Check it out

As promised, here's the big news: Hound Central 5.0 is up and running. A trip to Brandon earlier today marked the first hounding trip of the 2009-10 campaign.

Refresher courses

With more players taking to local rinks in preparation of NHL training camps, it's a good idea to brush up on your hockey-hounding skills:
~ Learn how easy it is to find teams;
~ The best way to get your cards ready for signing;
~ Make the effort to recognize players;
~ What's the best color Sharpie to use; and
~ Practice hockey-hounding etiquette.

All about baseball

Seeing that today is the last day of summer vacation, we're getting an early start on a full day of activities. We were pretty busy last week, too, taking in three baseball games within four days.

As a result, Baseball Mondays is loaded with new reports. Feel free to check them out.

Pleasant surprise

Like most every other hockey hound I know, the upcoming NHL season can't arrive soon enough. Allan, Hound Central 4.0's correspondent in Toronto, got an early start. Here's his report:

Well I'm happy to say that hockey is up and running in the Great White North! Leafs players, I hear, started showing up at their practice rink last week.

Recently, a local sporting goods store held a grand opening with Columbus goalie Steve Mason, who was signing for free. Imagine that? Free autographs from the reigning rookie of the year.

Because there were limits of one per adult and two per kid, I took my two kids. All told, we snagged five autographs - two pucks and the three 8x10s shown below. Mason also brought the Calder trophy with him.

We were about 25th in line and it only took about 15 minutes to go through the line. My kids wanted to go through again, but I didn't want to. I guess we could have, but it didn't feel right.

Mason was a nice kid and posed for photos with the kids. I wished him a great and healthy season, but asked him to take it easy on my Leafs!

Long live the Aud

Though Hound Central 4.0 does not condone acts of trespassing, I believe old-school Buffalo Sabres fans might enjoy one last look at the inside of the Memorial Auditorium.

Though it's been many years since attending a Sabres game there, I recognized many scenes taken during the clandestine trips of an urban explorer.

Special thanks, too, to Drew, one of Hound Central's faithful readers, for the head's up.

Different looks

Beyond signaling that the 2009-10 NHL season is right around the corner, the recent release of 2009-10 Victory also carries cards of players in their team's third jerseys. This sampling came from a couple 36-card packs we found at Target.

Tthis 200-card set boasts second-year cards for last season's rookies, creating autograph stock for such players as Columbus Steve Mason, the Calder Cup winner. You'll also find cards for Boston's Blake Wheeler, Chicago's Kris Versteeg and Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos.

Its low price point is easy on the wallet, too.

These three points earn 2009-10 Victory a buy rating.

Batting .917

Over the course of the summer, Colin has put together a remarkable collection of Florida State League team-signed balls. Recently, with the Daytona Cubs in Dunedin to play the Blue Jays, he knocked out the 11th and final team ball of our Summer of Baseball.

The only team we missed? The Palm Beach Cardinals, the Advanced A farm club for MLB's St. Louis Cardinals. Maybe next summer, okay?

While you're waiting, then, stop by Baseball Mondays for these posts:

~ A pair of Tampa Bay Rays players adding to a work-in-progress team ball;
~ Larry Herndon, a big-leaguer for 14 years, on the MLB Alumni ball; and
~ Taking a big bite out of the Clearwater Threshers team set.

We're keeping these

It doesn't seem all that long ago that Colin was trying on this pair of skates. Really, though, it's been more than two years, and they've served him well as he's progressed from his first shaky glides across a rink to making hay, so to speak, in recreational league games.

And now that he's getting a little bigger and the skates are getting tighter, it's time to retire this pair. His new pair -- Nike Bauer Vapor XXVs -- are broken in and game-ready. In fact, he logged his first-ever hat trick yesterday wearing them.

But rather than toss out his first pair of skates or try to get a few bucks from Play It Again Sports, we're keeping them as souvenirs. Not only are they symbolic of all the time, effort and money over the past few years, but they also represent the first steps of Colin's fledgling hockey career.

That's what makes them priceless.

NHL players reporting to rinks

From what I hear, NHL players are taking to rinks getting ready for the upcoming training camps.

I read on Facebook yesterday that Buffalo's Tim Connolly was skating at the Skanteateles (N.Y.) Community Center. I've heard, too, that incredibleICE, down in South Florida, might have a few familiar faces twirling around the rink.

Looks like we'll have to take a ride over to the Ice Sports Forum in Brandon, to see if anyone's shaking off some summer rust.

Take a look, won't you?

Just to prove that Baseball Mondays isn't just about collecting autographs during our Summer of Baseball, I've created a photo gallery that goes far beyond balls and strikes.

Flashbacks 08.10

Here's another player's-only stroll down hockey-hounding memory lane:

March 9, 2009: St. Louis' T.J. Oshie
Jan. 31, 2009: Hall of Famer Joey Mullen
Dec. 28, 2007: Montreal's Carey Price
Nov. 26, 2006: Ottawa's Daniel Alfredsson
Dec. 29, 2005: Toronto's Matt Stajan

Little Gray Box: Ryan Miller

In all honesty, I can't remember if Buffalo's Ryan Miller signed this cheapskate card in 2002 or 2003. I am positive, though, we got it during our time in Beantown. Either way, it was one of the first autographs we received from the Sabres' talented goalie.

Yeah, me, too

I know we're dab smack in the dog days of summer, when thoughts of baseball, beaches and back-to-school bargains fill our minds, but I still can't get my mind off of hockey.

Watching Colin play, I suppose, has a lot to do with it. But so do the autographed pucks and cards, snagged during the 2008-09 campaigns final days and over the summer, I still have to put away. And, from what I hear, NHL players will be skating soon, prepping for training camps.

Bottom line, though, is that I'm not alone.

An overwhelming majority of Hound Central 4.0 readers who took part in the last quiz -- which asked whether they were missing hockey -- were looking forward to the 2009-10 NHL season and the corresponding hockey-hounding campaign.

Question: Jonesin' for hockey?

Yes: 15 out of 18 votes cast (83.3 percent)
No: 3 out of 18 votes (16.7 percent)

The three dissenting votes? Must've been Loafs fans.

And, really, can you blame them?

Thank God for shade

Want to know how hot it got last week during Florida State League game with a first-pitch time of noon? Let's just say triple-digits. You can read about that scorcher, as well as our cherry-picking efforts that day, at Baseball Mondays.

A long look back

Really, it's not that I didn't want to put together this review of our efforts of the 2008-09 hockey-hounding season. No, that wasn't the reason for its delay. It was more all the things that have kept me busy since the season ended down here in early April.

Mostly, it's been because of willingly accepting an increase in obligations here at home -- eschewing summer camp so Colin and I could spend more time together, landing a bunch of freelance work, hanging out at the Tampa Bay Lightning's prospects camp and, to keep our hounding games in shape, embarking upon our Summer of Baseball.

To be honest, I'm surprised I didn't get to this final review of the season earlier. Given that we added another 1,738 autographs, including 330 pucks, to the collection, one might believe that I'd trumpet our successes as soon as I could.

Didn't happen, though, did it?

So, now, without further delay, here are the top 20 highlights of the 2008-09 hockey-hounding campaign:

~ Loving every minute of watching 316 NHL players fill up 22 of Colin's hand-drawn team sheets.

~ Colin snagging the top three picks in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, including Tampa Bay's Victor Hedman, during their predraft trip to Humidity Bay.

~ Being in the right place at the right time for Washington's Alexander Semin. Thanks again, Moody.

~ Absolutely ruining Curtis Joseph's day when the Toronto Maple Loafs came to town.

~ Having Columbus' Rick Nash sign four pucks, including one of the OHL's London Knights.

~ Catching up with one of my favorite hockey players, former Buffalo Sabres captain Danny Gare.

~ Being surprised when Washington's Sergei Fedorov changed his mind about signing an autograph.

~ Getting Tampa Bay's Vinny Lecavalier, Marty St. Louis and Steven Stamkos to sign 2009 NHL All Star Game pucks in a single day.

~ Compiling 25 autographs, including Cam Neely, Patrice Bergeron, Phil Kessel and Tim Thomas, on a new-look Boston Bruins third jersey.

~ Catching up with old buddies -- Boston Patrice Bergeron and Carolina's Cam Ward

~ Celebrating Martin Brodeur's return from injury when New Jersey visited Humidity Bay in February.

~ Having Triple Gold winner Brendan Shanahan sign the Team Canada jersey.

~ Reaching out to a fellow Buffalo kid, Chicago's Patrick Kane, and having him sign a pair of pucks.

~ Loading up a helmet with 26 signatures from members of the Montreal Canadiens.

~ Getting Dallas' Mike Modano to sign the Team USA jersey and a Stars puck.

~ Scoring 103 autographs in a single day, our best effort of the season, from the Colorado Avalanche and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

~ Having 26 members of the Florida Panthers, including Keith Ballard, Jay Bouwmeester, Nathan Horton and Stephen Weiss, sign a team helmet.

~ Four pucks signed by San Jose's Jeremy Roenick, one of the game's fan-friendliest players.

~ The Tampa Bay Lightning's training camp and other over-the-summer activities presented the perfect opportunity to load up on autographs from Tampa Bay's Olaf Kolzig and Steven Stamkos.

~ Getting pretty sweet autographs from Hall of Famers Phil Esposito and Tony Esposito.