Update: 10 Big Sigs

Before the 2008-09 hockey hounding season down here in Hockey Bay, I predicted that these items would be added to the collection.

Let's see how I did:

No. 10: Montreal's Saku Koivu on the Canadiens' legends jersey - Did not obtain

No. 9: Dallas' Brad Richards on a Stars puck

No. 8: San Jose's Dan Boyle on a Sharks puck

No. 7: A team-signed Boston Bruins jersey

No. 6: New Jersey's Martin Brodeur on a replica jersey

No. 5: Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby on Colin's #87 Penguins jersey - Did not obtain.

No. 4: Columbus' Rick Nash on Blue Jackets and Team Canada pucks

No. 3: Pucks from Chicago's Patrick Kane (Blackhawks, London Knights and Team USA) and Jonathan Toews (Blackhawks, Team Canada and University of North Dakota)

No. 2: Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk, Nicklas Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski and Henrik Zetterberg on Red Wings pucks

No. 1: Chicago's Nikolai Khabibulin (provided he stays), Columbus' Fredrik Modin (provided he stays healthy) and Toronto's Pavel Kubina on our Tampa Bay Lightning 2004 Stanley Cup Champions items. - Not a single item.

Looking back, it wasn't a great season, but it wasn't bad. Though Crosby signed during his visits to Hockey Bay, I missed getting him to sign. Perhaps, too, I overshot on the goals for the Red Wings. And Koivu signed a Canadiens team helmet instead.

The biggest disappointment, though, was not adding to the Tampa Bay Lightning 2004 Stanley Cup Champions items. One would think that the No. 1 item on the 10 Big Sigs campaign would take precedence, but a combination of players not traveling to Hockey Bay (Khabibulin and Modin) and simply forgetting (Kubina) worked against me.

Still, I'm happy to have added what we did. I'm sure, too, that this project will return for the 2009-10 hockey hounding campaign. This time, though, I'll have to keep my eyes on the prize, won't I?

Top Shelf: Rick Nash

Excuse me for my pomposity, but any time you add four pucks from Columbus' Rick Nash, one of the NHL's brightest stars, it certainly qualifies for Top Shelf status. Granted, it may taken me two days to get all four, but it just goes to show the rewards of making an effort.

Good, not great

Maybe it was the end of a long and disappointing road trip. It could have been the bigger-than-normal crowd (25-plus, easily) on a late Sunday afternoon. Then again, maybe we've gotten spoiled from past trips.

Yesterday's gametime hounding session with the Boston Bruins was a bit subdued, even to the point of being lackluster. Players who usually sign -- goalie Tim Thomas comes to mind -- didn't come over. No matter the reason, it was interesting, to say the least.

But after adding another 25 autographs, including Phil Kessel and Byron Bitz on the Bruins team jersey (shown above), there's no need to complain. Besides, the trip was more about Colin seeing an old buddy more than anything else. Everything else was gravy.

Signing pucks were, from left, Shane Hnidy (who flipped the puck to Colin after pregame warmups during the Bruins' first trip to Hockey Bay this season) and Milan Lucic.

Signing cards were, from left, P.J. Axelsson, Michael Ryder and Dennis Wideman.

Other highlights:

~ No surprise here: Colin catching up with Patrice Bergeron;
~ Hall of Famer Cam Neely taking care of us;
~ Three Bruins -- Bergeron, Lucic and Marc Savard -- signing the Team Canada jersey; and
~ Ten Bruins finding the time for Colin's team sheet.

The Bruins photo gallery is worth a look, too.

Marty's back

New Jersey's Martin Brodeur may have missed a sizable chunk of the season with an elbow injury, but hounds across the NHL should take note that the future Hall of Famer is traveling with the team.

Don't believe me? How about the Devils' Brodeur #30 replica jersey (shown above) he signed for me yesterday before New Jersey's morning skate or the Team Canada jersey he signed at gametime.

Note the difference in autographs, too. My request for a personalization produced a better-looking signature than the one on the Team Canada jersey. He also continued his established practice of limiting most requests to a single signature, but will sign more than once in a day.

Top Shelf: Patrick Kane

All day long Tuesday, I heard that Chicago's Patrick Kane was, for the most part, a strict one-per signer, even taking the time to study a person's face before signing their item. Given the crowd he attracted, I would have been content with just one autographed puck.

I suppose sharing the fact that we both hail from Buffalo (I lived at Albany and Barton on the city's west side during the late 1960s) -- naming my old public and high schools went a long way toward my getting the Blackhawks and London Knights pucks signed.

Optical disillusion

You have to trust me on this one, but the silver paint pen does look good on these University of North Dakota pucks. Really, it does.

Especially when the signature comes from Chicago captain Jonathan Toews, a former Fighting Sioux.

For some reason, though, Hound Central 4.0's normally reliable scanner doesn't like the combination of silver on green as much as I do. It's a shame, too.

Again, trust me. It looks nice.

On display

The bottom shelf of one of our display cases, an area dedicated to Colin's favorite team and his favorite player, was looking pretty sparse. As a result, we felt that this team-signed Boston Bruins jersey would look nice in it.

Funny thing, too, was that 23 members of the Bruins organization, including Patrice Bergeron and Cam Neely (on logo, at left), agreed with us.

Who else signed? How about P.J. Axelsson, Johnny Boychuk, John Bucyk, Peter Chiarelli, Manny Fernandez, Shane Hnidy, Matt Hunwick, Claude Julien, Chuck Kobasew, David Krejci, Milan Lucic, Petteri Nokelainen, Craig Ramsey, Michael Ryder, Mark Savard, Mark Stuart, Tim Thomas, Shawn Thornton, Geoff Ward, Dennis Wideman and Stephane Yelle.

Hopefully, we'll add Zdeno Chara, Phil Kessel, Matt Lashoff, Marco Sturm and Aaron Ward when the Bruins come back in February.

Major draw

It should come as no surprise that the Detroit Red Wings, the defending Stanley Cup champions, always draw a crowd whenever the team is on the road. And I'm not talking about ticket sales, either.

Though Colin and I added to the circus, I'd say there were at least 30-35 people trying to score autographs from the Wings yesterday before the team's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. At morning skate, the crowd got so big outside the team's hotel that security shooed the mob across the street. Thankfully, we had taken up our position far away from the hotel.

Later, as the team boarded the bus at game time, we joined the scene near the hotel where, apparently, some lessons had been learned and the hounding was a bit more civilized, shall we say.

Aside from one unfortunate meeting, we had a pretty good day with the Wings. Not only did we get 21 cards signed (four each from Tomas Kopecky and Valtteri Filppula) -- a sampling of which is shown in the top photo -- but Detroit stars Pavel Datsyuk and Darren McCarty signed these two pucks.

Beyond the cards and pucks, we also added these to the collection, for a total of 28 items from the Wings:

~ signatures from Marian Hossa and Kopecky on the Slovakian team jersey;
~ Wings TV color guy and former NHLer Mickey Redmond on a puck; and
~ Sixteen players, including Nicklas Lidstrom and Chris Osgood, and a TV play-by-play guy on Colin's team sheet.

Project pieces

It's always nice whenever we can add to the multitude of autograph projects that Hound Central 4.0 has undertaken this season.

Yesterday, with the Detroit Red Wings in town, were were able to continue our efforts.

Coming through for us were Detroit's Marian Hossa and Tomas Kopecky, who became the seventh and eighth players to sign the Slovakian team jersey, and Ty Conklin, who signed the "N" of out University of New Hampshire jersey.

That's Hossa's upside-down scribble at the top of the photo above. Kopecky's is at the bottom of that photo. Atlanta's Boris Valabik is in the middle.

Sunday morning homily IX

As a hockey dad, I make no apologies for reliving my childhood through my son's eyes. The excitement that builds on Sunday mornings as we wait to get ready for that day's game. The pleading to practice one's stickhandling out on the back patio. The words of encouragement on the ride to the rink.

Though my work schedule means I miss most practices, I make sure to take an active role at games and other times through the week. I'm in the locker room, tying skates and adjusting shoulder pads. I'm in the stands, reminding him (loudly, sometimes) to skate hard and stay onsides. I'm the dad who runs him through skating drills at a shopping mall ice rink a couple times a month.

By revisiting the days of my youth, and applying the lessons learned in between, I pass along a knowledge that hopefully serves as a solid foundation of respect for a game we both love. Though he should always be a good sport, it's equally important to stick up for yourself and teammates. That an assist is worth the same as a goal. And that playing the body, not the puck, is the cornerstone of defense.

Most of all, though, my job is to make hockey fun. I compliment him on good plays -- head-up skating the puck out of the zone, making a nice bank pass off the boards and remembering to keep both hands on his stick and its blade on the ice. And he's never far from an ice cold bottle of fruit-punch-flavored G2 during a game.

Sure, he's been scolded for dogging it, as he did last Sunday, and not helping his team. Rather than screaming at him, as we've heard other parents do, we talk after games about commitment, teamwork and the rewards of hard work.

To me, it's all part of the learning process -- for both of us.

Changing of the hats

We just got finished with an annual tradition here at Hound Central 4.0's headquarters in Humidity Bay. Upon the completion of the baseball season, it's time to circulate our headwear for the new season. In fact, I'm wearing one of my favorites, a Hershey Bears (the Sabres' first farm team) cap that's finally starting to show some wear.

Our baseball caps, save for a few celebratory Rays hats, are put away for the winter, getting a well-deserved rest from a milder-than-normal summer. In their place, we now have hockey, from the NHL to college teams, and football (nothing but the Bills and Gators here) hats, more appropriate headwear for this time of the year.

Looking at the assortment, it's safe to say we're not lacking in choices. In fact, I'm a bit embarrassed by the number. It might be a good idea, I suppose, to cross off a few items from Christmas wish lists.

5 Big Sigs

With the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings playing Tampa Bay on Thursday, where's what we hope will be added to the collection after a full day of hounding and tickets to the game:

~ Red Wings and 2008 Stanley Cup Champions pucks from Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg;
~ Red Wings pucks from Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom;
~ If I'm lucky, a Red Wings puck and jumbo Victory card from Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk;
~ Detroit's Marian Hossa and Tomas Kopecky on the Slovakian team jersey; and
~ Tampa Bay's Steve Eminger on Lightning, Flyers and new Capitals pucks

Big names deliver

In my opinion, it's always a good day whenever we add to our collection of pucks signed by San Jose's Joe Thornton. Starting with our time in New England, when Jumbo Joe was the heart and soul of the Boston Bruins, we've built a fairly nice collection of the talented player.

That's why we were pretty darn pumped when he signed a Sharks puck before Saturday's 3-0 whitewash of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Still, though, it wasn't the highlight of a day when we added another 38 autographs, including 15 pucks, to the collection.

Earlier this season, I named getting San Jose's Dan Boyle, a former Lightning, on a Sharks puck as one of Hound Central 4.0's 10 Big Sigs for the 2008-09 season. Though he was a willing signer in his time with Tampa Bay, I figured that he'd want to dodge much of the hoopla surrounding his return.

Boy, am I glad I was wrong. Not only did he sign for everyone who asked, but he also posed for pictures and joked with fans, reinforcing his popularity here in Humidity Bay, no matter what jersey he's wearing.

These items, too, only made the day that much better:

~ Four pucks and a reinforcement of manners from Jeremy Roenick;
~ Specialty pucks from Jonathan Cheechoo and Torrey Mitchell;
~ Colin's first puck of the season; and
~ another jam-packed hand-drawn team sheet.

Among the players signing pucks, shown above, were:

Top row: Brian Boucher, Dan Boyle and Mike Grier
Bottom row: Torrey Mitchell, Evgeni Nabokov and Joe Thornton

Among those signing cards were:

Top row: Christian Ehrhoff, Evgeni Nabokov and Joe Pavelski
Bottom row: Devin Setoguchi, Torey Mitchell and Ryan Clowe

One down, nine to go

I'd be lying if I told you I expected to cross one item off Hound Central 4.0's 10 Big Sigs list before the start of the season.

But when Dallas' Brad Richards signed this Stars puck earlier today, I was able to do just that.

Richards was skating this morning in Brandon, joining a few members, past and present, of the Tampa Bay Lightning for an hour of informal drills.

10 Big Sigs

Going into any hockey season, it's a pretty safe assumption that we'll add at least 300 to 400 autographs to the collection. Though I focus on pucks, we get quite a few cards signed, too. Toss in the occasional photo, stick, helmet or jersey and they add up real quick.

This season, however, is no different. Beyond adding to the quantity, selective requests (another term for cherry-picking) made to players on teams that frequent Tampa Bay will certainly add to the quality of the collection.

That's not to say, though, that I don't have a short list of items that I really want to get signed this season. And while I tried to limit it to 10, keeping in the spirit of the title, I resorted to counting by instances.

I hope you can forgive me.

No. 10: Montreal's Saku Koivu on the Canadiens' legends jersey

No. 9: Dallas' Brad Richards on a Stars puck

No. 8: San Jose's Dan Boyle on a Sharks puck

No. 7: A team-signed Boston Bruins jersey

No. 6: New Jersey's Martin Brodeur on a replica jersey

No. 5: Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby on Colin's #87 Penguins jersey

No. 4: Columbus' Rick Nash on Blue Jackets and Team Canada pucks

No. 3: Pucks from Chicago's Patrick Kane (Blackhawks, London Knights and Team USA) and Jonathan Toews (Blackhawks, Team Canada and University of North Dakota)

No. 2: Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk, Nicklas Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski and Henrik Zetterberg on Red Wings pucks

No. 1: Chicago's Nikolai Khabibulin (provided he stays), Columbus' Fredrik Modin (provided he stays healthy) and Toronto's Pavel Kubina on our Tampa Bay Lightning 2004 Stanley Cup Champions items