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

Flashbacks 06.10

It's been nearly three weeks since the last installment of this summer space filler. How about a mixture of team and player reports from Hound Central 3.0, 2.0 and 1.0?

April 2, 2008: Atlanta Thrashers
Oct. 27, 2007: Buffalo Sabres
Feb. 20, 2007: Florida's Eddie Belfour
Oct. 29, 2006: San Jose Sharks
Feb. 17, 2006: Hall of Famer Stan Mikita

Flashbacks 04.29

You know, I rather enjoy compiling this weekly offseason feature. Each posting is a stroll down memory lane. Hopefully, you'll enjoy them as well:

Feb. 23, 2008: Boston Bruins team sheet
Dec. 14, 2007: Calgary's Jarome Iginla
Feb. 13, 2007: Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky
Nov. 26, 2006: Ottawa's Jason Spezza
Nov. 2, 2005: Then-Florida's Roberto Luongo

Baseball bonus: Tampa Bay's Akinori Iwamura

Feel free to check out Hound Central's 3.0, 2.0 and 1.0.

Flashbacks 04.22

Like reading about or looking at hockey autographs? Me, too.

Check out these installments from past hockey-hounding campaigns:

Jan. 16, 2008: Colorado's Joey Sakic
Nov. 4, 2007: Hall of Famer Phil Esposito
April 16, 2007: Cup winner Glenn "Chico" Resch
Sept. 24, 2006: Dallas' Mike Modano
Nov. 26, 2005: Los Angeles' Yutaka Fukufuji

Got lots of time? Find hundreds of more adventures at Hound Central 3.0, Hound Central 2.0 and, most certainly, Hound Central 1.0.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Flashbacks 04.14

Now, I know most of you come here looking for tales of our hockey-hounding adventures. But, did you know there are hundreds of hounding reports from seasons past available at Hound Central 3.0, Hound Central 2.0 and the one that started it all, Hound Central 1.0?

Now that the hockey-hounding season has ended down here in Hockey Bay, I'll do my best to provide you with some must-reads from previous campaigns to tide you over.

Here's the first random sampling:

~ Jan. 10, 2008: Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin
~ Sept. 16, 2007: Hall of Famer Bill Barber
~ March 27, 2007: Florida Panthers' Martin Gelinas
~ Dec. 9, 2006: Anaheim's Teemu Selanne
~ Dec. 28, 2005: Hall of Famer Ray Bourque

Hello, Tony O

Though Colin may have gotten more than 300 autographs on his hand-drawn team sheets over the course of the 2008-09 hockey-hounding season, none were bigger, in my opinion, than this card signed by Hall of Famer goalie Tony Esposito.

I'd heard that Esposito was a frequent visitor to Lightning games and would sign single items as he walked across the plaza at the St. Pete Times Forum.

On Thursday, after hounding the visiting Washington Capitals, we finally put the information to good use. Our patience, I believe, was rewarded.

Next time, though, I'll carry Blackhawks and Canadiens pucks.

Long may it wave

This right here is pure Hound Central history. Long before I even thought of doing a blog, I had the presence of mind to take a project-based approach to my hounding efforts. What we have here, though, is the first-ever project: a gale flag signed by members of the Carolina Hurricanes.

The project started in the 1997-98 season, right after the Hartford Whalers moved south and became the Carolina Hurricanes. Instead of playing in Raleigh, home games were 90 miles away at the Greensboro Coliseum.

After running out of cards and pucks (Hurricanes players are among the earliest of our 1,800-plus) for the players, I wanted to use something other than a jersey, stick or helmet. That's where this gale flag came in, serving a new purpose as more than 30 players signed it through the 1998-99 season.

This past Saturday brought the latest installment of Hurricanes players to sign the flag, primarily the team's Big Three on the black square:

Center Rod Brind'Amour

Center Eric Staal

Goalie Cam Ward

The trio joins these big names from the early days along Tobacco Road:

Hall of Famer center Ron Francis, now an associate head coach of the Hurricanes;

Hall of Famer defenseman Paul Coffey, shortly after being traded from Chicago;

Defenseman Steve Chaisson, God bless his soul;

Right winger Kevin Dineen, now head coach of the AHL's Portland Pirates; and

Goalie Arturs Irbe, now the goaltending coach for Dinamo Riga of the Kontinental Hockey League

Here's the complete lineup:

Bates Battaglia, Rod Brind'Amour, Steve Chaisson, Paul Coffey, Tim Conboy, Kevin Dineen, Nelson Emerson, Mike Fountain, Ron Francis, Martin Gelinas, Stu Grimson, Kevin Haller, Steve Halko, Dwight Helminen, Sean Hill, Arturs Irbe, Sami Kapanen, Dave Karpa, Peter Karmanos, Trevor Kidd, Andrei Kovalenko, Robert Kron; and

Randy Ladouceur, Curtis Leschyshyn, Craig MacDonald, Marek Malik, Kent Manderville, Paul Maurice, Kevin McCarthy, Jeff O'Neill, Nolan Pratt, Keith Primeau, Paul Ranheim, Steve Rice, Gary Roberts, Mike Rucinski, Jim Rutherford, Mike Ryan, Ray Sheppard, Eric Staal, Josef Vasicek, Cam Ward and Glen Wesley.

Plenty of reasons

When a team travels to Hockey Bay for the third time in a season, it might be hard to find the motivation to load up the hockey hounding bag. Thankfully, I've only heard about that.

I certainly had no issues Saturday (other than a balky ATM forcing me to use quarters to pay for parking) heading out for a gametime-only session for the Carolina Hurricanes.

Granted, it would have been nice to just kick back and chill out after a busy morning at the newspaper. But, when a team carries a Hall of Famer and one of Colin's buddies on its staff and roster, the motivation comes quite easily.

In all, we added another 30 autographs to the collection.

Perhaps the biggest reward for making the trip -- beyond spending some quality time with Colin -- was this puck from Carolina's associate coach Ron Francis. He might be considered a toughie, but you must remember he limits his signing to just before heading to the rink at gametime. One-pers are another rule, too.

Getting Erik Cole on the Hurricanes mini helmet (shown above) was another reason. After being traded back to his original NHL club, it was a no-brainer to add him to the work-in-progress cherry-picking piece.

Signing cards were, from left, Patrick Eaves, Chad LaRose and Sergei Samsonov.

The highlight list may be short, but it's sweet:

~ Colin's first blog post on an equipment sheet he drew for goalie Cam Ward; and
~ Hall of Famer Ron Francis drawing attention to his signature on Colin's team sheet.

Want to see some Hurricanes signing? Check out the gallery.

No problems here

Leave it to a Hall of Famer to try to stand out among a crowd. That's Ron Francis, the associate head coach for the Carolina Hurricanes, who supplied that gigantic blue signature in the middle of Colin's team sheet.

Think I'm complaining? Not a chance. Kinda cool, if you ask me.

Who else are among the 14 signatures? Here's who: Rod Brind'Amour, Eric Cole, Tim Conboy, Joe Corvo, Matt Cullen, Patrick Eaves, Chad LaRose, Kevin McCarthy, Mike Ryan, Sergei Samsonov, Dennis Seidenberg, Eric Staal and Niclas Wallin.

We didn't miss out on Cam Ward, either.

Gallery: Carolina Hurricanes

There's something about work that really limits my hounding photo opportunities. Players tend to spend more time signing at morning skate than gametime. Still, though, here are a few Carolina Hurricanes who took the time late Saturday afternoon to sign for a handful of folks:

Hall of Famer Ron Francis stuck to his longstanding road-trip practice -- one per at gametime only. Here, he pays homage to his days with the Hartford Whalers.

Center Eric Staal signs a 2008 All Star Game puck;

As always, goalie Cam Ward, one of Colin's buddies, drew a crowd. Yes, we were a part of it.

Right winger Patrick Eaves adds to a Hockey Bay hound's team sheet.

Plan B, as in Bernie

Sitting atop my wish list for the St. Louis Blues last week was none other than Hall of Famer Al MacInnis. Never saw him. So, I had to settle, so to speak, for another Hall of Famer: Bernie Federko. Not bad, huh?

Appreciate it

For a Hockey Hall of Famer, Cam Neely would be well within his right to ignore every request for an autograph. Thankfully, the Bruins legend doesn't do that.

Not only did Neely sign on the crest of the Team Canada jersey yesterday before the Bruins game against the Lightning, but he also signed this card and Colin's team sheet.

The Heroes & Prospects card, from In the Game's 2005-06 set, shows Neely in his days with the Portland Winter Hawks of the Western Hockey League.

Our pal, Joey

You know what they say in Hell's Kitchen, don't you? It's a good day when you get an autograph from a Hall of Famer. Even better, too, if he's from there.

Joey Mullen, an assistant coach with the Flyers, satisfied both requirements Friday.

In case you didn't know, Mullen was the first American-born NHL player to reach 500 goals and 1,000 points.

Don't delay

Only hours remain to enter January's Win this Auto contest -- this puck signed by Hall of Famer and Islander hero Denis Potvin.

Really, how often do you get the chance to obtain, for a mere 100 words on how you'd spend a day with Lord Stanley's Cup, an autographed puck from one of the game's best defensemen?

It's not just that, either. That's a pretty sweet autograph.

I even pick up the shipping.

Certainly worthy

Besides crossing off the remaining names on the Florida Panthers team helmet, adding two distinctive players to the Team Canada jersey was the primary goal this past Saturday before Florida played the Tampa Bay Lightning.

As you can see, that objective was met, with Panthers defenseman Jay Bouwmeester (above) and Hall of Famer Denis Potvin (below, on the right), a TV analyst for the Panthers, both signing the jersey.

It's amazing, too, the response you get from players when presenting them with a national team jersey. Both Bouwmeester and Potvin remarked that it was nice to sign something that meant so much to them.

Please know, too, that we're far from done with the Team Canada jersey. It will likely be a near-constant companion through the end of the season.

One's better than none

When Hall of Famer Ron Francis was named an associate coach for the Carolina Hurricanes, two thoughts popped into my mind.

First, he was far too talented and skilled to not share his expertise with the team's younger players.

Secondly, and more selfishly, it meant that we'd have more opportunities to add to our collection. This Hartford Whalers puck, which Francis signed last Saturday before Carolina's 3-2 victory over Tampa Bay, is the latest addition.

A word of advice, though: He's a strict one-per signer. Always has been, always will be. You know what? I can live with that. So should you.

A cardinal sin

The last thing I wanted to do Thursday was make my mark upon Boston Bruins legend John Bucyk, or any other player.

A slip of my normally trustyworthy blue Sharpie, however, marked up the Hall of Famer's thumbnail after he signed this card before the Bruins' game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Thankfully, it wasn't a silver paint pen.

All things considered, though, it comes with the territory. Hardly a hounding session goes by when I don't get marked-up hands.

Good call, eh?

Tucked away in my hockey hounding bag Thursday were a couple of pucks for Boston's Manny Fernandez. But when he boarded the team's bus before Bruins' 3-1 victory without signing either, I suddenly had an extra Bruins puck to use.

Let's just say that it was put to good use, shall we? When Bruins legend Cam Neely heeded repeated calls to sign at game time, it was a pretty simple decision to have him sign the puck. Even better, it was the second puck he signed in as many days.

As for Fernandez, I'll try a little harder when the Bruins visit in February. Unless, of course, Neely would like to sign another.

Two are better than one

Most times I get a autograph double on some hockey puck or card, I chide myself for a lackadaisical approach to preparation.

In this case, though, it was a conscious effort Wednesday night to get Bruins' legend Cam Neely to sign the second Cam Neely Night puck of the collection.

There are just some items that you don't mind having more than one of. I'm thinking this puck is a perfect example.

Two in one day

It's always a good hounding day any time you can add two Canadiens legends -- Minnesota coaches Jacques Lemaire (bottom left), a Hall of Famer, and Wild assistant coach Mario Tremblay (top right) -- to a working Montreal jersey. I hope to fill the Habs logo by season's end.