A major haul

I'll have to admit to feeling a little bit of pressure when it came to hounding the Calgary Flames on Thursday, thanks to loyal Hound Central 3.0 reader Brett's comments that he was looking forward to reading about my haul from his hometown team.

It only intensified, too, when I heard that the team was, let's say, less than willing as the players made their way to an afternoon practice Wednesday at the St. Pete Times Forum. The players would sign, but many were limiting their autographs to one each.

Well, the Flames must had some great meals and a restful night of slumber because I found most of the team to be capable, pleasant and willing signers. How good were they? We added another 56 autographs, including 22 pucks and 11 players, including Adrian Aucoin and Owen Nolan, on Colin's team sheet.

Now, if we can post those kinds of numbers from a "grumpy" team, imagine how many we could've added from a not-so-grumpy team?

All kidding aside, Thursday was one of those days, even despite some minor disappointments, that reinforce the reason why we're building this collection.

All the big names - Jarome Iginla, Miikka Kiprusoff and Dion Phaneuf signed. And Craig Conroy and Daymond Langkow joined Kiprusoff in signing three pucks each.

We did miss Iginla, Kiprusoff and Phaneuf on the team sheet, as they opted to take the bus, rather than walk, at game time. All in all, though, it was a pretty memorable day.

In fact, I believe we got an autograph from every member of the team, as well as the coaches. Not a bad day, if you ask me. I guess Brett was right. It was a haul.

Pucks, shown above:
Top row: Eric Godard, Kristian Huselius and Mike Keenan;
Bottom row: Eric Nystrom, Cory Sarich and Alex Tanguay.

Cards, show below:
Top row: Dustin Boyd, Matthew Lombardi and Curtis McElhinney;
Bottown row: Wayne Primeau, Eric Nystrom and Stephane Yelle.