Guilty, as charged

Yes, your Honor, I was cherry-picking yesterday with a handful of items for Buffalo's Ryan Miller. I beg for mercy and understanding by submitting these pieces of evidence:

Item: Buffalo Sabres replica jersey, personalized at Colin's request

Item: Team USA jersey, one of nine signatures upon it.

Item: Buffalo Sabres mini helmet, one of nine signatures upon it.

On a side note, he was also one of 20 Sabres to sign Colin's team sheet.

Too tough a call

I suppose limiting this Buffalo Sabres mini helmet to a sole player would've increased the impact of the piece. Problem was, this lifelong Sabres fan couldn't decide which player.

That's why, in a stroke of no-brainer hounding brilliance, I added these players yesterday:

Left panel: Ales Kotalik, left, and Derek Roy

Right panel: Thomas Vanek, left, and Jason Pominville

Back: Coach Lindy Ruff, left, and general manager Darcy Regier

Middle: Maxim Afinogenov, top, and Teppo Numminen.

Goalie Ryan Miller signed it, too.

Happy with five

You know, there are some times, as well as teams, where working a regulation-sized helmet doesn't make much sense.

In the case of the Avalanche, it was more that we had different items -- from pucks to cards to three jerseys -- that we opted for a mini helmet and the opportunity to cherry-pick some of Colorado's top-name stars.

And while some may view that adding only five autographs as a lackluster effort, I was satisfied that Colorado's Adam Foote, Tony Granato, Milan Hejduk, Ryan Smyth and Wojtek Wolski all took the time last Thursday to sign it for us.

I'm thinking, too, that there's still room for a few more players -- Joe Sakic (if he is still playing whenever the Avalanche returns), Ian Laperriere (one of my NHL favorites), Paul Stastny and Marek Svatos.