A time to shine

Other than winning the 2004 Stanley Cup, the Tampa Bay Lightning's only other claim to hockey fame is playing host to the 1999 NHL All Star Game.

All of the NHL's big names -- from Wayne Gretzky to Peter Forsberg to Martin Brodeur -- were in town. So were some of these forgettable contributors -- Theo Fleury, Dimitri Khristich and Sergei Krivokrasov. For a few days, Tampa was Hockey Central.

Unfortunately, I was nowhere near Tampa. We were in the Carolinas, two of the handful of folks who understood the game when the Hurricanes played at the Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum. And, yes, we hounded the 'Canes.

Because I work in NHL cities, it's easy to concentrate on the "hometown" team. That's why, during the Lightning's 2006 preseason IceFest event, I reached deep into my wallet, fishing out two crisp $1 bills, and bought two sets of the game's helmet stickers.

Once I applied them to a helmet, a game-issued model plucked earlier from a bargain bin (it cost $20)at the AHL's Manchester (N.H.) Monarchs team store, a future showcase item of the collection was born.

The signing project began, in earnest, this season. And while the progress has been, at best, methodical, I know that it'll take a few years to fill it out. To date, I've gotten signatures from Atlanta's Alexei Zhitnik, who represented the Sabres; Boston's Marco Sturm, who represented the Sharks; Buffalo's Lindy Ruff, head coach of the World squad; New York's Jim Schoenfeld, assistant coach of the North America squad; and Toronto's Mats Sundin.

And while there are some players who I'm unlikely to get -- Eddie Belfour, winning goaltender Ron Tugnutt and Alexei Yashin come to mind -- I should be able to add a few more players this season -- Atlanta's Bobby Holik and Mark Recchi, Buffalo's Teppo Numminen, Minnesota's Pavol Demitra, Montreal's Roman Hamrlik, the Rangers' Jaromir Jagr, Brendan Shanahan and Martin Straka, and Pittsburgh's Darryl Sydor.

Until then, though, these will have to suffice:


Jim Schoenfeld, left, Lindy Ruff and Marco Sturm

Mats Sundin, left, and Marco Sturm

Alexei Zhitnik

This spot is reserved for Wayne Gretzky, who was the MVP of the 49th NHL All Star Game. Pretty fitting, don't you think?

I nearly forgot about this

Editor's note: This posting originally appeared July 17, 2007, on Hound Central 2.0.

As I was putting together a puck order (and, my, what an order it will be, seeing that it's most likely the first of three or four this season), I came across a forgotten project -- an unsigned helmet for the 1999 NHL All Star Game played in Tampa Bay.

The helmet, a white Itech, came from the Manchester Monarch pro shop's bargain bin a couple seasons ago. I found the stickers at the Lightning's IceFest last season, paying $1 each for home and away (shown above) versions. Five minutes of effort, namely affixing the home version of stickers to the helmet, and the rest is history.

Though there are some participants who I'm unlikely to get, such as Steve Yzerman, Al MacInnis, Theo Fleury and Sergei Krivokrasov, enough players remain active or will visit the Tampa Bay area this season.

Some of those players at the top of my wish list are New Jersey's Martin Brodeur, Detroit's Dominik Hasek and Nicklas Lidstrom, Dallas' Eric Lindros, Mike Modano and Sergei Zubov, Vancouver's Markus Naslund, the Rangers' Jaromir Jagr, Brendan Shanahan and Martin Straka, and Toronto's Mats Sundin.

Others, and most likely easier to get, include Atlanta's Bobby Holik and Alexei Zhitnik, Boston's Marco Sturm, Buffalo's Lindy Ruff and Teppo Numminen, Minnesota's Pavol Demitra, Montreal's Roman Hamrlik, Pittsburgh's Mark Recchi and Washington's Viktor Kozlov.

Should travel take me back to New England over the next few years, and I'm pretty certain it will, I'd like to add Ray Bourque, too.

Oh, yeah, there's one other player that I'll save some room for -- game MVP Wayne Gretzky. Maybe you've heard about him.