Sunday morning homily XVI

Veteran readers of the Hound Central stable of blogs might remember an extended hiatus late last season when I had to stay home from hounding a couple of Western Conference teams because of health issues. At that time, I promised to exercise more caution this season.

Thankfully, I've been true to my word over the past few weeks. About the time I started to feel tired -- long days brought about by work, hounding and the holidays -- I remembered this pact and took off some time to just sit back, chill out and not be parked in front of the computer when I'm home.

The biggest adjustment I've made this season has been numerous breaks in daily postings to Hound Central 4.0. In a way, I feel an obligation to post fresh content daily. I like seeing the number of visitors and page views grow each month.

At times, though, that can be difficult. Like most people, I have obligations to others. I try to help around the house. I'm learning about Web publishing at the paper. And, in a point I've made countless times, I'm a daddy to one rambunctious 7-year-old hockey player.

In the weeks ahead, especially later this month, the hounding season will ramp up down here in Hockey Bay. From Jan. 15-30, six teams will come to town. Another seven arrive between Feb. 7-22. Chances are, I'll be passing on some of these teams -- mostly Southeast Division opponents -- so I can concentrate on others -- Dallas, Chicago, Columbus and St. Louis.

In a word, I'm adding "balance" to my life. If that means a couple of days between posts, so be it. I hope you understand.

I'm no dummy

Now that we've entered the world on one-piece composite sticks (Thanks Santa!) and the high prices they can sometimes command, I've got to keep an eye out for bargains. That's why I jumped at the opportunity last week to snag a couple of Louisville TPS R3 sticks (Afinogenov and Nash models) for $20 a pop, plus shipping, from an online hockey retailer.

Thanks to an 80-percent-off coupon, what could have been a $210 bill for two sticks was less than $50.

Sure, they might be last year's models, but do you think I care? No, not really. The last thing I want to be is on the cutting edge of hockey stick fashion, if you get my drift.

Sticks are tools, not eye candy.

5 Big Sigs

With the Lightning headed out for five-game road trip, I'm going to use the next 10 days ro so to get caught up with pucks and get ready for a late-January push of hounding. However, if I were to accompany the team, this is what I'd try to add:

~ Sunday, Jan. 4 vs. Atlanta: Completing the Thrashers team stick;
~ Thursday, Jan. 8 vs. Phoenix: Are you kidding? Anything from Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky;
~ Friday, Jan. 9 vs. Anaheim: The Ducks' Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry on the Team Canada jersey;
~ Monday, Jan. 12 vs. Los Angeles: The Kings' Dustin Brown and Patrick O'Sullivan on the Team USA jersey; and
~ Tuesday, Jan. 13 vs. San Jose: The Sharks' Joey Thornton and Patrick Marleau on the Team Canada jersey.