Double-duty, not dipping

To some folks, it's nothing more than double-dipping. To us, though, it's putting our time and efforts to good use. What am I talking about? I'm talking about hounding two teams in one day, something that's pretty easy to do whenever the Tampa Bay Lightning have a home game.

After hounding the visiting team before its morning skate, it's only a short walk to catch Lightning players and coaches as they leave the St. Pete Times Forum after their game-day workout.

That's what we did last Thursday, when we added an astounding total of 103 autographs to the collection after a few hounding adventures with the Colorado Avalanche and the Lightning.

After a rather successful morning with the Avs, Colin and I turned our attention, as well as our Sharpies, toward the Lightning.

Needless to say, we weren't disappointed, snagging a cool 20 autographs, including a sweet puck from Vinny Lecavalier, a magazine cover from Steven Stamkos and Colin's No. 37 Little League jersey from Olaf Kolzig.

The successes, thankfully, didn't stop there. Claude Loiselle, the team's assistant general manager, signed the Quebec Nordiques puck shown above. Interim coach Rick Tocchet signed Lightning and Coyotes pucks.

Among those signing cards, shown above from left, were Ryan Craig, Steve Eminger and Mark Recchi.

Given the good luck we've had with the Lightning as of late, as well as a need to restock, we'll likely give the Lightning a bit of a break. We'll see, though. It's hard to walk away from any opportunity.