Nice stops for goalie mask fans

Though I haven't seen Cam Ward wear his new North Carolina-themed goalie mask, shown at left, this feature offers an interesting look at it, as well as his Nickelback mask.

You'll also learn why he never painted his mask while playing for the Red Deer (Alberta) Rebels of the Western Hockey League.

The feature also highlights John Grahame's NASCAR-themed mask.

A recent trip to Google, too, yielded this neat site.

Our favorite goalie mask

As promised a couple weeks ago, here's a picture of the work-in-progress Team Canada goalie mask that's in our hockey memorabilia collection.

Notable signers shown are Patrick Roy (red part of the Hockey Canada logo), Martin Brodeur (black part of the logo), Cam Ward (below Roy's signature) and Curtis Joseph (upper left of Roy's).

Other signers include Roberto Luongo and Martin Biron.

Hounding 2006: Year in Review

Considering all that has happened in the past year, 2006 turned out, from a hounding point of view, to be a pretty decent year. Despite making a move to the Tampa Bay area from New England, brought about by accepting a job at Florida’s best newspaper, my hockey-hounding hobby continued.

Looking back, here are some of the highlights:

~ For the calendar year, another 241 autographed pucks were added to the collection. As of today, the total stands at 1,143.

~ As of today, Puckhound's five blogs have received more than 7,800 page views since Aug. 15.

~ Ottawa’s Wade Redden signed the 1,072nd puck of the collection, equaling the total number of points scored (regular season and playoffs) by Wayne Gretzky in his professional (World Hockey Association and National Hockey League) career.

~ Anaheim’s Teemu Selanne signed four pucks in a day during one of the best hounding days of the year. Colin even scored his first puck.

~ Learning there are other things to do in Florida than add to a hockey autograph collection.

~ Colin, who developed an interest in collecting autographs, renewed acquaintances with his buddies, Boston’s Patrice Bergeron and Carolina’s Cam Ward.

~ Moving to Florida opened up better access to such Southeast Division teams as the Atlanta Thrashers, Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals, and such stars as Rod Brind’Amour, Ilya Kovalchuk and Alexander Ovechkin. I suppose, too, I shouldn’t forget about our new hometown team, the Tampa Bay Lightning, and its Big Three -– Vinny Lecavalier, Brad Richards and Marty St. Louis.

~ Being the only three people to find the Dallas Stars before a preseason game and getting Mike Modano to sign a few items.

~ While making our way to Florida, we arrived in Hershey, Pa., in time to watch a very thrilling and exhausting Game 7 between the Portland Pirates and Hershey Bears.

~ Making it home for Colin’s birthday and finding time to take in an American Hockey League playoff game in one of our favorite cities -– Portland, Maine.

~ Knowing that Colin got a close-up look at NHL warmups when he served as a "bench assistant" during a Bruins game.

~ Getting Atlanta's Marian Hossa to sign the 1,000th puck of the collection.

~ The New York Islanders’ Brendan Witt, then playing for the Washington Capitals, signed our first puck in Florida.

~ Adding autographed pucks from Boston's Patrice Bergeron, Ray Bourque and Cam Neely to the collection all on the same day.

~ Having one of my hockey heroes, Patrick Roy, sign a goalie stick for Colin.

The tin is in

If you're looking for something different to get signed by Carolina's Cam Ward, you might want to keep an eye out for this tin of 2006-07 Fleer Hockey cards. I found this one at our local Target store.

I like it mainly because it's different than photos, pucks and cards.

A word of caution, though, when it comes to getting autographs from Ward. Try to get him earlier in the day, just before the trip for the morning skate. In Tampa recently, he apparently was too focused on the game to accommodate game-time requests.

Oh, so that's where he is

Among the minor deals leading up to the NHL's holiday trade freeze, highlighted, I suppose, by the Islanders shipping Mike York to the Flyers for Randy Robitaille and a fifth-round pick, was news that former NHL tough guy Ryan VandenBuscche signed with the New Mexico Scorpions of the Central Hockey League.

Speaking of goalies

If you're caught up on your holiday shopping and having trouble waiting for Santa's impending arrival, visits to these goalie mask sites should keep you from shaking the presents under the tree:

~ Armor Graphics, which has made masks/helmets for Detroit's Dominik Hasek (when he was with Ottawa), Florida's Eddie Belfour (when he was with Toronto) and Pittsburgh's Jocelyn Thibault.

~ Masked Expressions, which should be a hit with Hurricanes fans because of the masks/helmets for past Carolina goalies Tom Barrasso, Arturs Irbe, Trevor Kidd and Kevin Weekes.

~ Slater Lettering and Graphics, where you'll see masks for Chicago's Nikolai Khabibulin, Phoenix's Curtis Joseph (when he was with Detroit) and Washington's Olaf Kolzig.

Addicted to Hockey? Round IV

With all of the pressures associated with holidays (heading to the, ugh, mall, wrapping unevenly shaped presents, stringing up outdoor lights and dealing with family you'd rather not see), it's no wonder that anxiety levels run high.

Couple that with the fact the holidays run dab smack in the middle of the NHL season and conditions exist for a 10-minute misconduct penalty in life. I'm not surprised, then, that certain symptoms of hockey addiction manifest themselves at this time of the year.

Please, take my advice, and seek professional help, namely within the premium club seats, if you recognize yourself in any of the following:

~ Your Christmas wish list contains at least three hockey-related items. Mine are a new Buffalo Sabres jersey, a $100 gift certificate from my puck supplier and a better return from the Tampa Bay Lightning on our hockey investment.

~ You make sure that tag affixed to the wrapping of one specific Christmas present to your highly impressionable 5-year-old son says the item inside (It's a Sidney Crosby jersey, but, please, don't tell Colin) comes from the game's best player. Even better, is that he just might get it signed by that player before a game Jan. 9, 2007, in Tampa.

~ Your idea of exchanging pleasantries with neighbors includes pulling their shirts, or jerseys, over their heads and giving them a couple of haymakers. Just kidding. Violence seldom solves anything. Unless, of course, it takes place on a rink.

~ You leave out a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and a tall glass of ice-cold milk just in case one of these Santa's helpers stops by for a quick visit in the days ahead. Ho! Ho! Ho!

~ You can assign NHL identities to Santa's reindeer: Dasher = Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby; Dancer = Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk; Prancer = Washington's Alexander Ovechkin; Vixen = New Jersey's Martin Brodeur; Comet = Minnesota's Brian Rolston; Cupid = Dallas' Mike Modano; Donder = Calgary's Dion Phaneuf; and Blitzen = Los Angeles' Sean Avery. We'll also throw in ex-NHL coach Pat Quinn, and his big red nose, as Rudolph.

~ You keep telling the good people at the Lightning's souvenir stands that they should push team brass to come up with, at the least, a third jersey. Or, even better, would be a new jersey. I doubt I'm alone in believing the Lightning's yawn-inducing logo and jerseys are among the league's worst. I also wouldn't mind more of a selection of items, rather than overpriced $5 pucks, from the 29 other NHL teams.

~ You book a quick trip back to New England, under the guise of wanting to watch a certain NHL game involving the Bruins at the TD Banknorth Garden, so you can really pay a holiday visit to some old "friends" back there. Sorry, boys, but I won't share the particulars. I would, however, keep the lights on, your eyes open and your heads up.

~ You know that wearing a Lightning hat and, once again, losing your voice urging the hometown team to shoot will far outweigh the wearing of a Lowell Lock Monsters jersey, autographed by the Hurricanes' Eric Staal and Cam Ward, to a game between Carolina and Tampa Bay. Too bad, though, the buck-a-hump Lightning still lost.

~ You arrange an unauthorized Get Scotty Bowman's Autograph Night (see next-to-last item) at an upcoming Montreal-Tampa Bay game because the dinosaur, albeit legendary, can't find 30 seconds to sign a game program. Am I whining? Sure. Do I care? No, not really. It makes good copy, though, and it's all in good fun. Now, if I could just get a few others on board . . .

~ Unlike some other hockey blogs, especially one in the Tampa Bay area, you take great care to adequately credit the source of your quotes, even providing a link to the article, rather than lifting and using the comments as if you spoke to the GM or player yourself.

~ You stay awake until 3 a.m. some nights arranging cards for the rest of your hounding season, cataloguing your autographs or stockpiling much more challenging photos for next year's What's This? contest.

~ Despite your own fears, which are primarily financial in nature, you buy your son a goalie stick that's way taller than he is.

For other questions to check on your condition, feel free to click here, here and here.

Whatever your faith, and wherever you're from, Hound Central 2.0 wishes you a safe and happy holidays. Unless, of course, I'll be stopping by your house, with one of my helpers, to pay a personal visit.

Thank God for Eric Staal

All in all, I really shouldn't be complaining after we added 22 autographs from the Carolina Hurricanes, including just two pucks, to our collection yesterday. It's hard to feel satisified, though, when so many players, including goalie Cam Ward, couldn't find the time to sign.

Two months to the day when the Conn Smythe Trophy-winning goaltender reinforced his hero status with a certain impressionable 5-year-old, Ward's indifferent attitude toward the afternoon crowd cost him a bunch of brownie points not only with a young fan, but quite a few other hounds as well.

Granted, reports indicated that Ward did sign multiples before Saturday's morning skate. And, for that, Tampa's dealers will eternally be grateful. But, for some hounds, including this one, gametime would represent our only chance to, yet again, make a little boy's day.

Unfortunately, though, it didn't happen. Ward joined Glen Wesley, for whom I was carrying three pucks (Carolina, Hartford and Boston), and took a hotel courtesy van for the 0.6-mile jaunt to the St. Pete Times Forum.

That being said, Eric Staal, Carolina's other superstar in the making, did not disappoint. As usual, and my experience dates to his NHL-lockout-induced American Hockey League apprenticeship in Lowell, Mass., was a willing and pleasant signer.

Joining Staal in renewing acquaintances with dealers, fans and hounds yesterday afternoon were Kevyn Adams, Keith Aucoin (only stick-wielding and jersey-toting dealers bothered), Erik Cole, assistant coach Jeff Daniels, Mike Commodore, Andrew Hutchinson, John Grahame, head coach Peter Laviolette, assistant coach Kevin McCarthy, Cory Stillman and Scott Walker. Justin Williams signed, but only for those willing to chase him three blocks on a muggy afternoon.

Joining Ward and Wesley in stiffing us were Craig Adams, Anton Babchuk, Eric Belanger, Tim Gleason, Chad LaRose, Trevor Letowski and Ray Whitney. To be honest, none is worth losing sleep over.

For the record, Rod Brind'Amour and Andrew Ladd did not make the trip. David Tanabe, whom we never saw, was a scratch.

Three on five

Yes, I know I'm doing nothing but showing off. But when you score these five pucks from Carolina's Rod Brind'Amour, Eric Staal and Cam Ward, it's hard to be humble.

Want to know what's even better? I'll soon be heading back to add to the collection.

Top row -- Hurricanes: Rod Brind'Amour; Blues: Rod Brind'Amour; Hurricanes Stanley Cup champions: Eric Staal.
Bottom row -- Peterborough Petes 50th anniversary: Eric Staal; Hurricanes Stanley Cup champions: Cam Ward.

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."