Cam's the Man

To frequent readers of Hound Central 2.0, it's no secret that Boston Bruins star Patrice Bergeron is my son Colin's favorite NHL player.

What may be surprising, though, is who is his favorite goalie. It's not his daddy's, Patrick Roy. It's not Hannu Toivonen either. It's none other than Carolina's Cam Ward.

Before winning the Conn Smythe for leading the Carolina Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup championship last season, Cam spent the lockout year in Lowell, Mass., tending net for the Lock Monsters. Through the course of the season, Colin was able to meet Cam several times, getting pucks and sticks signed by the personable goalie.

This morning, Colin had Cam sign an 8 x 10 of his days with Lowell. Of course, Cam willingly obliged. Much to my dismay, I saw Colin start to tear up after Cam signed it. Colin had wanted Cam to personalize it, but he didn't articulate it well enough for Cam to understand.

To his credit, Cam quickly realized what Colin had wanted. He immediately stopped signing for Tampa's dealers and returned to Colin and knelt before him.

"I'm sorry, buddy, you want me to make this out to you?"

"Yeah."

"How do you spell your name?"

"It's C-O-L-I-N."

"There you go, buddy. Is that better?"

"Yeah. Thank you."

"No, thank you."