It's always good

It would be nothing short of an understatement to say that I get jacked up for hounding whenever the Boston Bruins come to Tampa to play the Lightning.

Having spent nearly six years in and around Boston, every visit by the Black and Gold is like Old Home Days. For the most part, I get to renew acquaintances, see familiar faces and, more importantly, have a good time hounding.

In essence, it's making a connection to a region and people we miss.

This morning's effort for the Bruins, though difficult under the cloud of Patrice Bergeron's injury, worked wonders. Not only did I get to catch up with a few Bruins, but I broke out of a mini-slump in terms of hounding. Between pucks and cards, as well as a helmet and goalie stick, the collection grew by another 30 autographs.

Even better, we'll all try our luck Saturday afternoon before the Bruins meet the Lightning at the St. Pete Times Forum. Until then, though, I'm quite happy to add these items:

Pucks, shown above, are, from left, Andrew Alberts, Boston College; John Bucyk, Detroit Red Wings; and Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins. Others signing pucks were Phil Kessel and Tuuka Rask.

On my winter projects, so to speak, Marco Sturm signed the 1999 NHL All Star Game helmet and Tim Thomas signed the American-born goalie stick.

Cards, shown above, are, from left, P.J. Axelsson, Chuck Kobasew, Mark Stuart and Dennis Wideman. Others who signed cards were Bobby Allen, Doug Houda, Glen Metropolit, Jeremy Reich and Peter Schaefer.

Rookies Matt Hunwick and Vladimir Slobotka signed homemade cards, too.

Don't worry, either. I'll let you know Sunday how we do on Saturday. Like I wrote before, we're loaded for bear.