Road trip reasoning

Of all the reasons to travel, tending to family matters is one of the most important. In my case, I'm headed back to New England for my son Colin's fifth birthday. The fact that my wife, Lisa, and I will celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary on Monday helps, too.

I'll let you in on a little secret. With my work schedule, and the resulting sleep pattern, making it difficult to hound either the Ottawa Senators or the Tampa Bay Lightning, another reason, albeit a minor one, that I'll be boarding a jet in less than six hours is to take in tonight's AHL playoff contest between the Providence Bruins and Portland Pirates.

It shouldn't be too hard to guess that I'll be doing a little more than hoping the Pirates, with a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, close out their first-round matchup. Bobby Ryan, Anaheim's No. 1 pick and second overall last year, is playing for the Pirates. And while I like to get at least a dozen pucks signed in an outing, I'll be more than content to get a couple from him. (For the record, I scored a hat trick. Proof positive, I dare say, is shown above.)

After that, though, I'm not sure there will be any more trips this season.

I will say, though, that I've found out where MLB teams stay when they play the Tampa Bay Devils Rays. I'll likely restrict my trips to the Red Sox, mainly so Colin can meet his favorite player, Trot Nixon, and perhaps entertain him with a rousing rendition of the "Trot Nixon Song."

Hossa was Grand

Earlier this season, an acquaintance said it would be simple to reach 1,000 autographed pucks. I didn't believe him. Want to know something? He was right.

When Atlanta's Marian Hossa signed the first of two pucks, one depicting the 2003 NHL All-Star Game in Sunrise, Fla., it became the 1,000th of the collection. For the record, he also signed a 2004 World Cup of Hockey puck.

Just like my 500th puck, signed Feb. 13, 2005, by Ottawa's Jason Spezza at the 2004-05 AHL All-Star Classic in Manchester, N.H., I was psyched to have Hossa, one of my favorite players, sign the 1,000th puck.

The milestone came as the Thrashers were boarding the bus Tuesday to play the Tampa Bay Lightning. The pucks from Hossa were two of 11 signed, including a pair from Garnet Exelby and singles from Petr Bondra and Marc Savard.

As an aside, Ilya Kovalchuk, the Thrashers' star forward, didn't sign at game time. Despite repeated requests, the sullen Russian only grumbled something under his breath.

Another disappointment, too, was that an injury sustained against the Lightning on April 6th kept Kari Lehtonen back in Atlanta.

Can you believe this?

One of the items I brought to the Tampa Bay Lightning's practice last week was a game-used Darryl Sydor stick.

As usual, Sydor was one of the first to leave the practice facility. As he drove toward us, I pointed at the stick, then at him and shook my paint pen. Though he looked and waved, I was disappointed that he didn't stop.

As he drove past, I stepped behind his car and repeated the hand signals. I could see that he was looking at me through his rear-view mirror. Still, he kept heading out of the parking lot.

In a poor attempt at spin, I told the other hounds that I can always wait until the next time and put the stick back in my trusty Taurus.

What I didn't notice, though, was that Sydor had turned around up the road and was headed back to the parking lot. Once someone told me, I grabbed the stick again and met up with Sydor.

"Sorry about that," Sydor said, as he signed the taped-up blade of the CCM Vector that had a handwritten "110%" high on the shaft. "I didn't know that was one of mine."

Pretty classy move, if you ask me.

Not too bad, but ...

Even though the regular season is dwindling to its final days, Pittsburgh Sidney Crosby remained in midseason form during the Penguins visit to Tampa Bay late last week.

Not only did The Next One blow off a handful of collectors waiting for him to leave for the team's morning skate, but he never gave the hounds a chance to ask. Two steps outside the hotel's front door, a yawning van door awaited Crosby and his nearly inseparable teammate, Colby Armstrong.

The day, thankfully, was not a total loss. Crosby's teammates, save for John Leclair, who apparently opted out of the practice, stopped and signed for everyone.

My big scores were three pucks from Sergei Gonchar (Penguins, Bruins and Capitals) and two pucks from Marc-Andre Fleury (Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins and Team Canada).

My luck was a little better a day earlier when I hounded the Lightning after a practice in Brandon. Not only did I witness a rarity (see related posting above), but of the 16 pucks I got signed I was able to get multiples from Brad Richards (Lightning Stanley Cup Champions and Rimouski Oceanic*) and Martin St. Louis (Lightning Stanley Cup Champions and Calgary Flames*). (* = shown above)

All in all, the two trips produced another 49 autographs, including 24 pucks, for the collection. For those interested, the puck collection stands at 992 with trips for Atlanta (April 11) and Washington (April 18) in the works.

Shhhhhh!! ... It's a secret

Forgive me, please, for whispering, but The Next One will be in Tampa Bay on Saturday.

Yep, none other than Sidney Crosby, who's looking up at Washington's Alex Ovechkin for Calder honors, will join his Pittsburgh mates when they take on the Lightning.

I'd love to tell you where Crosby and the Penguins are staying, but I'm afraid it'll only add to the fathers, mothers, sons, daughters and family pets, including goldfish, that will likely swarm the hotel is search of an autograph.

Having gotten Crosby to sign a Team Canada puck earlier this year in Beantown, I'll only have a Pittsburgh puck for him, provided the Penguins, who play the Panthers on Friday, take a morning skate.

In the meantime, I'll warm up on the Lightning at their practice facility. According to the team's schedule, it'll be the last regular-season practice at the Brandon facility.

I've got a ton of pucks waiting for them, including some 2004 Stanley Cup Champions models, as well as game-used sticks from John Grahame and Darryl Sydor. With any luck, I'll also finish my mini Stanley Cup (needs Brad Richards, Dan Boyle, Vinny Lecavalier and John Tortorella) and mini Lightning helmet (needs Richards, Boyle and Tortorella).

Looking ahead, I'll chase the Atlanta Thrashers at game time on Tuesday. Like the Lightning, I've got plenty of pucks for them. With such stars as Peter Bondra, Marian Hossa, Ilya Kovalchuk and Kari Lehtonen, it could be a very productive trip.

A momentary diversion

Yes, I know that this blog is supposed to be about hockey hounding, but I have one question for everyone:

How 'bout them Florida Gators?

Though I wouldn't call myself a major fan of college basketball, it was very easy to jump aboard the bandwagon during the Gators' magical run to the national championship.

Having been a Gators sports fan since the days of Emmitt Smith, I imagine I have a pretty good seat, too.