Hounding report: Boston Bruins II

Many times in the past, especially when an outing's rewards fail to meet effort, I'll promote the concept of quality over quantity. Honestly, it's pure spin, putting the best face forward on what is often a disappointing day.

The Boston Bruins' last Saturday to Hockey Bay could be classified like that. But, unlike other times, this visit was more about a quality moment, most likely the best one of the season, trumping the 11 autographs we scored in our tag-team effort.

If you stopped by the blog Sunday -- and I hope you did -- you likely read my latest Hockey Life column. If you haven't, well, you can do it now. It touches upon how Colin was able to get Boston's Patrice Bergeron, his best NHL buddy, to come off the team's bus to sign the cast on his broken right ankle.

Even if we hadn't scored another autograph, the day -- and that moment -- was truly top-shelf, a rocket-launcher snipe where Mama not only hides the cookies, but her "secret" stash of chocolate.

Like Colin said, and it was unsolicited, having Patrice do that was the "best autograph of my life."

Thankfully, we did score a few more autographs, including Jarome Iginla, shown above, on a McFarlane's SportsPick figurine commemorating Canada's gold medal in men's hockey at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

Other Bruins signing that day were:

Gregory Campbell, from left, Zdeno Chara, Iginla and Daniel Paille.

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: 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.