Design a mask

So, you think you're an artist, eh? And you love hockey. The Vancouver Canucks are offering a contest just for you, with the opportunity to design backup goalie Curtis Sanford's mask.

Personally, I'd rather design Roberto Luongo's mask. He's a much better goalie (a mild understatement) and, as the Canucks' starter, the design would get much more exposure.

With that in mind, perhaps the Canucks should let fans design Sanford's hat, seeing he'll be more likely to wear that from the comfort of the bench than his mask this season.

Luc Bourdon: 1987-2008

Please join me in sending your good thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of Luc Bourdon, who was killed yesterday in an accident in his native New Brunswick. Bourdin, 21, was a highly touted defenseman for the Vancouver Canucks.

Ayuh, I've been to Maine

With Team USA and Sweden opening training camps in and around Portland, Maine, later this week (April 24-30) for the upcoming World Championships, I'm going through a rather severe case of hockey homesickness. And it's not just because of the missed hounding opportunities.

No, I'm a big fan of Portland. It's a cool city. Old, brick and granite buildings. Lots of 'em. Commercial Street separates a working waterfront and a bustling downtown. Expect trendy gift shops and the requisite prices. The restaurants could be better, but there are some brew pubs, namely Three Dollar Deweys, worth visiting, too.

My favorite thing to do in Portland, and this should come as no great surprise, was hockey hounding. Many a winter's night, after making the 45-minute, mostly back-road ride to Portland to take in the game, I stood outside the Cumberland County Civic Center, snagging autographs from then-AHL stars Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Jason Spezza and Eric Staal.

Portland is, by far, the easiest place I've ever collected autographs. The players' entrance fronts Spring Street. At game time, most walk down from the hotel or parking garage. Post-game, the bus parks right outside the doors.

Who's worth hounding? How about these players?

Team USA: Buffalo's Jason Pominville and Drew Stafford, Carolina's Tim Gleason, Chicago's Patrick Kane, Edmonton's Tom Gilbert, Los Angeles' Dustin Brown and Patrick O'Sullivan, New Jersey's Zach Parise and Phoenix's Peter Mueller and Keith Ballard.

Team Sweden: Ex-Islander Kenny Jonsson, Los Angeles' Erik Ersberg and Vancouver's Alexander Edler. It's too bad such players as Vancouver's Markus Naslund and the Sedin twins, Daniel and Henrik declined their invitations.

Even though I can't be there, here's hoping that someone takes advantage of this opportunity. I'll bet that some of Boston's hounding crew will be there. If not, they'll miss out.

Sunday morning homily XVIII

Once the NHL drops the curtain on tonight's All Star Game in Atlanta, we'll be at the unofficial halfway mark of the season. It also marks when hockey starts to get fun.

Beginning Tuesday, teams start ramping up for the playoffs. Some will make it. Some won't. Every point, from here on out, is precious.

Here in Tampa, though, it won't be as intense. Sure, the Lightning will make every effort to make a run for their only shot at the playoffs -- winning the Southeast Conference. No. What I'm talking about is holding myself to a promise I made last year.

Rather than hound every team that comes to Tampa, it's time to add a few breaks into the schedule, especially with those we see fairly often. In a sense, it's pure cherrypicking. Teams like Vancouver and Minnesota deserve undivided attention. Others, such as the Leafs and Hurricanes, can wait until next year.

Heading into this season, I pledged to have more fun hounding this year. To a degree, that's been attained. Colorado was fantastic. So was Calgary. Edmonton, too.

Going forward, where less will be more, I'll remember that.

Goalies are nuts

This is just an observation, but any human being willing to stand in front of a slapshot by Boston's Zdeno Chara needs to have their head examined. At 103-plus miles per hour, there's no amount of equipment (I'll talk, though, about money) that could keep me in the net while he was winding up.

There is a difference between brave and foolish.

5 Big Sigs

With as many as three opportunities this week, I'd probably run myself back into the ground. That's why I'll probably pass on the Sabres (Tuesday) and Panthers (Saturday), and focus on the Canucks. I see those other teams all the time. The Canucks? They're a different story.

I'll keep it pretty simple, too:

~ Roberto Luongo on a new Canucks puck;
~ The Sedin twins on new Canucks pucks;
~ Markus Naslund on new Canucks and Penguins pucks;
~ Ryan Kesler on a 2005 AHL All-Stars card; and
~ Alex Edler and Nathan McIver on their Rookie Class cards.

What do you think?

To Vancouver: Brad Richards, Dan Boyle and Marc Denis

To Tampa: Roberto Luongo, Ryan Kesler and Aaron Miller

Eye of the beholder

Though the uniform and logo may go down as one of the ugliest ever in the NHL, the Vancouver Canucks' flying skate certainly look pretty sharp when it's signed.

In this case, it's Glen Hanlon, the Washington Capitals coach, who played for the Canucks from the 1977-78 to 1981-82 seasons. He was the team's third-round pick in the 1977 draft.

New-look West

About every other day, it seems, another NHL team takes the wraps off its new RBK Edge look for the upcoming season. A couple days ago, the Vancouver Canucks showed off their new duds. Perhaps, they should waited a little longer.

First off, what's with the city name across the front of the jersey? What did the Canucks do? Forget where they came from? In that vein, why not use the letter "V" for the striping on each sleeve, a nod to the Canucks' butt-ugly clown uniforms worn from the late 1970s to mid 80s?

I do like the colors, though. That blue-and-green scheme evokes a more Pacific Northwest, or as the team likes to say British Columbia, feel than the most recent dark blue, maroon and silver. Still, though, I find it a little silly to have the "Vancouver" on the chest.

Though the biggest change to the logo is color (harkening to the days when Vancouver settled on Dale Tallon after missing out on Gilbert Perreault), the team's secondary logos, and especially a new-look Johnny Canuck, continue the theme.

Looking ahead, the Calgary Flames will unveil their new look on Sept. 4. How big is this in the Canadian heartland? Pretty big, I imagine. You'll need tickets to get in. Thankfully, they're free. All they're offering now is a glimpse at the tie-down collar.

Quick shifts

If there's one person here in the Tampa Bay area who has a vested interest in seeing Absolute Hockey's $200-million deal for the team become finalized, it should be Lightning coach John Tortorella (shown at left).

It's no secret that Tortorella has no problems throwing a player under the bus (just ask Carolina's John Grahame or the Islanders' Ruslan Fedotenko). This past weekend, though, Tortorella launched some barbs toward the high-rent district in the team's existing power structure.

During a question-and-answer session with fans this past Saturday, Tortorella took a shot at one of his bosses, current Lightning CEO Tom Wilson (shown at right):

"The guy who I'm glad is the hell out of here is Tom Wilson because he's the one who has put obstacle after obstacle in front of us," Tortorella said in Sunday's edition of the St. Petersburg Times. "Who knows? This deal might not go through, and they'd still be here. I really don't care."

The Times reported this morning that the earliest the sale of the Lightning to Absolute Hockey from Palace Sports & Entertainment would be Sept. 18, though it could take longer.

Interesting move

Future Hall of Famer Eddie Belfour may be out of the NHL, but that doesn't mean he's out of hockey. It seems Belfour, who played last season for the Florida Panthers, will tend the net for Leksand, a second-division club in Sweden.

Doesn't it seem odd, given how Belfour's play last season gave the Panthers some respectability, that he'd bolt across the Atlantic? My instincts tell me there's more to this story.

Lifting the veil

The Vancouver Canucks will show off their new uniform, and possibly a logo, later today. The unveling is set for 12:30 p.m. (PST), meaning East Coast hockey fans will have to wait until 3:30 p.m. Here's a link to the team's jersey launch page.

You should expect some commentary on the Canucks' new look and other jersey/logo-related news tomorrow.

Poll results

Eagle-eyed readers should have noticed that there's a new poll here at Hound Central 3.0. With all of hub-bub about new jerseys and logos, you can vote on what team has done the best job reworking its logo.

As for the first poll of the season, which asked what free-agent signee will help his new team the most, here are the results:

Philly's Daniel Briere: 11 of 13 votes (84 percent)
NYR's Chris Drury: 0 of 13 votes
NYI's Bill Guerin: 0 of 13 votes
Detroit's Brian Rafalski: 1 of 13 votes (7 percent)
Other: 1 of 13 votes (7 percent)

And, no, I don't know why the percentages add up to 98 percent, rather than 100 percent. It's way too early for math, if you ask me.