Sorry, Mr. Al

As Buffalo's Ryan Miller walked up the sidewalk, a flash of guilt struck my conscious. Given the item in my hand, I knew it would be the only item -- a base for McFarlane figure -- that I'd get signed. The only question was whether I'd keep it.

Al, Hound Central 5.0's senior correspondent in Toronto, is one of the very few people we'll get autographs for down here in Hockey Bay. Between all of the the work he's done for this blog and Hockey Hounds Universe, as well as his inspiring, but unsuccessful, attempt to covert Colin to the long-suffering existence of Leafs Nation, it's easy to say "yes" when he sends down the occasional item he'd like for us to get signed.

In one of his recent parcels, Al sent a McFarlane base for Miller. Later, he sent a Miller McFarlane for us, too. So, going into he Sabres recent visit, I faced the prospect of carrying both. That, to me, posed a little bit of a problem.

It's my belief that anytime you offer two same items to a player, you immediately come off as a dealer. After spending as much time as we have cultivating a collection, that's the last thing I wanted to do. And when it comes to the Sabres, I must remain true to my allegiances. Even if it means appearing greedy.

Besides, should both team make the playoffs and ultimately meet in the early rounds, I'll have another chance to get Al's signed. If not, there's always next year.

All things being equal ...

Not that I'm complaining or anything, but I wish Columbus' Rick Nash would have signed this McFarlane base, commemorating Canada's gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics, in a much better spot.

As you can see, his signature means the figurine doesn't sit in the proper position.

To me, the ideal place for Nash's autograph, if you really want to call it that, belongs to the left of his name or above the Team Canada Olympics squad logo.

Am I being too picky? Probably. Really, I should be happy enough that he signed it when the Blue Jackets visited Hockey Bay last week.

Going forward, I'll try to pay more attention when I try to add another two this season -- Chicago's Jonathan Toews and Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby. So far, we have three of the nine-piece set.

Double gold

What's better than getting New Jersey's Martin Brodeur on one piece of sports memorabilia celebrating Canada's gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

How about two items?

Thanks to a father-son tag-team effort, that's exactly what we did when Brodeur, a future Hall of Famer, signed the McFarlane figurine as well as this puck.

For the record, Colin got the McFarlane, planting himself in front of Brodeur at the end of a practice at the Ice Sports Forum in Brandon last Thursday. Fifteen seconds later, if that, Brodeur signed the puck for me.

Though the signatures are the standard roadies offered up by Brodeur, they're certainly nothing to sneeze at. I can help but notice, upon closer review, that each is a bit different.

Interesting, don't you think?

Fits the bill

Because we've had decent luck with Montreal's Carey Price in the past, getting him to sign Canadiens and Tri-City Americans pucks as well as an 8x10 to Colin, it was time to branch out last week and find something else for the young goalie to sign. This McFarlane works, doesn't it?

Price also signed Colin's rock-solid team sheet.

In honor of Olympic gold

Thanks to Al, Hound Central 5.0's senior correspondent in Toronto, we have a new hockey-hounding project to keep us busy over the next few seasons. And thanks to Carolina's Eric Staal, the captain of the Hurricanes, we were able to break the ice, so to speak, with the project.

Not too long ago, Al asked if we were interested in this set of nine members of Canada's 2010 Olympic gold-medal winning squad. Of course, we were, I told him.

Though we live down here in Hockey Bay, where palm trees ( not maple leafs) are part of the hockey landscape, I certainly can appreciate what that special moment in Vancouver meant in the cradle of hockey.

Besides Staal, who else is in the set? Here's who: New Jersey's Martin Brodeur, Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby, San Jose's Dany Heatley, Calgary's Jarome Iginla, Vancouver's Roberto Luongo, Columbus' Rick Nash, San Jose's Joe Thornton and Chicago's Jonathan Toews.

Conditions exist for us to have Brodeur, Crosby, Nash and Toews sign their bases, like Staal did, this season. The others, however, will have to wait until at least the 2011-12 hockey-hounding campaign.

Either way, it'll be no easy feat. Still, though, once we complete the set, the effort will certainly be worth it.

Cleaning up

With the Ottawa Senators being the second-to-last NHL team to visit Hockey Bay during the 2009-10 campaign, it was time to pull out all the stops, so to speak, as Colin and I used a multitude of items -- pucks, cards, photos, a team sheet and even a McFarlane base.

Our efforts, which took us to two hotels (bad intel and laziness on my part) and an upscale mall (our first mall-based hounding in Florida), were rewarded, as we added another 46 autographs, including nine pucks, over two days of hounding the Senators.

Cards, too, made up a sizable component of the haul. Of the 17 we snagged:

Top row: Matt Cullen, Pascal Leclaire and Milan Michalek; and
Bottom row: Chris Neil, Chris Phillips and Jarkko Ruutu.

Among the other items we gathered over the two days of hounding:

Pucks signed by, from left, Brian Elliott, Erik Karlsson and Jason Spezza;

Proof that cards showing players in black jerseys can be used for hounding, as these examples from Mike Fisher, from left, Nick Foligno and Jesse Winchester can attest; and

For good measure, Jason Spezza also signed this McFarlane base.

Other highlights from two days of hounding:

~ Captain Daniel Alfredsson, two days after reaching the 1,000-game mark of his career, signing a pair of Senators pucks;
~ Colin getting in some mall hounding as he worked his team sheet;
~ Jason Spezza and Nick Foligno making a kid's day; and
~ Putting some discounted American Hockey League pucks to good use.

Best of days

Hounding in Toronto is like hounding in most any NHL city. You have your good days, bleeding a blue Sharpie dry. Conversely, you have your bad days, when uncapping a paint pen is a waste of time. If you're lucky, you'll have far more good days than bad.

For Al, Hound Central 5.0's man in Toronto, the month of March had a few good days of hounding. Besides loading up on the Toronto Marlies, the Maple Leafs' top farm club, he snagged a nice array of items from some of the Leafs' new arrivals and their teammates:

Al made sure, as any good hound would do, to make acquaintances with new Leafs defenseman Dion Phaneuf, snagging the pair of 8x10s and a McFarlane base shown above.

Other rewards of Al's efforts:

Blue Sharpie always looks good on a Team Sweden jersey. At least it does on this photo of Jonas Gustavsson, who will soon have his own McFarlane;

It looks pretty good, too, on these 8x10s from Jonas Gustavsson, top, and Jean-Sebastien Giguere;

All Star Game photos, like this one for Jean-Sebestian Giguere, are seldom turned down. An all-expense-paid trip to an NHL city for a weekend of showing off and wide-open hockey? Who wouldn't be happy to remember that?

And, not to be overlooked, 8x10s from Mikhail Grabovski, top, and Francis Beauchemin, shown celebrating the 2007 Stanley Cup championship with the Anaheim Ducks.

Coping skills

You've got to hand it to Al, Hound Central 5.0's affable Toronto-based correspondent. No matter how poorly the hometown Toronto Maple Leafs are playing, he's able to maintain his sense of humor.

His latest gem? A definition of the term "Leafland," another name, I suppose, for Leafs Nation.

"It's the only place in the world," Al says, "where subpar hockey players putting on subpar performances night after night are treated like gods."

Still, though, when you're able to mingle with some of the "gods" and add these items to your collection, it's like that proverbial spoonful of sugar helping a particularly bitter medicine go down:

McFarlanes

A pair from former Leaf Doug Gilmour, who's coaching the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey League;

Goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere; and

Defenseman Luke Schenn.

Pucks

Retro Leafs logo pucks, from left, signed by Mike Komisarek, Nikolai Kulemin and Alexei Ponikarovsky; and

Maple Leafs big logo pucks, from left, signed by Tomas Kaberle, Luke Schenn and Mikhail Grabovski.

Assorted items

Top row: Former Leaf Jason Blake on a McFarlane base and a Team Canada puck signed by Luke Schenn;
Bottom row: Pucks signed by Alexei Ponikarovsky and former Leafs goalie Vesa Toskala;

An 8x10 signed by goalie Jonas Gustavsson;

A Leafs mini helmet signed by Alexei Ponikarovsky, Mikhail Grabovski, Francois Beauchemin, Jeff Finger, Garnet Exelby, Ian White, Tyler Bozak, Matt Stajan, Vesa Toskala, Tomas Kaberle, Wayne Primeau, Nikolai Kulemin, Niklas Hagman and Tyler Bozak; and

The old standby, cards:
Top row: Matt Stajan, John Mitchell, Jamal Mayers and Stajan; and
Bottom row: Niklas Hagman, Lee Stempniak, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Mikhail Grabovski; and

Top row: Jeff Finger, Vesa Toskala, Nikolai Kulemin and Colton Orr; and
Bottom row: Tomas Kaberle, Francois Beauchemin and Luke Schenn.

Intel

The Leafs players seemed to enjoy signing team items like the helmet, as opposed to the photos, pucks and cards that other hounds and dealers throw in front of them ... Phil Kessel is a waste of time, too, signing only a couple of items for one or two people, mostly young women, before taking off.

A pleasant surprise, indeed

When Al, Hound Central 5.0's correspondent in Toronto, said he had a "surprise" for Colin and me, I figured it had something to do with Toronto Maple Leafs legend and Hall of Fame goalie Johnny Bower. After all, Al had seen the living legend earlier that day at a signing show.

What I didn't know was that it would be this sweet McFarlane's SportsPick figurine, from the NHL Legends Series 6, and the goalie's letter-perfect autograph and inscription.

All Colin and I can say, Al, is thank you. Someday, too, we hope to return the favor. In the meantime, sir, please know that it has a place of honor in one of our display cases.