Sunday morning homily III

I always get a twinge of homesickness every time the Tampa Bay Lightning meet the Boston Bruins. Given that Thursday's game will be in Beantown makes it especially acute.

With family and friends remaining in New England, it's easy to understand why. Birthdays are a little quieter. Holidays don't seem as warm. And it's hard for a little boy to hug his Nana, who just had a hip replaced, over the phone.

The homesickness, though, extends beyond the family and friends. We miss walking through the Boston Commons and Public Gardens, checking out the Frog Pond and the Make Way for Ducklings statues. We miss the palpable excitement of the Red Sox, where we hang on nearly every pitch during the playoffs. And we miss Maine's rugged, but gorgeous, coastline.

While living down here in the apty-named Sunshine (and High Humidity) State has its benefits (I'd likely be raking leaves in the next week or so and I've yet to shovel a single snowflake down here), we're all still waiting, even after 15 months, for that "at-home feeling" to finally sink in.

Still, though, our future will be in Florida. We've hooked up with old friends and made a bunch of new ones. Going to the beach, especially during the winter months, never gets old. And, we have the Lightning, our favorite team until the Buffalo Sabres and Boston Bruins come to town.

Thankfully, there are some constants within the calendar, such as Halloween, to keep our minds off of New England. We'll spend most of the day decorating the house and front yard for Halloween, creating both the whimsical (an inflatable Snoopy atop a pumpkin, from It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown) and the spooky (a cemetery, complete with rolling fog, thunder, lightning and, apparently, someone looking to leave).

Any connection?

I can't help but wonder if the impending release of the blood-and-guts Saw IV will play any role in the $200 million sale of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The gorefest, set to hit theaters on Oct. 26, is produced by Oren Koules, one of the public faces behind Absolute Hockey's bid to buy the Bolts.

5 Big Sigs

With only the Atlanta Thrashers coming to town on Saturday, my pickings are pretty slim. Still, I wouldn't mind adding these to the collection:

No. 1) Bobby Holik on the 1999 NHL All Star Game helmet;
No. 2) Garnet Exelby on a Regina Pats puck;
No. 3) Darren Haydar, who scored his first NHL goal last night against New Jersey's Martin Brodeur, on a University of New Hampshire jersey, Milwaukee Admirals and UNH pucks and, if he's up for it, three cards;
No. 4) Johan Hedberg on Dallas Stars and Pittsburgh Penguins pucks; and
No. 5) Alexei Zhitnik on Atlanta Thrashers and Philadelphia Flyers pucks.

As a bonus, I might try to get Marian Hossa and Ilya Kovalchuk to sign the Young Guns stick.