Busy afternoon

In a perfect hounding world, I'd attend every morning session, especially those on Saturday mornings Time and time again, this window of opportunity consistently provides the best chance to snag autographs.

That's not to say, though, that game-time hounding sessions should always be avoided. While mob scenes do happen, especially when the NHL's bigger-name teams come to Hockey Bay, most Southeast Division foes draw fewer than 12-15 hounds/fans as the teams head to games. No, these sessions are well worth attending.

Take the Florida Panthers, for example. I had to work last Saturday morning, meaning we'd be limited to just a game-time session. Thankfully, that wasn't a problem. With a little help and some hustle, we socked away another 45 autographs, including 30 cards, in about an hour before the Panthers' 6-4 loss to the Lightning.

Here are some highlights:

~ Getting a pair of autographs from Hall of Famer Denis Potvin;
~ expanding the breadth and depth of the puck collection;
~ scoring a hat trick of pucks from Cory Stillman;
~ having Keith Ballard and David Booth sign the Team USA jersey; and
~ marveling at Tomas Vokoun's willingness to sign autographs.

Who signed the cards shown above?

Top row: Jay Bouwmeester, Radek Dvorak and Nathan Horton
Bottom row: Kamil Kreps, Tomas Vokoun and Stephen Weiss

Also signing cards were, from left, Nick Boynton, Bryan McCabe, Noah Welch and Richard Zednik.