Sunday morning homily XII

Ever since the puck first dropped on the 2008-09 NHL season, we've had Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008, circled on our calendar. That's when the Boston Bruins and Colin's favorite NHL buddy, Patrice Bergeron, come to town.

We missed seeing Bergeron twice last year, as he recovered from a cheap early season hit from Philly's Randy Jones. Needless to say, the littlest hound in the house, though appreciating the need for Patrice to recover, was a little disappointed.

Now that Bergeron is back in the game, and the Bruins are enjoying a nice run, Colin's pretty pumped that he'll get to see his hockey hero again. Hopefully, too, an early arrival by the Bruins will provide a few minutes for the renewing of acquaintances.

And, yes, we have tickets to the game. We wouldn't miss it for the world.

Upon further review

Earlier this season, I predicted that we'd add another 432 autographs to the collection by next April. Man, was I ever wrong.

When Tampa Bay's Olaf Kolzig signed a 2008 Prague Premier puck last week, it represented the 500th autograph of the season. Granted, it's a family effort here at Hound Central 4.0, but that season milestone came rather quickly.

As a result, and because of how early we are in the season, I've raised the bar to 1,100 autographs before we close the books on the campaign.

Catching a ride

For the second time in as many trips, the Rangers' Markus Naslund and Scott Gomez got a free ride back to the team's hotel following Wednesday's morning skate, thanks to Lightning security staff. Also hopping aboard the all-terrain vehicle was Daniel Girardi.

I guess the half-mile walk on a gorgeous Florida day, as well as a handful of hounds, was a little too much for them.

5 Big Sigs

It'll be a big week here in Hockey Bay if work and practice schedules allow for trips to hound the Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres:

~ Boston's Patrice Bergeron on a Bruins helmet;
~ Boston's Milan Lucic on Bruins and Vancouver Giants pucks;
~ those mentioned above, as well as their teammates, on a Bruins jersey;
~ Buffalo's Thomas Vanek and Ryan Miller on a Sabres mini helmet; and
~ Buffalo's Patrick Lalime on Sabres, Blackhawks and Senators pucks.