Team report: New York Islanders

On NHL teams, there are two types of players -- those who won't are reluctant to sign and those who willingly oblige requests. Thankfully, Doug Weight, the captain of the New York Islanders, is one of the latter, as these three pucks are proof-positive that he has no problem signing multiple items.

I'll be honest here, too, that was the primary reason for heading out to hound the Islanders last week. Though I'm trying to scale back on my hockey-hounding efforts this season (yeah, right), I couldn't pass up this opportunity to add to the collection.

Let me be clear, though, that these weren't the only items signed. All told, Colin and I racked up 36 autographs, including 13 pucks, from the Islanders. Others signing pucks were Trevor Gillies, Michael Grabner, Zenon Konopka and Mike Mottau.

Among those signing cards included, from left, Josh Bailey, Blake Comeau, Trent Hunter and Dwayne Roloson.

Other highlights:

~ John Tavares signing a Team Canada puck and Nino Niederreiter, taken fifth overall at the 2010 draft, signing three pucks;
~ Isles' color commentator Butch Goring on two pucks; and
~ Colin adding 15 Islanders to a team sheet.

Don't forget them

I'll admit that I haven't paid much attention to scoring autographs from team-related personnel, as in assistant coaches or broadcasters, over the past few hockey-hounding campaigns.

Going forward, though, I'll be placing a greater emphasis on these former NHL players as a way to turn decent days into good days. In this case, it was color commentator Butch Goring, who won four Stanley Cups in four years with the New York Islanders, who caught my attention.

Thanks, too, to Brett, a fellow Hockey Bay hound, for getting the old-school Los Angeles Kings puck signed for me. I was too pooped to chase Goring three blocks to get it signed. As a token of my appreciation, I gave Brett an unsigned puck to use for Goring when the Islanders return in March 2011.

Why stop now?

For the past two-plus seasons, Colin has employed his hand-drawn team sheets to load up on autographs from NHL players. This season is no different. Take this one for the New York Islanders, for instance.

In less than 45 minutes, Colin added 15 autographs from Islanders players, including captain Doug Weight, Rick DiPietro, Nino Niederreitter, Matt Moulson, James Wisniewski, Blake Comeau and Frans Nielsen.

The Hockey Life

After the past couple of years of dysfunctional ownership, rumors of trading away Vinny Lecavalier and general discontent among a dwindling fan base, the Tampa Bay Lightning are bending over backwards to sell the sport of hockey to the next generation of fans.

Reaching out to the Hockey Bay youth hockey community, the team's charitable foundation is offering Lightning Made Hockey Clinics over the course of the 2010-11 season. Last Wednesday, Colin, shown front and center in the photo above, took part in the first clinic of the season, spending an hour on an NHL rink at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa.

Led by former Lightning star Brian Bradley, these clinics are much more than gentle twirls around the ice. It's fast, hard laps around a big rink. It's one-on-one drills that combine speed, skill and determination. It's passing to, and getting passes from, Lightning great Dave Andreychuk.

Bottom line, it's a big deal for these kids, who all received jerseys from the team, to take part in one of these clinics. If the Lightning are selling the game, it's safe to say we're buying.

A proud moment

I know it's rec hockey and Colin's my son, but you would've had a hard time finding prouder parents last night at the Clearwater Ice Arena than yours truly and The Missus.

In the second game of Colin's hockey doubleheader with the Pinellas Police Athletic League Stars, our pest-in-training scored on his first-ever penalty shot. Thankfully, The Missus had the camera taping the historic event in Colin's young hockey career.

Reaching out

One Hockey Bay Hound tweeted the New York Islanders' Matt Moulson just after arriving at the team's hotel Wednesday night, asking him if he would come down and sign some autographs.

Much to the hound's surprise, Moulson tweeted back, saying he'd be down in a few minutes. Sure enough, Moulson showed up. And, yes, he signed.

Line of the week

"You want me to sign on my face?"
Dallas Stars' Matt Niskanen, when presented with a MVP 2 on 2 Jerseys card featuring four NHL defensemen.

Sunday morning homily IX

It never ceases to amaze me, really, when the Hockey Gods cast their gaze upon us. Sometimes, it's a sequence of events that lead to an unexpected outcome -- good or bad. Mostly, though, it's how our hockey fortunes provide lessons in life.

Take these two instances from last week, when we found ourselves watching morning skates for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning:

~ Colin, on a week of Thanksgiving vacation, would join me in hounding the Loafs. But a nearly flat tire (resulting in a trip to a tire dealership and a bill) and a steady morning rain threatened to wash us out. Thankfully, though, the day turned out much better. Not only were we able to get in and watch the Loafs skate, but Colin scored an autographed goalie stick from Joey MacDonald.

The lesson: Don't let adversity -- real, meteorological or imagined -- keep you from trying. Only through effort comes reward.

~ Two days later, while most of the world is snapping up holiday shopping bargains, we find ourselves back inside the St. Pete Times Forum, watching the Lightning during an open morning skate. Moody's there with his two daughters, one of whom is Lightning rookie James Wright's biggest fan. At the close of practice, Wright, ever the charmer, skates over and tosses pucks to each girl. Colin, on the other hand, doesn't get one and starts to pout.

The lesson: Let others revel in their wonderful hockey moments and, more importantly, remember other's generosity toward you.

Making change

Here's a story from Chris, Hound Central 5.0's Big Apple correspondent, who was in Hockey Bay on Friday hounding his favorite team, the New York Rangers:

"A dealer walks up to New York's Sean Avery and asks for an autograph. Avery tells him, "I'm not going to help you make money." The dealer says "I'm a huge fan and collector." Avery responds "OK, I will sign for $30 Mr. Big Fan."

"So, the dealer asks, "You got change for a $50?" as he jokingly pulls out a $50 bill. Avery pulls out a $20 bill, rips the $50 bill out of the dealer's hand, signs, gives him the change and walks off."

"Later, before the game, Avery comes out of the hotel to put his bags on the team bus. He does the head shake for no autographs, of course. The crowd then erupts into a "30 bucks" chant."

"Avery looks around, smiles and goes into the bus."

Pretty funny stuff, if you ask me. I wish I could've been there to see it.

5 Big Sigs

It'll be an interesting week in the days ahead. The Goofy Dudes sandwich a couple hounding adventures between a train ride north for a few days. Here's what we're hoping to add from the Colorado Avalanche and New York Islanders:

~ Colorado's Adam Foote on Quebec Nordiques puck;
~ Colorado's Milan Hejduk and Marek Svatos on Czech Republic and Slovakia souvenir pucks, respectively;
~ Colorado's Matt Duchene on an Avalanche puck;
~ New York's John Tavares, a reputed tough sig, on Colin's team sheet; and
~ New York goalie coach Mike Dunham on a Threads project card.

Twice as much fun

It's not really news that Hockey Bay hounds are pulling in record numbers this season. Nine-boards are turning into a common practice and the surprise of completing one has diminished.

But what do you do with those pesky dual-player cards that typically get shuffled to the bottom of the stack? Well, I take on the challenge of putting two or three signatures across them. I like them more because they aren't a "one-and-done" task. They aren't a team project that you can afford to move on without one or two players.

In other words, the job's not done until all the players have signed. These examples from various sets were typically completed within two years or less for each one.

From Hall of Famers to juniors, stars to semi-stars, you can toss in an Olympian or even (dare I say it) ... a girl. That's what I love about these cards -- the diversity. The next time you are running through you cards for the next hounding trip, think about the rarity of dual-signed cards and the challenge of getting one completed on your own.

This two-sided jersey card of former Boston Bruins teammates Sergei Samsonov and "Jumbo" Joe Thornton is one of my favorites. I got Thornton to sign his side of the card in Detroit at a sports card show in 2002. The card and my mini-project was finally completed in 2008, when Samsonov and the Carolina Hurricanes stormed through Tampa Bay.