Getting what we could

Though I would've liked to finish this 2008-09 season project in one trip, I'm going to have to wait until March 29 to complete this Ottawa Senators team helmet. Still, though, getting 11 players and coaches to sign in an abbreviated hounding session is nothing to sneeze at.

Because I had to work Saturday (I'm running out of vacation days to use), we were relegated to about an hour of hounding Ottawa. And though a late afternoon rainstorm cut short the session, I consider ourselves lucky we added another 16 items to the collection.

So, who signed the helmet? Here's who, in alphabetical order: Mike Fisher, Nick (not Mike) Foligno, Martin Gerber, Craig Hartsburg, Curtis Hunt, Filip Kuba, Dean McAmmond, Chris Phillips, Christoph Schubert, Jason Smith and, thankfully, Jason Spezza.

Beyond the decent start to the helmet, other items added to the collection were:

~ Four pucks from Alexandre Picard, a former Bolts defenseman; and
~ Ten players, including Spezza, who signed Colin's team sheet.

Though on-scene reports applauded the Senators' signing habits before the team's morning skate, it was a classic example of role reversal later in the day.

Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson, who's becoming tougher with each season, stuck to his "I signed this morning" routine as he headed over to the St. Pete Times Forum. Others following suit, or those who simply ignored requests to sign, were Dany Heatley, Chris Neil, Chris Kelly, Antoine Vermette and Anton Volchenkov.