Sunday morning homily XXIV

In less than a week, I get to enjoy yet another spring break here in Florida. With Colin off from school and an early vacation request approved at work, we're looking forward to some fun in the sun.

We're planning on getting in a little hounding, watching some hockey, going camping (in the backyard, though), exploring Florida's wildlife, practicing our skating and, basically, hanging out. And, we might even check out the St. Petersburg Grand Prix.

More than anything else, our vacation together will provide yet another opportunity to strengthen a bond between father and son. As Colin grows older, I know these instances may prove more difficult to arrange. Schedules, from work to school to play, will likely see to that.

That's why hockey will play a big part of our time off together. Not just in the weeks ahead, but hopefully through our shared lifetimes. Now that Colin asks pretty good questions about the game, wanting to know about penalties, arenas and certain players on other teams, I know the seed has taken sprout.

Now, it's time to watch it grow.

What do you think?

Now that the hockey world, or at least our little speck of it, knows the Tampa Bay Lightning won't be making the NHL playoffs, I'm wondering why the team isn't shutting down stars Vincent Lecavalier and Marty St. Louis for the season.

With a season as frustrating as this, and nagging bumps and bruises starting to chip away at productivity, I believe it makes more sense to start their summers early, giving them a chance to heal -- physically, mentally and emotionally.

I doubt it will happen, though. No one wants to be accused of tanking a season, even if it means a No. 1 overall pick.

5 Big Sigs

In what will be the final full week of hockey hounding for the 2007-08 season in Tampa Bay, I can begin to close out the campaign by adding these cherry-picked items to the collection:

~ Florida's Tomas Vokoun on Panthers cards;
~ Washington's Olaf Kolzig on new and old school Capitals pucks;
~ Washington's Sergei Fedorov on anything;
~ Carolina's Eric Staal on a 2008 NHL All-Star Game puck; and
~ Carolina's Tuomo Ruutu and Sergei Samsonov on Hurricanes pucks.

Road act

On a day when I didn't think I would bother hounding the Florida Panthers, I was again reminded why the team is considered one of the better road-signing squads. Other than Nathan Horton, most every player took the time to sign at the team's hotel before Saturday's game.

What was surprising, however, was learning from a couple of South Florida hockey fans that always isn't the case on the Panthers' home turf. I had two fans tell me that they scored more autographs in a single afternoon in Tampa than they had all season down in Sunrise.

If that's the case, then, I'm glad the Panthers travel to Tampa four times a year.

I must pass along, too, that I whiffed on an attempt to score puck No. 1,500. Carrying only two pucks (Florida and Team Canada) on Saturday, the team's TV color guy, Hall of Famer Denis Potvin, did not honor my repeated requests. Oh, well, it would have been nice.

Either way, though, we added another 18 autographs to the collection, including a nice wallpaper image from Jay Bouwmeester and a couple of players on Hound Central 3.0's latest project, a Slovakian team jersey.

Cards, from left, shown above: Bryan Allen, Gregory Campbell, Olli Jokinen and Stephen Weiss.

Top-shelf player

There are two things that I always try to do whenever we watch, or hound, the Florida Panthers.

The first objective is to remind Colin to watch defenseman Jay Bouwmeester during every shift on the ice. He's a smart player.

The second? Well, look above. He doesn't disappoint there, either.

Get him while you can

From what I've heard and seen about Florida goalie Tomas Vokoun, the guy is more than a pretty decent goalie -- he's a regular signing machine, too.

In just the few times that I've had the opportunity to get his autograph, I've watched in amazement as he willingly signed multiples for anyone who asks.

This card was one of four he signed for Colin before Florida's 3-2 victory over Tampa Bay on Saturday.

One of my hounding buddies, whose job takes him throughout the Southeast, tells me that Vokoun recently asked if he had anything else for him to sign once completing a nine-board of cards.

What do you think?

Anyone else see a young Larry Robinson in Panthers defenseman Jay Bouwmeester? Think about it and get back to me. Please?

Nice touch, too, by the Habs raising Big Bird's No. 19 to the rafters of Montreal's Bell Centre.

Find the time

As I've said countless times before, any hockey hound worth his or her salt needs to make an effort to hound the Florida Panthers. Doing so will only add to your collection.

Between the team's stars -- Olli Jokinen, Jay Bouwmeester, Tomas Vokoun and Stephen Weiss -- and its role players -- most notably Jozef Stumpel, Mike Van Ryn and Richard Zednik -- the Panthers are one of the NHL's most approachable teams.

And let's not forget about Hall of Famer Denis Potvin, who provides color commentary during Panthers' TV broadcasts.

Weiss, who signed the Young Guns stick (above), and Vokoun have quickly become my favorite Panthers players. Weiss is always pleasant, refreshingly candid and always willing to strike up a conversation (We discussed the source of two bandages on his left eyebrow - "I don't know who did it," he told me. "It might have been one of my teammates.").

Quite simply, Vokoun, the Panthers' biggest splash in the free-agent market this summer, is a signing machine. I nearly apologized for having only two pucks for him to sign.

A word of caution, though, on Nathan Horton. Apparently, the Panthers young forward will go to great lengths to avoid even the smallest pack of hounds. Yesterday, he ducked out a back door of the hotel on his way to the morning skate. Only one person, who was late in arriving, crossed his path and received an autograph. Still, though, Horton is the exception to the rule.

And though I missed Jokinen (I only had cards for him), opting instead for a puck from Zednik, I was pretty pleased with adding another 22 autographs to the collection.

Besides a pair of pucks from Potvin, others signing (top photo) were, clockwise from top left: Gregory Campbell, Florida Panthers; Richard Zednik, Florida Panthers; Tomas Vokoun, Milwaukee Admirals; and Vokoun, Montreal Canadiens.

Cards shown (above):
Top row - Jay Bouwmeester, Brett McLean and Branislav Mezei;
Bottom row - Ruslan Salei, Jozef Stumpel and Mike Van Ryn.

It wasn't a typo

Astute hockey card collectors might have noticed different spellings of the last name for Florida Panthers goalie Craig Anderson.

In this In The Game Action card, his last name is spelled as Andersson. In other cards, though, it's spelled Anderson.

One question cleared up this issue.

It seems that Anderson, an American-born goalie, added the extra "s" to his surname after his youth team played in Sweden. He changed it back to its current spelling, he said, because he never had it legally changed to Andersson.

Guess who?

Can you guess what Hall of Fame defenseman signed these two pucks this morning as he made his way over to the St. Pete Times Forum to watch the Florida Panthers have their morning skate?

Need a hint? You'll find the answer in The Vault.

Sunday morning homily VI

Loyalty, in any form, goes a long way.

It's easy to be loyal to your family. And your employer certainly expects some loyalty. When it comes to sports teams, though, sometimes those loyalties can be tested.

Within the NHL, there's no doubt where my loyalty lies -- through thick and thin, from Billy Inglis to Drew Stafford, it's always been the Buffalo Sabres. Growing up in western New York saw to that.

However, as my 22-plus-year newspaper career has taken me from Maine to Florida and points in between, I've come to develop appreciations for a handful of other teams:

~ the Boston Bruins, for the simple fact that Colin has a buddy on the team and we lived in New England for five-plus years;

~ the Carolina Hurricanes, as Lisa and me were among the handful of fans who watched them in their first season in North Carolina, when 5,000 people was a big crowd at the Greensboro Coliseum; and

~ the Tampa Bay Lightning, because that's where we're living and I believe you should root for your hometown team, so to speak, save for whenever the Sabres, Bruins or 'Canes come to town.

My loyalties to the Lightning, though, are pretty tenuous these days. It's one thing for the team to lose every road game so far this season. But last night's extremely disappointing 6-4 loss to the Atlanta Thrashers has pushed me to the limit.

How a team can give up five unanswered goals -- especially in its own barn, mind you -- is unfathomable. I hope they're embarrassed. I know I was.

Loyalty, I'm afraid, can only go so far.

An excellent meal

Given the sharp prices charged by food vendors inside the St. Pete Times Forum, it has become par for the course that we grab a bite to eat before Lightning games.

Sometimes, we stop at Champions, a sports bar at the Marriott Waterside, where we join other Lightning fans for pub fare.

Last Saturday, we made the mistake of eating at the pricier Cafe Waterside, another of the hotel's eateries, where we waited more than an hour for our dinner specials (roast turkey and the usual trimmings) to arrive. Even worse, our waiter forgot Colin's dinner. It'll be some time, too, before we go back.

Yesterday, though, we had one of our best pregame meals ever. After hounding the Thrashers, when we added 36 autographs to the collection, we followed through on plans for a picnic, so to speak, with friends Fay, Kathy and Kris. Thanks to a recon mission that uncovered an office building food court, we dined on fried chicken and all the fixings, not worrying (too much) about our volume as we laughed our way through dinner.

I guess it shows that it's the company, and not the address, that makes for a good meal. We're looking forward to doing it again.

Tis better to give

A year ago, while talking to a newspaper friend back in western New York, she mentioned that she was a big fan of Buffalo's Jason Pominville. Last week, when the Sabres were in town, I acted upon that nugget of information, getting the Sabres forward to sign a puck to her.

The puck arrived Friday at her office, on a day she wore her Pominville jersey to work. In an e-mail, she said it was a pleasant surprise.

As much as I'd like to take full credit for this, I really must reach out to my buddy John, back in New Hampshire. Through his graciousness and generosity, I've learned that it's just as enjoyable, sometimes even moreso, to get something signed for a friend than for myself.

My only regret is that it's taken this long for me to learn such an easy lesson. My hope now is that others will appreciate this wisdom.

5 Big Sigs

The Florida Panthers will make a return trip to Tampa this week, so I'm hoping that I'll add these to the collection:

~ Florida's Tomas Vokoun on Montreal Canadiens and Milwaukee Admirals pucks;
~ Florida's Richard Zednik on a Florida Panthers puck;
~ Florida's Nathan Horton on the Young Guns stick;
~ Denis Potvin, a TV color commentator, on Florida Panthers and Team Canada pucks; and
~ a quick return on any of the first batch of TTM requests.

On the prowl

When it comes to the Florida Panthers, you certainly won't hear any complaints from me. Year after year, this team has been one of the best in the league when it comes to signing autographs.

Yesterday's trip to Tampa to hound the Panthers only reinforces this point. Aside from Nathan Horton, who apparently found an alternative route to the St. Pete Times Forum, the only time a player didn't stop yesterday morning was when he wasn't asked.

Bottom line, kids: It's teams like Florida that make collecting fun. Granted, the Panthers may not be the best team in the league (yet), but they sure know how to gain fans.

As usual, my primary focus was to add pucks to the collection. And, at morning's end, another dozen joined the club. This season, though, I'm trying to build upon the diversity of items within the collection.

Florida's Craig Anderson helped this effort, becoming the first American-born goalie to sign the stick shown above. With any luck, I'll add Boston's Tim Thomas, Buffalo's Ryan Miller and the Islanders' Rick Dipietro, among others, this season.

Florida's Olli Jokinen and Jay Bouwmeester also pitched in, adding to this working Young Guns (for the lack of a better term) stick, a well-used Easton Synergy bought a few years ago from the AHL's Manchester Monarchs. Boston's Patrice Bergeron and Carolina's Eric Staal were the first to sign this item, back during the NHL lockout when they were playing in the AHL.

Please know, too, that I'll update these stick pictures in the days ahead. It's hard to get good scans of curved surfaces.

Pucks, shown at top: Top row - Bryan Allen, David Booth and Radek Dvorak; Bottom row - Mike Van Ryn (now, that's a letter-perfect autograph, if you ask me), Noah Welch and Richard Zednik (who signed an Islanders puck over a Panthers puck).

Hitting 50

It's not that I'm comparing myself to the league's elite goal scorers, but when Florida's Tomas Vokoun, the Panthers top offseason free-agent signing, signed the Nashville Predators official game puck yesterday, it marked the 50th autographed puck I've scored this season. Not bad, eh?

Honesty is a virtue

Want to meet a down-to-earth hockey player who's refreshingly candid? Check out Florida's Stephen Weiss the next time the Panthers come to town.

After exchanging pleasantries, which focused primarily on the young center spending the summer in Toronto, our conversation turned to the Panthers' season.

I'm among the few who believe the team, given its talent level and mutual maturation process among the younger players, could start making some noise in the years ahead. Weiss agreed.

"Yeah, it would be nice to finally play in a playoff game," he said.

P.S.: Sorry, folks, but this scan, one of several I tried, doesn't do justice for Weiss' autograph. The silver paint really does pop, even on the gray background.

What do you think?

Maybe I made a cardinal sin of hounding. Then again, maybe I respected someone's wishes. Whatever the case, though, I missed out on getting an autograph (or two) from Hall of Famer Denis Potvin yesterday.

As the Florida Panthers and media made their way over to the St. Pete Times Forum yesterday for a morning skate, Potvin, who serves as a TV analyst, was among the last to make the trek. And, of course, the four of us waiting wanted him to sign.

As we approached Potvin, he asked that we all wait until after the morning skate for him to sign. Though I wasn't thrilled at the prospect of waiting, I could understand his request. Apparently, I was alone in my thinking.

The three other hounds kept pestering Potvin until he relented. One said he was on his lunch break and wouldn't be around later. The other two, well, they seemed to be tagging along.

Though I've heard that "Catch me later" line before, I seldom see the need to keep pestering someone. Sure, any hound worth his or her salt will go to extreme lengths to get an autograph from a Hall of Famer. But, with the Panthers coming back to town three more times, I felt that it was better to respect the man's wishes, rather than be more of a nuisance.

I'd be interested in hearing from other hounds and/or collectors. Did I do the right thing? Or did I drop the puck? Let me know, okay?

Editor's note: This is the 100th post of the season.

Guess who?

Do you know what Florida Panthers player signed this puck for us earlier today before the team's morning skate?

It was among the 15 pucks and seven cards added to the collection from a bit of double-dipping between the Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Florida's Jay Bouwmeester and Olli Jokinen signed a Young Guns stick. Panthers goalie Craig Anderson was the first to sign a U.S.-born-goalie stick.

Tampa Bay goalie Johan Holmqvist also signed a paper goalie mask that Colin decorated before last Saturday's game. Though the design doesn't resemble his mask, Colin did add his number (40) to it.

You'll see complete hounding reports from both teams on Thursday.

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.

More new looks

The Ottawa Senators unveiled their new jerseys and logos yesterday, opting for a sharper, more determined look for the Roman soldier. With the announcement, Ottawa becomes the fifth team (Boston, Columbus, Ottawa, San Jose and Washington) to launch a new logo, in conjunction with the new RBK Edge uniform system, for the upcoming 2007-08 season.

The new jerseys will also feature a nod to the team's past. The shoulder patches will have a retro “O” symbol on a striped background, a tribute to the original Ottawa Senators.

Senators fans will get their first on-ice look at the jerseys when the team plays host to the Washington Capitals on Sept. 20.

Looking ahead, the Tampa Bay Lightning will unveil their new logo and jerseys this Saturday during the team's IceFest. In Vancouver, the Canucks will show off their new jerseys Aug. 29.

Down here in Florida, the Panthers unveiled their new jerseys during their alumni game on July 28. That's Nathan Horton, left, modeling the road jersey and Stephen Weiss showing off the home jersey.

While these new looks may tempt some fans into dropping some of their hard-earned money for a jersey, I believe a better value can be found in scooping up last season's looks. Chances are you'll be able to get them at a discount.

Not too long ago, I bought Colorado Avalanche and Montreal Canadiens replica home jerseys for just $85. You'll spend considerably more, say about $150, for a new RBK Edge replica jersey. Bottom line, though, it's your call.

First draft

Editor's note: The bulk of this posting originally appeared July 16, 2007, on Hound Central 2.0. Minor modifications have been made.

Now that I've taken an initial run through my 22-team hounding schedule for the 2007-08 NHL season, I'll offer the following prediction: I'll add at least 225 pucks to the collection, taking it to a cool 1,500 by season's end.

I also plan to increase the diversification of the collection by:

~ working a Florida Panthers team helmet. They're a young team, with kids like Gregory Campbell, Rostislav Olesz, Stephen Weiss and Noah Welch. They also have a few stars in Jay Bouwmeester, Nathan Horton, Olli Jokinen and Richard Zednik. Don't forget, too, about new goalie Tomas Vokoun. Radek Dvorak, Ruslan Salei, Jozef Stumpel and Mike Van Ryn round out the must-haves.

~ cherry-picking on jerseys (Atlanta, Colorado, Montreal and Team Canada, in particular, and, if I'm really lucky, the Q's Acadie-Bathurst.) And that doesn't include the two Martin Brodeur jerseys we just picked up.

~ starting a goalie-only stick. Doesn't matter where they're from. If they're a goalie, I'll want them on it. Everyone except, say, Cujo.

~ Adding signatures, somewhat selectively, to the Team Canada goalie mask. There's ample room for Tampa's Marc Denis, Boston's Manny Fernandez, Detroit's Chris Osgood, Toronto's Andrew Raycroft, Edmonton's Dwayne Roloson, Buffalo's Jocelyn Thibault, Colorado's Jose Theodore, Dallas' Marty Turco and New Jersey's Kevin Weekes, among others. I won't say I'll get them all, just that there's room for them.

~ Filling up, for the lack of a better term, a Young Guns stick, which has autographs from only Boston's Patrice Bergeron and Carolina's Eric Staal. That wish-list includes:
~ Atlanta's Marian Hossa and Ilya Kovalchuk
~ Boston's Phil Kessel
~ Buffalo's Ales Kotalik, Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek
~ Florida's Bouwmeester and Horton
~ New Jersey's Brian Gionta and Zach Parise
~ Philadelphia's Daniel Briere (though, he's not so young anymore. Still, why not?), Jeff Carter and Mike Richards
~ Tampa Bay's Paul Ranger.

~ And, of course, Colin will add to his team sheet and autographed jersey collections.