Netting No. 900

Earlier in the season, when I was a considerable distance away, I set a goal of 915 autographed pucks for my collection. I’m somewhat embarrassed to say, that with just a few days left in 2005, I’m only 15 pucks from my goal.

When Matt Stajan, a young forward for the Toronto Maple Leafs signed a St. John’s Maple Leafs puck (see above) outside the team hotel in Boston on Dec. 21, he produced the 900th of my collection. Not bad, I’d say, considering I started the season with 600 signed pucks.

Now that I’ve reached that milestone, putting myself thisclose to my goal, I’ve decided to honor Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need (or some might say Greed) and raise my target to an even 1,000 autographed pucks by season’s end.

Seeing that I’ve collected 548 autographed pucks alone just in 2005, including an awesome 102 over a two-day span at the 2005 American Hockey League All-Star Classic in Manchester, N.H., this past February, I’m pretty confident I’ll reach that goal. After that, we’ll see. Maybe I’ll shoot for 1,250.