2013 Top Autos: No. 6

When I look back on the abbreviated 2013 hockey-hounding campaign, I'm left with two impressions:  We didn't do all that bad, scoring 538 autographs in 14 trips (an updated accounting from earlier totals), and we added some quality items to the collection.

So, beginning today, we'll take a countdown-style look at the top six autographs:

Colin's team sheet from the Buffalo Sabres, in town March 26 to play the Lightning, sealed the deal, for me, on using NHL team wallpapers as autograph platforms. When you get the right image and a contrasting ink color, the finished product pops. That's exactly what we have here.

Looking ahead,these will serve as our go-to items for his team sheets.

Up next: No. 5

Team report: Buffalo Sabres II

Given the lockout shortened NHL season, our hounding adventures are limited to Eastern Conference teams. Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, we won't be able to hound every team that travels to Hockey Bay. Fortunately, though, there are a couple of teams that we'll be able to hound twice. The first team is my hometown Buffalo Sabres.

While the first trip this season, which netted 24 autographs, was a solo effort by yours truly, our most recent adventure for the Blue and Gold, which took place during Colin's spring break, was a tag-team effort. Our numbers reflect that, as we added 66 autographs -- the most so far this season -- to the collection.

Colin, continuing a recent trend, worked one of his computer wallpaper team sheets (shown above), racking up an impressive 28 autographs, adding every player and coach who made the trip.

Still, it was a solid number of cards that made our day. Besides Ryan Miller and Jason Pominville (since traded away), these Buffalo players also signed cards for us:

Top row: Jonas Enroth, Nathan Gerbe and Cody Hodgson;

Middle row: Tyler Myers, Steve Ott and Robyn Regehr; and

Bottom row: John Scott, Drew Stafford and Thomas Vanek.

Four Sabres players also signed four cards each:

Christian Ehrhoff, top, and Tyler Ennis; and

Ville Leino, top, and Jordan Leopold.

Next up: Community project

Heirarchy within hounding

When it comes to hounding certain NHL players, such as Buffalo's Ryan Miller, there's a specific order to the items I will ask a player to sign.

Pucks are the items of first choice. A player's jersey isn't far behind. A team item, if I'm working one, or a specific project, like our American-born goalies stick, come next. McFarlane bases, memorabilia cards or 8x10s are next. Heck, I'll even make my own card.

Then, and only then, will I ask one of the NHL's top players to sign some cards.

Even then, though, there's a method to my madness. Minor-league team sets, such as these two from Miller's days with the Rochester Americans, as well as any other sets or Heroes & Prospects offerings get top priority. As you can see, I've had these since the mid-2000s.

Once again, it shows the value of patience.

Up next: Sabres team report

What a card

With Colin off from school on spring break last week, we got out for a couple of hounding adventures. Jason Pominville, captain of my hometown team, the Buffalo Sabres, provided one of the funnier moments, so far, of the 2013 hockey-hounding campaign.

Colin, who was wearing his signed Sabres' Nathan Gerbe jersey, approached Pominville to have him sign his team sheet. Pominville, sizing him up, sensed an opportunity for a joke.

"Gerbe?" he said, referring to his diminutive 5-foot-5 teammate. "You're not Nathan Gerbe. You're taller than him. A lot taller than him."

Colin, who stands at 4-foot-9, immediately got the joke.

Next up: Buffalo's Ryan Miller

Team report: Buffalo Sabres

One of my highlights of any hockey-hounding campaign is any time the Buffalo Sabres -- my hometown team -- travel to Hockey Bay to play the Tampa Bay Lightning. By and large, the Sabres are one of the better signing teams in the NHL. That, alone, makes it worth the trip.

Just as much fun, and maybe a little more, is the opportunity to commune with like-minded people. Over the years, I've found that while you can take the person out of Western New York, you can't take the WNY out of the person.

Kindred spirits, we are, rooting for the Blue and Gold.

On the Sabres' last visit, I was flying solo during the hounding adventure. Given work, school and hockey schedules, that's the way it will sometimes this season.

Still, that didn't keep me from adding another 24 autographs, including the 2010 American Hockey League All Stars Game puck, shown above, signed by Tyler Ennis.

Signing the pucks shown above were, from left, Ryan Miller, Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek.

For the record, Patrick Kaleta, a fellow Buffalo kid, also signed a puck and Steve Ott showed my resourceful nature. The rest of the haul came in cards:

Drew Stafford signed these four cards.

Also signing were:

Top row: Nathan Gerbe, Christian Ehrhoff, Jonas Enroth and Jochen Hecht; and

Bottom row: Cody Hodgson, Mikhail Grigorenko, Tyler Myers and Robyn Regehr.

He's a Buffalo kid

When we took our road trip last summer, one of the destinations was the Buffalo Sabres pro shop at the First Niagara Center. For me, it's like being a kid in a candy shop. I don't know what to look at first and, quite honestly, spend more money than I really should.

This puck, though, caught me eye. As someone who spent part of his childhood living in Buffalo's West Side, and has been a fan since the Sabres' first season, I immediately identified with the phrase "We Live Hockey."

When planning for the Sabres' recent arrival down here in Hockey Bay, I set aside one of these pucks for a player who typifies that phrase. All it took was one look at the Buffalo roster and a little research to settle on Patrick Kaleta.

A gritty player, who was in the NHL news lately for a hit on the Rangers' Brad Richards, Kaleta was born in Angola, N.Y., a suburb of Buffalo, and played his high school and minor hockey around Western New York. So, to me, he's a Buffalo kid and certainly worthy of this puck.

Up next: Sabres team report

Resourcefulness

With most everyone I know, including us, still feeling an economic pinch, I'm finding autograph platforms just about anywhere I can. In this case, it came from a stack of hockey magazines, courtesy of Capt. Al, our hockey-hounding buddy in Toronto.

Within the stack was a "Best of ..." edition of The Hockey News. In its pages, we full-page images just like this one of Steve Ott, who now gets under the skin opponents for the Buffalo Sabres.

What I like about this one, though, is the designation: Best Pest. Because we're raising Colin to become a pest, I thought it was fitting to get it signed and added to the collection.

Cheap? Maybe. I like to think of it as being frugal and taking full advantage of any available resources.

Up next: A Buffalo kid