Brag Book: Phoenix Coyotes

Hound: Puckhound, Hockey Hounds Universe's editor
Hounding opportunity: Phoenix Coyotes trip to Hockey Bay
Where: Westin Harbour Island hotel, Tampa
When: February 2011

Let the bragging begin:

Sean Burke, top, and Andrew Ebbett;

Vernon Fiddler, top, and Lee Stempniak; and

Kyle Turris.

Whole new world

By J.R.
Hockey Hounds Universe correspondent

What a contrast between hounding outings. The “big top” was gone, I didn't see anybody on the trapeze and, most importantly, there were no clowns present (although I did see a woman wearing really bad makeup rushing to work). The last time I hounded an NHL club was when the Buffalo Sabres were in San Jose to play the Sharks and it was a circus.

Fast forward a few weeks and you have a totally different atmosphere. Apparently, the Phoenix Coyotes don't have anybody on their roster worth arriving at the hotel before the morning skate. I say this because for quite some time I was the only person there.

Generally speaking, if someone affiliated with the opposing team wants to take a cab to the arena, a hotel employee stationed outside the lobby doors will call for them. A taxi then appears within a moment or two. However, head coach Dave Tippett and two other staff members walked over to where the cabs park.

I raced over to him and he signed three cards for me. After I thanked him, I noticed assistant coach Ulf Samuelsson about 15 paces behind Tippett. I bolted back to my bag to grab a puck, raced back to the taxi area and caught Samuelsson just in the nick of time. He signed it, but I unfortunately missed Sean Burke, who was behind him, and I didn't have another puck on my person.

Many minutes passed before another collector finally arrived at the hotel. We made small talk while waiting and he was disappointed to learn that the coaches had already left.

Soon after, Shane Doan came out of the hotel with six of his teammates. This is where having additional collectors on site could have helped, as we couldn't stop everybody. I had to make a quick judgment call and approached Doan, allowing his teammates to stroll to the bus parked on the street.

This was my first time meeting him and I can honestly say that he is the nicest player I have encountered thus far. He willingly signed a puck for me, a team photo for the other collector, then two cards for me. And he did it with a smile. Therefore, I tip my cap to you, Mr. Doan, for being such a fan-friendly player.

Other players to sign for me were Michal Rozsival, Kyle Turris and Jason LaBarbera.

As LaBarbara finished signing two cards for me, I noticed that television analyst Tyson Nash had already climbed the first two steps of the bus. I called him and he immediately turned around and signed a pair of cards. I also apologized for asking him to sign after technically being on the bus. He said it was not a problem and was glad to do it.

I am also glad I packed an extra Rangers puck just in case general manager Don Maloney made the trip to San Jose. He did and kindly signed the puck.

On the other hand, I must admit I did not recognize Keith Yandle (absolutely no excuse) and Ilya Bryzgalov (tiny excuse, he had a beard). Lee Stempniak also walked right past me while I was searching for something in my bag. Oh well.

All in all, it was a fun and relatively successful outing. Although I am sorry I did not see any elephants or "The Human Cannonball."

Signing pucks, shown at top, were:

Top row: Michal Rozsival and Shane Doan; and
Bottom row: Ulf Samuelsson and Don Maloney

Signing these cards were:

Top row: Dave Tippett; and
Bottom row: Kyle Turris and Shane Doan.

Also signing cards were Jason LaBarbera, top row, and Tyson Nash.

Circus comes to town

By J.R.
Hockey Hounds Universe correspondent

As I arrived at the Buffalo Sabres hotel in San Jose a few moments in time for the morning skate hockey-hounding opportunity, a half dozen dealers were already on site. I didn't need my iPod. Entrance of the Gladiators, the soundtrack for the day, was blaring in my head. Clearly, the Ryan Miller circus was in town.

For the first few minutes, the only activity was the ever increasing number of dealers making their presence felt, growing faster than the population of (Jason) Pominville. Suddenly, the front doors of the lobby swung open and former Sharks and current Sabres defenseman Craig Rivet, Nathan Gerbe and another unidentified teammate stepped out into the chilly morning air. They immediately made a right turn, walked along the outer wall and headed down the street. I grabbed my bag and caught up to them about a half a block away.

I asked Rivet if he would please sign a puck and he nodded, not uttering a sound. When he handed the puck back to me, I noticed that the autograph came out lousy. Stupid paint pens, I thought. Upon further review, let's blame the stupid individual in charge of priming said paint pens. Apparently, this is a simple lesson that I will never learn. Puck Signing 101: Make sure your paint pens are primed and ready for action.

Back in front of the hotel, sneaking peeks at the enormous and glorious Ryan Miller photographs being handled by the dealers, I recognized Patrick Lalime walking toward me from the other end of the street. I politely asked him if he would mind signing a couple of cards (shown above with one from Rob Niedermayer) and he graciously obliged.

"Man, it's pretty cold out here," he said.

"Indeed it is," I agreed. I wanted to tell him that he is from Quebec and the temperature in San Jose was probably a little warmer than what he was used to in Canada (or Buffalo), but I chickened out. Never argue with the man holding the blue Sharpie.

Not too much time elapsed when the man everybody was waiting for made his grand appearance. Miller took one look at all of "his biggest fans" and made a subtle, yet obvious gesture of slight irritation. To his credit, though, he signed at least one item (and I saw a couple of guys get two) for every person there.

Unfortunately for me, while patiently waiting for Miller to sign my puck, I missed several Sabres as they got on the bus, including another former Shark, Mike Grier. Miller may have been annoyed, but he put marker to photos and paint pens to puck for everyone.

Truth be told, Miller was certainly my No. 1 priority, but I also wanted to get former defenseman and current Sabres assistant coach James Patrick to sign a New York Rangers puck. Patrick seemed surprised that somebody recognized him and actually wanted his autograph.

"You were one of my favorite players growing up in New York," I told him.

"Thank you," he replied. "Those were some good times."

Indeed they were, James. Good times and memories. That's what autograph collecting should be about, not dollars and cents.

Fortunately, the circus theme song is finally out of my head.

Signing pucks, show above, were, from top to bottom, Lindy Ruff, Patrick, Rivet, Miller and Tyler Myers.