Daddy must be proud

Chris Bourque, son of NHL Hall of Famer Ray Bourque, scored in Hershey's 4-2 victory over Hamilton last night, earning a home-ice split after two games of the Calder Cup finals. The series heads to Ontario, with three games through Thursday. The Bears, the Washington Capitals' farm club, are the defending Calder Cup champs.

Taking a pass

With the forecaster mentioning such phrases as "weather front stalling over Tampa Bay" and "70 percent chance for thunderstorms on Saturday afternoon," as well as a family member visiting from New Hampshire, the Rangers hounding trip has been postponed.

At the least, the cards have been erased and the pucks are in order for Feb. 3. In the meantime, I'll have plenty of time to prepare for Montreal on Dec. 30, the final hounding trip of 2006.

From an anecdotal standpoint, 2006 should prove to be a pretty good year for hounding. Once the year concludes, I'll see where we stand. Nothing, though, will top the 550 pucks (including 100-plus at the AHL All-Star Classic in Manchester, N.H., on Feb. 13-14) I got signed in 2005.

As you can see in the sidebar, I've finalized the hounding agenda for 2007. February will be a huge month, with Los Angeles, Phoenix, Boston, Pittsburgh and Dallas all coming to town. I'm sure the Western Conference teams, expecially the Coyotes and the Stars, will draw big crowds.