A very good deed, indeed

There are times in the course of a hounding career where success is not measured in how many autographs you get in a single outing. Sometimes, it's what you do with them.

Moody, Hound Central 4.0's roving Southeast correspondent, shares a story from his last hounding trip for the Thrashers, to the team's practice facility in Duluth:

"I got Ilya Kovalchuk (to sign a card) inside, but decided to give it up after he drove past a nice little lady who was outside waiting for him to sign. She was telling me how she was there for her husband who was terminally ill and, obviously, lost his job. She was just trying to make her husband happy by gathering his favorite team's signatures on a piece of loose leaf paper.

"I decided to donate the cards I had left and help her get them signed to make the outing more meaningful for her and her family. Since Kovie didn’t stop, I felt it was only right to help.

"I must say that this outing was -- by far -- the best outing of the year because I felt like I walked away with something more than a signed piece of rubber or cardboard.

"It truly humbles a person when you stop and listen to another person’s life and how something as little as a signed card from an athlete could make their time on earth more enjoyable.

"How hounds like myself take for granted how these encounters with athletes become routine and just another part of the day. That we do not think twice about dropping a couple of bucks for a Sharpie or pack of cards and not have to worry about whether or not we will miss a meal. "

Well said, Moody, well said.

Beyond the good deed and great story, Moody also went home with cards signed by Zach Bogosian, Eric Boulton, Tobias Enstrom, Johan Hedberg, Slava Kozlov, Rich Peverley and Boris Valabik.

Dodging raindrops

Sometimes, you just have to grin and bear it. Take Moody, for instance, during a late-season hounding trip to Duluth, Ga., to catch the visiting Ottawa Senators.

Unfortunately for Moody, Hound Central 4.0's roving Southeast correspondent, it started raining. Though most players stopped to sign, their autographs were subpar, ruined by the falling rain. After seeing that, Moody showed his years of experience and stayed dry.

After the team's bus left the arena, Moody went inside where he bumped into Ottawa's Nick Foligno. After signing two cards for Moody, Foligno asked how he did with other players. Moody told him the truth -- he was the only one.

To Moody's surprise, Foligno told him to hang out a moment. Foligno rounded up some teammates, all waiting for a cab ride to a nearby Bass Pro Shop, and brought them back to Moody.

So, who did Foligno round up? How about Shean Donovan, Chris Kelly, Brian Lee, Chris Phillips, Jason Spezza and Jesse Winchester? Even better, Spezza signed five cards.

Not bad for a rainy day, huh? The autographs came out pretty nice, too.

Boulton Believers

When it comes to the Moody household, it's not Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk, Slava Kozlov or Kari Lehtonen who get top billing. No, it's Thrashers' tough guy Eric Boulton.

Though Moody's intent for the late-season trip to the team's practice facility in Duluth, Ga., was for the daughters of Hound Central 4.0's roving Southeast correspondent to score some autographs, the day took a more pleasant and humorous turn for the better.

Natalie started getting a little heavy for dad to keep holding so we put the cards away and settled for giving the players “High Fives” as they came off the ice. The players all stopped and slapped hands with her.

After defenseman Nathan Oystrick gained a young fan in Little Natty after giving her not only a good high-five after walking off the ice, he gave her his hockey stick. Boulton, standing next to Oystrick, did not want to get outdone. He asked Natty who was her favorite player. She pointed at Oystrick.

Well, Boulton said he wanted to be her favorite, offering his stick in exchange for him being her new fave. The deal was done. Boulton sealed the deal when he asked Mikayla if she wanted a stick, too. The only catch, he said, was that he had to be her fave.

Needless to say, the girls are now true Boulton Believers.

By the way, Mikayla started a team-signed Thrashers mini helmet, adding coach John Anderson, Ron Hainsey, Johan Hedberg, Kovalchuk, Lehtonen, Bryan Little, Oystrick, Eric Perrin and Boris Valabik. Little Natty had cards signed by Hainsey, Kovalchuk, Kozlov, Lehtonen and Valabik.

Update: Hounding in Georgia

Though he may be loathe to admit it, Moody, Hound Central 4.0's roving Southeast correspondent, likely lamented his move to the Greater Atlanta area from the comfort of his home near Hockey Bay.

Not only would it mean an uprooting of his family -- a far more serious consideration than anything else -- but it presented a new set of hounding challenges.

With this update, though, Hound Central 4.0 is pleased to report that Moody has got back into his groove, as these items, collected during a recent hounding adventure to the team's practice facility in Duluth, Ga., serve as undeniable proof.

Here, we have pucks signed by tough guy Eric Boulton, top, on an ECHL playoff puck, and left winger Slava Kozlov, who signed a Red Wings 1998 Stanley Cup champions puck.

On a side note, Moody reports that Atlanta's novice collectors are among the more intelligent ones in the area, with the veterans, so to speak, offering only unreliable information. Again, this shows that digging your own intel is the best way to go.

Still, after adding more than 30 autographs ("Thou Sharpie runneth over," was how Moody put it), there's little to complain about.

Those signing cards, top photo, were:

Top row: Chris Thorburn, Rich Peverley and Ron Hainsey, one of the Thrashers' most-engaging signers; and
Bottom row: Zach Bogosian, Garnet Exelby and Tobias "One-per" Enstrom

Thanks, Dallas

Moody, a lover of all things free, was delighted when Atlanta's Johan Hedberg signed this fan pack card from the goalie's days deep in the heart of Texas.

Many multiples

It doesn't matter where you hound, it's always a pleasant outing when players and/or coaches are willing to sign more than a single card:

Center Bryan Little, one of the Thrashers' rising stars, had no trouble signing these six cards;

Goalie Kari Lehtonen, a proverbial signing machine, asked Moody whether he had anything else after signing these six cards for him;

Randy Cunneyworth, an assistant coach with Atlanta, signed these Buffalo and Hartford cards; and

Center Jim Slater was good for these four cards.

Hockey history, perhaps

Moody, Hound Central 4.0 roving Southeast correspondent, believes he may have set hockey hounding history. After a recent trip to a hotel in Gwinnett, Ga., he may have been the first autograph hound to actually hound an East Coast Hockey League team at its hotel.

Actually, if Moody is right, and this was history, he can't take sole credit for it. Nope, I'm sure daughters Mikayla and Natalie might have something to say about that. From what I hear, they did the lion's share of the hounding:

Mikayla, using a pink paint pen, got a dozen Everblades players to sign a stick blade: David Leggio, #33; Anton Khudobin, #35; Noah Babin, #5; Mark Lee, #22; Benn Olsen, #59; Ryan McGinnis, #2; Kevin Baker, #71; Ernie Hartlieb, #9; Steve McJannet, #7; Ryan Lang, #20; Colin Nicholson, #16; and Doug O'Brien, #26.

Natalie, making her first-ever hounding adventure, had the same dozen players sign her team sheet.

Moody, not one to sit on the sidelines, even got into the act, snagging this card from Hartlieb.

After hounding the Everblades, Moody and the girls went to the Everblades game against the hometown Gwinnett Gladiators. After the game, after which two Gladiators sign for fans, Mikayla added autographs from Gwinnett's Joe Fallon and Jordan Fox on a freebie backpack, above, and another of her custom stick blades. The girls got the puck during warmups.

Bottom line, everyone had fun. Moody got to spend some quality time with his daughters. The girls had a great day. I imagine, too, the players got a kick out of it as well.

You won't break a sweat

Now that he's got into a rhythm in his new assignment, Moody, Hound Central 4.0's roving Southeast correspondent, reports that he was finally able to visit Atlanta IceForum, the Atlanta Thrashers practice facility, above, in Duluth, Ga.

"Man alive," he writes, "they made it too easy."

Players are accessible inside and outside the arena. In fact, most of the cards Moody snagged -- and there's a bunch of them -- were scored inside the barn. The best place to hang out outside is this corner of the parking lot.

Also, former NHLer Yan Kaminsky is the rink's youth hockey director.

Dress warmly, too. Moody says the IceForum is colder than any arena he's visited, including some in Alaska during the winter.

Crowds should be expected. On the day Moody attended, there were about 20 people out by the end of practice.

Beyond missing out on Thrashers stars Ilya Kovalchuk and Bryan Little, both of whom were in Montreal for All Star weekend festivities, Moody had a pretty good day, adding more than three dozen autographs and having an adventure with goalie Kari Lehtonen.

Though Lehtonen signed four cards, Moody said he initially made, as he put it, "a royal hounding NO NO." When the goalie came over to sign, Moody didn't realize his card book was open to the wrong page until Lehtonen pointed it out. A step back and a flip of the page put him back into position, albeit a bit red-faced.

"I really felt like my homework was incomplete, but it was only a matter of a page flip," Moody writes. "So I will redeem myself next time. "

To be honest, I think he's being a bit hard upon himself. You shake it off, learn the lesson and wait for the next player.

Beyond Moody's "misadventure" with Lehtonen, here's his breakdown:

Top row: John Anderson, Erik Christensen, Niclas Havelid and Garnet Exelby
Middle row: Kari Lehtonen, Slava Kozlov, Johan Hedberg and Tobias Enstrom
Bottom row: Hedberg, Exelby and Zach Bogosian

Top row: Marty Reasoner, Chris Thorburn, Matheiu Schneider, Boris Valabik and Todd White
Bottom row: Colby Armstrong, Zach Bogosian and Todd White.

The neatest item Moody got signed was this program from the 1998 International Hockey League's All Star Game in Orlando, drawing comments from Anderson and White.

Beyond complimenting Moody on his knowledge, White told him that it may be the only All Star game that he and Tampa Bay's Marty St. Louis appear together.

Anderson was surprised to see the program and asked who else, besides St. Louis, had signed it.

Pucks came from rookie defenseman Zach Bogosian, left, and veteran defenseman Mathieu Schneider.

New roost

A recent house-hunting trip to Georgia's biggest city allowed Moody, Hound Central 4.0's roving Southeast correspondent, an opportunity to get in some hounding of the hometown Atlanta Thrashers.

In essence, it was a reconnaissance trip, locating the Thrashers official practice facility and finding out the best place to snag some autographs. For Moody, the mission was more than accomplished.

Need proof? These pictures, I believe, show that Moody's trip, though quick, proved fruitful.

Moody reports that the Ice Forum, the Thrashers practice facility in Duluth, is very hound-friendly. As the players walk off the ice, they take the time to stop for fans. Though he admits to cherry-picking, here's who stopped: Slava Kozlov, Bryan Little (who signed six cards), Nathan Oystrick and Ron Hainsey.

Hainsey also gave, and signed, a stick for Moody's daughter. Two other players gave her sticks, but Moody extended the goodwill by passing them along to another pair of children at the rink.

On a side note, the Gwinnett Gladiators of the East Coast Hockey League also use the facility for practices.