Hounding report: New York Islanders

The schedule hasn't allowed too many opportunities to test the theory that day-before-gameday hounding is the best time to snag autographs from visiting NHL teams. Last Wednesday, with the New York Islanders in Hockey Bay, afforded one of those opportunities. So, with Colin on his spring break, we gave it a try.

Though we didn't snag too many of the big names -- with John Tavares out for the season with a knee injury and Josh Bailey and Kyle Okposo winning at a game of hide-and-seek -- we still came home with 33 autographs, a respectable number, even for a tag-team effort.

All told, our spring break efforts, including the Ottawa Senators,  netted us another 65 autographs for the collection. Within them, too, we added the 500th autograph of the 2013-14 hockey-hounding campaign.

Signing the pucks, shown above, were Islanders' recent No. 1 picks Calvin de Haan, left, and Ryan Strome.

Highlights included getting four players and a coach to sign four cards each:

Cal Clutterbuck, who signed the 500th autograph (second from right) of the campaign;

Travis Hamonic;

Matt Martin;

Frans Nielsen; and

Doug Weight.

We added specialty cards, shown below, from de Haan, from left, Thomas Hickey and Strome:

Also signing cards, shown below, were Colin McDonald and Evgeni Nabokov:

We also employed a trio of cheapskates cards, shown below, signed by Brock Nelson, from top, Anders Nilsson and Strome.

Hounding report: Ottawa Senators II

With Colin off this week for spring break and two teams coming into Hockey Bay, it was time for some father-son hockey-hounding bonding, kicking off with the Ottawa Senators earlier this week. Of course, Colin scored the lion's share of our 32 autographs, but that was by design.

After all, the torch was passed a long time ago.

Sure, I still identify the players for him. That's only fair. He has enough other things to keep his active mind busy. In the meantime, I focus my efforts on pucks, like I always have. Cases in point, perhaps, are the three, shown above, signed by Ottawa's Ales Hemsky, who did two, and Bobby Ryan.

Beyond that, the rest of the day's haul were cards:

Top row: Jared Cowen, Erik Karlsson, Clarke MacArthur and Milan Michalek; and

Bottom row: Chris Neil, Chris Phillips, Kyle Turris and Mika Zibinejad.

Two Senators players signed four cards each:

Craig Anderson and

Bobby Ryan.

The haul also included these set cards signed by, shown below from left, Cody Ceci, Hemsky and Jason Spezza:

Hemsky and Spezza also added to the ongoing Threads project:

The Hockey Life: 'Best autograph of my life'

Any time a body part ends up in a cast, especially when you're a kid, part of the deal is getting your family and friends to sign your cast. It's a rite of passage.

For the past three weeks, Colin as been collecting autographs on the cast for his broken ankle. Kids from school have signed. So have his hockey teammates and friends. Mama signed it. I have, too.

On Saturday, though, Colin got the person he most wanted to sign his cast to do just that - his best NHL buddy, Boston's Patrice Bergeron. For a few minutes, though, we weren't sure it would happen.

The Bruins, in town to play the Tampa Bay Lightning, were leaving a downtown hotel for the team's morning skate when Patrice walked out. He didn't hear Colin amid the shouts, signed a few autographs for people on the other side of the hotel's entrance and hopped onto the team bus.

I told Colin to walk around to the side of the bus and look for Patrice. Once he found him, I told him to start waving at him. One of Patrice's teammates spotted Colin and alerted Patrice. Patrice looked at Colin, who then pointed to his cast, pointed to Patrice and moved his hand like he was signing something.

To his credit, Patrice nodded "yes," got up from his seat, walked down the bus' aisle and steps to the street, where he found Colin waiting. And, with one simple act, shown in the photo above, Colin got the autograph he wanted.

"This is the best autograph of my life," he said. "The best."

So, not only is that a season highlight, but it's the leading contender for autograph of the year.

Hounding report: Tourney time

Just after the Christmas holidays, Colin and his Tampa Bay Jr. Lightning Pee Wee A White teammates played in a tournament down in Estero. Around the same time, there was a college hockey tournament taking place at the same rink, which is also home to the Florida Everblades, the East Coast Hockey League affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Given that Colin's game schedule meshed with the teams' practice schedules, he was able to score 123 autographs from the five teams -- all within a 24-hour window -- on team sheets, making it one of this hockey-hounding campaign's highlights:

Florida Everblades - 17 autographs

University of Cornell - 25 autographs

University of Maine - 25 autographs

Princeton University - 28 autographs

University of New Hampshire (Colin's favorite team) -- 28 autographs

Reunited, sort of

Yeah, I know I've shown this photo, or something very similar before, but as I'm recounting our 2013-14 hockey-hounding campaign, this trio of pucks, from the Tampa Bay Lightning's one-time Big Three, is a definite highlight of the season.

What I like about it was that we snagged Philadelphia's Vinny Lecavalier, the Rangers' Brad Richards and Tampa Bay's Marty St. Louis all within 48 to 50 hours on three separate hounding adventures during Colin's Thanksgiving break.

Hounding report: Philadelphia Flyers

Between our tag-team effort to double-dip the Philadelphia Flyers and the Tampa Bay Lightning in late November, dab smack in the middle of Colin's Thanksgiving break, we put together our most productive day of the 2013-14 hockey-hounding campaign.

With the 23 autographs Colin got from the Lightning, we added another 58 from the Flyers, giving us a total of 81 autographs, on a variety of platforms, on the day. The biggest haul, shown above, was Colin's complete team sheet, bearing 29 signatures from the likes of Claude Giroux, Vinny Lecavalier, Wayne Simmonds and Jakub Voracek.

Signing pucks for me that day were:

Above: Ray Emery, from left, Lecavalier and Steve Mason. Apparently, I was focused on the team's goalies and Vinny, who was making his return to Tampa Bay that day.

At left: I used an old-school Flyers puck to snag three old-school Flyers: general manager Paul Holmgren (top), announcer Bill Clement (left) and coach Craig Berube.

Cards, however, made up the bulk of my efforts:

Top row: Braydon Coburn, Sean Couturier, Giroux and Nicklas Grossman;
Bottom row: Grossman (again, sorry), Erik Gustafsson, Scott Hartnell and Andrej Mezsaros; and

Top row: Zac Rinaldo, Brayden Schenn, Luke Schenn and Simmonds; and
Bottom row: Mark Streit, Chris Therien, Kimmo Timonen and Voracek.

Hounding report: Tampa Bay Lightning

I'm quickly learning, much to my dismay, that waiting so long to share our hounding-hockey adventures may have created some unintended consequences. Take the Tampa Bay Lightning, for example.

Well, I have these photos as proof-positive that Lightning players signed these items for us during Colin's Thanksgiving break from school, I couldn't remember which day we hounded them.

Fortunately, a little research around this Marty St. Louis 1,000 games puck helped me figure out that we pulled double duty on the day the Philadelphia Flyers came to town in late November.

Bolts players signed 23 items for us (really, Colin got all of them) that day, adding to a nice haul from the Flyers.

Signing the cards, shown above, were:

Top row: Eric Brewer, Victor Hedman and Anders Lindback; and
Bottom row: Teddy Purcell, Tom Pyatt and Nate Thompson.

Two Lightning players signed four cards each for us:

B.J. Crombeen, and 

Sami Salo.

Finally, Alex Killorn added this puck:

Hounding report: Boston Bruins

Aside from the potential "drama" of a snub from his favorite NHL player, Boston's Patrice Bergeron, the two-part hounding adventure for the Bruins, interrupted by one of Colin's games, went as well as could be expected.

Primarily, the team was staying at a downtown Tampa hotel, one that has become more favored by visiting NHL teams, that employs a more vigorous defense against hounds. That doesn't mean, though, that you can't get autographs, it just means it takes a little more work. As a result, the bar of having a good day lowers.

That's why, despite getting 15 autographs, we'll chalk up the Bruins' visit, way back in mid October, to be a good day, with greater emphasis on quality than quantity as well as the first appearance of the 2013-14 hockey-hounding campaign of Colin's team sheets.

Signing picks were, from left, Bergeron, Zdeno Chara and Jarome Iginla.

In what was the biggest surprise of the day, Shawn Thornton signed multiples, including these three cards.

Among those signing the team sheet, shown above, were Bergeron, Gregory Campbell, Jordan Caron, Chara, Iginla and Thornton.

Hounding report: Minnesota Wild

Any time you have a bad outing, be it at work, play or at something else, you want to show resilience by stepping up your game the next time out. That's a lesson I've learned and try to follow, and now that I'm a father, one to pass along.

That's why, after scoring only four autographs from the Los Angeles Kings only two days earlier, I had a little extra motivation when the Minnesota Wild came to Hockey Bay. And though my standards may have lowered a bit, especially when it came to pucks, I felt a lot better making the westbound trip back home across the Gandy Bridge.

After all, I snagged 19 autographs, including a dozen pucks. And, that, is nearly five times what I'd done with the Kings.

Here's the haul, including the pucks shown above:

Top row: Niklas Backstrom, Kyle Brodziak and Dany Heatley; and
Bottom row: Darcy Kuemper, Zach Parise and Nate Prosser.

One highlight was getting a trio of pucks from a player and an assistant coach:

Matthew Dumba, taken seventh overall in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, who's back with the Portland Winterhawks in the Western Hockey League; and

Darryl Sydor, an assistant coach.

Besides signing a puck, Backstrom also signed these four cards:

Also signing cards were:

Matt Cooke and a pair from Nino Niederreiter.

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.