Fundraising auction No. 4

With an old friend and hockey teammate stepping up, it's time to begin another fundraising auction at eBay, featuring this hockey stick blade tape wrap, to raise money for breast cancer research.

So far, we've raised more than $53 with the past three items. We're very appreciative of Brett, AJ and Jerry helping to support Colin's efforts, both on and off the ice.

This week's item saw plenty of use: two travel hockey games, one recreational hockey league game and two practices. Even better, the tape comes from the Reebok RibCor 23K stick that Colin used to score two goals in his rec league game.

The starting bid remains at $2.49 as does the $3 shipping fee. Remember, we're not doing this to make money for ourselves. We're even donating the shipping fees. All proceeds from these auctions will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

As always, we appreciate your support.

Click here to check out the current auction

The Hockey Life: Moments of a season

There are moments in any hockey season, whether watching or playing, that can last a lifetime for the parties involved. For skaters, it's a first goal or point. For goalies, it's the first win or shutout. And, for a team, it's a first win. Each is a special moment.

On Saturday, during Colin's rec hockey game with his Pinellas P.A.L. Stars squad, we had the privilege of watching three young players -- all in their first year of organized hockey, I believe -- register some important milestones in their respective journeys. Two players scored their first goals and the team's goalie notched his first shutout.

It was great seeing the smiles on faces, from the players to the coaches to the parents, with each moment. So was watching the hard work these kids have been putting in over the past month or so be rewarded. In games like this, especially at this level and in this particular season, the highs can only temper the lows as kids learn how to play this humbling game.

Take a look at the photo, please, shot by The Missus at the conclusion of the Stars' 6-0 win over the Leafs. (Technically, the score was 8-0, but the scorekeeper stopped keeping track after 6-0.) Yes, a team is celebrating. It's celebrating more than a win, though. It's celebrating milestones.


I'm hoping, too, that each of the boys has a puck to commemorate their achievements. Years from now, those black rubber disks will serve as tangible reminders of a single game they played on an October afternoon on a rink in Florida.

We should know. One such puck sits in a plastic case on a baker's rack in our dining room. Dated March 14, 2010, it's Colin's first goal while playing for the Stars. For him, it's a milestone. For me, it's reason to smile.

Fundraising auction No. 3

 

Here we are, nearing the end of October, and we have yet another fundraising auction at eBay, featuring this hockey stick blade tape wrap, to raise money for breast cancer research.

So far, we've raised more than $30 with the past two items. We're very appreciative of Brett and AJ helping to support Colin's efforts, both on and off the ice.

This week's item saw plenty of use: one recreational hockey league game and four practices.Even better, the tape comes from the Reebok RibCor 23K stick that Colin used to log an assist in his rec league game.

The starting bid remains at $2.49 as does the $3 shipping fee. Remember, we're not doing this to make money for ourselves. All proceeds from these auctions will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

As always, we appreciate your support.

Click here to check out the current auction

The Hockey Life: Great save, Patrice

Save for two years out of the past nine, the annual highlight of our hockey-hounding season has been getting  a photo of Colin with his favorite NHL player, Boston's Patrice Bergeron. Sure, the autographs we get are nice and, as always, are welcome additions to the collection. What we're really after, though, is what you see above.

It's a chance, as it has always been, for a young hockey player who, like many others, dreams of playing in the NHL to meet his idol. Even if only for a few moments, the memories created last a lifetime. For Colin, Patrice, whom he calls Petey, is the reason why he wears No. 37.

As hockey parents, it's our job to do whatever we can to support our child's dreams. Yes, we stress the value of education and remind him often that good grades and a college degree in a growing field will most likely take him further in life than most anything else. Within that, one of the lessons we preach -- in life as well as in hockey -- is being in the right place at the right time.

That's why we found ourselves in Tampa early Saturday morning, waiting and watching for the Bruins. Seeing Patrice, or so we thought, would be a good way to start a hockey-filled day and provide some motivation, through an invitation to Patrice to come watch Colin play for the Pinellas P.A.L. Stars later that day. After an hour of waiting, however, we weren't so sure.

Though Colin stood near the hotel's entrance and called out to Patrice as he headed to the team's bus for the morning skate, Patrice walked past without acknowledging his little buddy. Colin called out again, but Patrice didn't even look back before climbing aboard the bus and settling into a seat near a window close to where we were standing. Even waving at him drew no response. Needless to say, Colin was bummed.

"I was heartbroken," he told me later.

A quick stop at the Krispy Kreme on Kennedy Boulevard, as we headed to Oldsmar for Colin's game,  helped eased some of the disappointment, but I could still tell it was bothering him. To him, Patrice is his buddy. Actually, to Colin, he's more than that. He's someone else to look up to.

Patrice is one of the the first NHL players that Colin, then 4 years old, really first spoke to at any length, back in September 2005 outside the Ristuccia Arena in Wilmington, Mass. Since then, they've shared a hug during Patrice's first trip to Tampa following that horrific hit he took in 2007. They've talked about school and hockey as they walked down trolley tracks while Patrice made his way to a morning skate. Heck, they're even on a hockey card together.

All of that, I suppose, has led to an expectation that they'd have their annual moment, so to speak, on Saturday morning. And, when it didn't happen, especially when we missed last year because of school, the disappointment was shared among the three of us. I told Colin he'd have another opportunity to see Patrice later in the day. Deep down inside, I knew (or, at least, hoped really hard) that it wouldn't happen again.

Thankfully, and I do mean this, Patrice more than made up for it as the Bruins left the hotel for the game against the Lightning. He apologized to Colin, decked out in his "Keep Calm and Bergeron" T-shirt, for not speaking to him earlier in the day. They also engaged in a conversation in French. He even signed Colin's team sheet and a Stanley Cup champions puck.

Even better, we got what came for, getting the traditional photo. By the smiles on their faces, I'm thinking the day turned out just fine.

Hounding report: Florida Panthers

The Hockey Hounding Gods aligned the planets for me when the Florida Panthers, one of the best-signing teams in the NHL, opened the 2013-14 hockey-hounding campaign as the opponent in the Tampa Bay Lightning home opener earlier this month.

It's no surprise, to me at least, that I had what I considered a strong start, adding 31 autographs, including a puck (shown above) signed by Florida's Aleksander Barkov, the No. 3 overall pick at the 2013 Draft.

Hockey cards proved to be the platform of the day, as the first 30 were added to the stack. For the record, Panthers defenseman Marcel Goc signed the first two autographs of the campaign.

Signing four cards each were:

Sean Bergenheim, who is seldom, if ever, shy around a Sharpie;

Tomas Fleischmann, who also is pretty consistent in signing this many.

Other Panthers players signing cards were:

Top row: Brian Campbell, Scott Clemmensen, Tom Gilbert; and

Bottom row: Matt Gilroy, Marcel Goc and long-time toughie Scott Gomez;

Top row: Erik Gudbranson, Ed Jovanovski and Tomas Kopecky;

Bottom row: Dmitry Kulikov, Jacob Markstrom and Shawn Matthias;

A trio of toughies in Scottie Upshall, Kris Versteeg and Ryan Whitney.

Up next: A disappointing trip, in more ways than one, for the Los Angeles Kings.

Fundraising auction No. 2

As promised, we've started another fundraising auction at eBay, featuring this hockey stick blade tape wrap, to raise money for breast cancer research.

Despite getting nearly 100 views, the first auction ended without a bid within a week. Thankfully, though, we received one for $25 after the auction closed. Thanks, Brett, for doing that and continuing to support Colin's efforts, both on and off the ice.

This week's item saw plenty of use: two travel hockey games, one recreational league game and three practices. Even better, the tape comes from the Reebok RibCor 23K stick that Colin used to score a goal and two assists in his rec league game.

We've also lowered the starting bid to $2.49 and shipping to $3, beginning this week, in our bid to get you to bid on the item. Remember, we're not doing this to make money for ourselves. All proceeds from these auctions will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

As always, we appreciate your support.

Here's a link to this week's auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=231074726706

The Hockey Life: Tough game

Given the score, an abysmal double-digits to 1, it would have been easy to understand any player, seeing the waning moments of the game wind down, to go through the motions. You skate, but with less of a purpose. Rather than mount a last-ditch bid to generate some offense, you're happy to simply clear the puck. Watching from the bench, it seems, isn't all that bad.

Really, all you want is the buzzer to sound.

In this game of life, and not just in hockey, there will always be stinkers of a game. It's s fact of life. Sports, too. And don't let anyone tell you any differently. As much as we all want to win, someone has to lose. That's the way it goes.

In those situations, though, an opportunity presents itself. It all boils down to one simple decision -- do you keep trying hard, no matter the score or outcome? In my book, you do. That's the way I was raised. That's the way I'm raising Colin. There's no other choice.

Yes, it stinks getting shellacked. It isn't fun, in the least little bit, watching the other team run up the score. But, if the team is that good and you're not doing much to stop them, what can you do? Quit? Blame others? Whine about the talent level of the other team? No. No. And no.

So, what can you do? You dig a little harder. You skate a little faster. You look your teammates, as well as the opponents, square in the eye. You don't give up. Instead, you chalk it up as a learning experience and use it as motivation to make sure it never happens again. You grow.

Really, that's all you can do. And, thankfully, that's what Colin did.

Raising awareness and money

Each October, CMS 37 wraps his hockey stick blades in pink tape to help raise awareness for breast cancer research. Last year, he gave away the wrappings to people who have defeated breast cancer or felt the loss of having someone they love die from the disease.

This year, CMS 37 is again participating in his project, but we're adding a different element. Each week, through Saturday, Nov. 2, we'll change the tape on his two sticks, making one available to someone we know and putting the other up for auction on eBay.

If the item sells, and we hope it does, you have our word that all proceeds from this week's auction will be donated, through eBay's Giving Works program, to the Breast Cancer Research Fund.

The auctions, which will be listed every Monday afternoon, will last seven days, with the final one ending Monday. Nov. 11. The opening bid for this week's pink hockey stick tape wrap, shown above, is $2.49 with a Buy It Now price of $9.99. Shipping and handling is a flat rate of $3.

Remember, we're not making a penny on this. All proceeds will go to charity. This week's auction, if successful, will benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Here's a link to this week's auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=231069455689

As always, we appreciate your consideration of participating in this event. Thank you.

The Hockey Life: Someday, soon

From all of the roles within a hockey game, from playing to watching, there's really only one left that truly captivates my attention -- coaching. Not sure why, but a voice inside my head keeps turning up the volume. At first, it was a whisper. Over the years, and especially over the past few, the voice has gotten louder.

And, now, it's at a point where it's too hard to ignore anymore.

More than anything else, the curiosity to see whether I'd be good at it is the motivating factor. I've played the game long enough to know. I've watched games, at most every level. And, for the past six-plus years, I've worked with Colin on different aspects of the game.

For good or bad, though, I want to find a way, and more importantly the time, to become certified, even if I don't work with any other players but my own son. It's more about gaining insight into the teaching, the dynamics and the behind-the-scenes mechanics of building a team from scratch.

The biggest obstacle, I believe, is my work schedule, primarily nights and weekends. Unfortunately, I've yet to win a ginormous Powerball jackpot, meaning that I'll have to continue within journalism, as I have for the past 28-plus years now, and remain far from being one-dimensional. But, still, if this can be done online, and I believe it can, there's no reason to not try.

Trust me, I have no delusions of grandeur. I'd be happy as the proverbial clam, if you will, to work with a rec-league team, serving as a substitute or, perhaps, starting out as an assistant. Just like anything else I've done, I've worked my way up learning the ropes. Sure, I may understand the game, but there's a lot to learn about coaching. In a way, it'd be like serving an apprenticeship.

As a coach, it's more important to create hockey players, people who are willing to adopt the team concept. Sure, each team needs its superstars, so to speak. But a team still needs players who hustle, make smart plays and never put themselves above their teammates. Those are lessons, I believe, that can last a lifetime.

Here in Florida, I've witnessed both ends of the coaching spectrum. There are solid coaches who command the respect of their players and parents, even outside of their organization. Good coaches, too, who are in it for the teaching. Unfortunately, there are others who do it only so their child can make a team or, far worse, fail to maintain a safe environment for their players.

Thankfully, each one provides a teaching moment. That's why it's time to start learning.