A truly Wild day

It took an all-day team effort Saturday, but Hound Central 4.0 posted its first 50-plus-autograph day of the 2008-09 NHL season when the Minnesota Wild traveled to Humidity Bay to play the Lightning. From pucks to cards to a jersey and a right-handed goalie catching glove, the 51 autographs we added that day set a benchmark for the rest of the season.

As usual, we had our best luck with the Wild's bigger names before and after the team's morning skate. Time after time, this represents the best opportunity to get your items signed. Expect crowds, too -- there were at least 20 people waiting on the Wild that morning.

Still, though, when you post numbers like we did, it's hard to complain about much. Here's a breakdown of our day-long hounding adventure:

~ 26 cards, including four each from Marc-Andre Bergeron, Andrew Brunette, Kim Johnsson and Nick Schultz, as well as a 2007-08 AHL Top Prospects card of Cal Clutterbuck (what a great name, eh?) , who had been called up the day before;
~ 20 pucks, including three each from Eric Belanger and Bergeron;
~ Colin's hand-drawn team sheet, which we count as a single item, though it has 20 signatures;
~ Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire and assistant Mario Tremblay on a Canadiens jersey;
~ an 8x10 from Schultz; and
~ a right-handed goalie catching glove from Josh Harding.

Signing pucks (above) were:

Top row: Nicklas Backstrom (not to be confused with Washington's Nicklas Backstrom), Derek Boogaard and Marian Gaborik
Middle row: Josh Harding, Mikko Koivu and James Sheppard
Bottom row: Kim Johnsson and Antti Miettenin

Among those signing cards (below) were:

Top row: Nicklas Backstrom, Kim Johnsson and Mikko Koivu
Bottom row: Mike Ramsey, Nick Schultz and Stephane Veilleux