practice at the St. Pete Times Forum.

He's a big star now

It wasn't all that long ago, that Vancouver's Ryan Kesler didn't bat an eyelash at signing more than one item. A lot, I have to say, has changed since then.

Like Canucks teammate Kyle Wellwood, Kesler took part in the 2005 American Hockey League All Star Classic in Manchester, N.H.

Over the course of the two-day event, Kesler signed a trio of pucks and a game program as his folks, who flew into town for the weekend, watched with big, warm smiles.

On Wednesday, I was happy to have him sign this U.S.A. souvenir puck for me. Earlier today, though, I was left wondering why he wouldn't sign a single autograph for anyone, saying that he'd already signed for everyone.

Excuse me, young man, but that wasn't the case. There were a few people who, indeed, didn't make it out Wednesday. The majority, too, weren't dealers. Hard to believe, isn't it, that he couldn't spare 60 seconds to sign maybe a dozen more autographs?

Good sport

The last time we saw Vancouver's Kyle Wellwood, he was standing in a Manchester, N.H., hotel lobby, checking in the day before the 2005 American Hockey League All Star Classic.

The Missus, God love her, was kidding him about his spiky hair, giving him a little grief about the amount of gel had had in it.

Nearly five years later, I caught up with him Wednesday, during the first of two trips to hound the Canucks during their stay in Hockey Bay. His hair, beyond being a bit shorter, hadn't changed much.

After sharing the story of our first meeting, I couldn't resist this: "You're lucky my wife isn't here," I told him. "She'd likely give you the same hard time she gave you back in Manchester."

He laughed, just like he did five years ago.

Three on one

After Vancouver's Sami Salo signed this puck earlier today (the signature on the far left), I realized there was ample room to add a few more signatures. Within minutes, fellow Canucks' defensemen Christian Ehrhoff (top) and Alexander Edler completed the hat trick.

This better be easy

Can you guess what pair of Swedish twins signed this pair of pucks earlier today before Vancouver Canucks practiced at the St. Pete Times Forum? See, I told you it was easy.

Sunday morning homily XIX

Had an interesting conversation take place last week regarding the practice of "double-dipping."

Al, Hound Central 5.0's man in Toronto, wrote that after new Leafs goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere said he would be signing only one-per for everyone, Al looped around, got in line again and scored a second 8x10 from the goalie.

Not long after the post went up, a reader from New Jersey filed an anonymous comment asking why, if Giguere said only one-per, did Al get a second autograph, possibly ruining it for others. A fair question, I believed. I must admit, too, that I wondered whether that specific passage would draw a comment.

Al's response makes perfect sense. One, he's not a dealer, so it's not like he made an extra $5 or so on his return trip. Two, if Giguere most likely recognized Al and truly had a problem with it, he could have said "no." One would think that the ability to focus on a blazing blip of rubber correlates to the ability remember the same face in a manner of seconds or, say, a minute, especially given Al's mug (Sorry, sir).

You'll also note that Al got different pictures signed, including one of Giguere accepting the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2003.

Furthermore, I've yet to meet any hound -- save for one prissy fellow who often brings his mother along on hounding trips -- who hasn't double-dipped on a favorite player, superstar or highly touted rookie. I know I have. I'm sure most of you have as well.

To me, it's not a big deal. In a way, hockey-hounding is like as smorgasbord. If you didn't get a full belly on your first trip through the line, you make another trip for a second plate. Part of Hound Central 5.0's mission is the sharing of information. That's why the "intel" tag appears on so many posts.

Season 2

After a two-week delay, Colin begins his second rec hockey league season today in Ellenton, Fla. We're hoping, too, that the extra skating he's done over the past month -- including marathon 2 1/2 hour sessions (of his own choosing) -- will pay off in improved play.

Sure, he's still having trouble stopping on both sides, but he's much better doing clockwise crossovers -- forward and backward. His stickhandling and passing can only get better, too. But, at 8 years old, he's taken great strides since his first skating lessons in 2007.

That's why I can't wait for today's games. Yes, I'd like to see him employ some of the defensive strategies we've practiced and remember to watch the referee's fingers, not just his hand movements, on faceoffs. More than anything, though, it's about him having more fun this season. Win or lose, that's why he plays the game.

In case you missed it ...

I should have given this post much more airtime before burying it under an avalanche of Islanders' hounding reports, but there's a line within the 2005 collective bargaining agreement between the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players' Association that should be of interest to hounds.

5 Big Sigs

Big doings this week with the Vancouver Canucks and the Boston Bruins headed down here to Hockey Bay. Seeing that it's the Bruins' second trip of the season, and I missed Vancouver's last trip to Florida, we'll concentrate our efforts on the Canucks:

~ Vancouver's Daniel and Henrik Sedin on Canucks and Sweden souvenir pucks;
~ Vancouver's Roberto Luongo on a couple of different Canucks pucks;
~ Vancouver's Shane O'Brien on the Portland Pirates practice jersey;
~ Boston's Marco Sturm on a 2010 Winter Classic and Germany souvenir pucks; and
~ Boston's Mark Recchi and Steve Begin on NHL practice pucks they flipped to Colin during warm-ups when they played the Tampa Bay Lightning in December.

Top Shelf: Arturs Irbe

Younger hockey hounds may not remember former NHL goalie Arturs Irbe. I do, though, as he was among the first two dozen NHL players to provide the foundation of our 2000-plus autographed puck collection.

Back in 1996-97, after the Hartford Whalers headed south to North Carolina, Irbe was a consistent and friendly signer among the Hurricanes. As a result of that and his inspired play, the diminutive Latvian became one of my favorite NHL players. And now, some 14 years later, little has changed.

Not only did Irbe, the Washington Capitals' goaltending coach, sign these three pucks yesterday, but "Archie" was also gracious enough to reminisce a bit about those days when the Hurricanes played their home games at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Much respect

I was surprised to see this one so quickly in the mail today when I made my daily trip to the "bill box." I was more than happy to see my two set cards signed boldly in blue.

As I emptied the envelope, I realized there were a couple of additional photos. Tracy Pratt, tough guy of the 1960s and '70s, added a photo of himself in a Sabres uniform as well as a photo of his Hall of Fame father, Babe Pratt.

As I have said before, the old timers have a completely different respect for their fans than today's players.

On a side note, of the 200 requests I have sent to former players this season, I've received 115 back.