Top Shelf: 2009 NHL draft prospects

Want to know who was the first Hockey Bay hound to get an autograph earlier today from John Tavares, the likely No. 1 overall pick at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft?

How about Colin? Yeah, Colin. My Colin.

After nearly four hours of waiting out convention crowds, false alarms and near 90 degree temperatures, Tavares and his two fellow top NHL Draft prospects -- forward Matt Duchene and Swedish defenseman Victor Hedman -- signed autographs for all three of us before their dog-and-pony show for the Tampa Bay Lightning braintrust.

As they left the Marriott Waterside, walking toward a waiting Escalade, we decided to each pick one prospect to stop. I stopped Hedman, Chris took Duchene and Colin, using his "cute kid" status to its full advantage, singled out Tavares.

Guess what? It worked. He got all three to sign this Nike stick blade.

Colin's effort, too, made up for his old man's miss on Tavares. Not bad for an 8-year-old, huh?

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.

Top Shelf: Lightning's Big Three

How do I know the Hockey Gods approve of hounding? When Tampa Bay's Vinny Lecavalier, from left, Marty St. Louis and Steven Stamkos sign 2009 NHL All Star Game pucks within 30 minutes.

All I can say is thanks.

Top Shelf: North Dakota alums

As I was putting away pucks yesterday, these five from the University of North Dakota, all signed by former Fighting Sioux players, caught my eye.

Top row: Toronto's Jason Blake, St. Louis' T.J. Oshie and New Jersey's Zach Parise; and
Bottom row: Buffalo's Drew Stafford and Chicago's Jonathan Toews.

Again, you'll have to trust me. The scan doesn't do justice for the quality of the signatures. It must have something to do with the bright green backgrounds.

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.

Top Shelf: Jeremy Roenick

Given his reputation as one of the best-signing players in the NHL, it should come as no surprise that San Jose's Jeremy Roenick didn't even bat an eyelash when I asked whether he would sign these four pucks.

Now that he's near the end of his playing career, and that it's unlikely we'd cross paths again, it was a conscious effort on my part to snag as many as I could get.

Greedy? Probably. Smart? Definitely.

And, yes, I thanked him for each and every puck he signed.

Top Shelf: Steven Stamkos

Every so often, when we're fortunate enough to enjoy a good run of luck, I'll show off the fruits of hockey-hounding labor. Is it bragging? Yeah, maybe a little. But I don't think you'll mind.

I'll kick-start this occasional feature, posted whenever the rewards are worthy, with a nice array of pucks from Tampa Bay's top rookie Steven Stamkos.

From his June introduction to the Lightning community right through to the Bolts' recent training camp, the No. 1 pick at the 2008 NHL Draft has been atop every hockey hound's wish list down here in Humidity Bay.

I'm thinking I had a little more luck than others. Still, though, I certainly won't turn down any opportunity to add to the collection. Would you?

Solid start

I swear I'm not being greedy, but these eight pucks from Tampa Bay's Olaf Kolzig, picked up over the past month at informal skates and training camp, represent 75 percent of my want list.

Coming into this season, Kolzig represented one of the bigger needs in the collection. Before these, all we had were two Washington Capitals eagle logo pucks. Foolishly, both were the same. The collection is much more diversified now.

Though I'd still like to add the Bolts' Prague Premiere, World Cup, German Olympic team, Portland Pirates and Tri-City Americans pucks, I'll wait a few months before approaching Kolzig again. He's a gracious signer, but there's plenty of time. The season hasn't even started.

Even if I never get another puck from Kolzig, this should stand as a pretty solid representation of his career.