Liveblog 04.30

In the past two times I've attempted live blogging, it's been a spur-of-the-moment thing. Chores were done. Colin was asleep. And I ...

Be first in line

With only hours to go before Hound Central 4.0's latest and most organized attempt at live blogging, why not get your questions or comme...

Revisiting my picks

Having suffered through a 0-for-Western-Conference sweep in my first -- and rather poor -- upset-heavy attempt at this NHL playoff's pic...

Hockey card

To those who know, it should come as no surprise that Colin made out like a bandit yesterday, celebrating his eighth birthday. Among his pre...

Flashbacks 04.29

You know, I rather enjoy compiling this weekly offseason feature. Each posting is a stroll down memory lane. Hopefully, you'll enjoy the...

Denial of responses

Even if it is a tad presumptuous of myself to entertain the thought that Hound Central 4.0 readers -- even for a fleeting moment -- would be...

Mark your calendar

If you're not doing anything this Thursday night, why don't you stop by the old Hound shack, where I'll be taking questions, off...

Take a break from hockey ...

... and visit the resurrected Baseball Mondays blog, which chronicles Hockey Bay's Goofiest Dudes' offseason hobby of watching and ...

Liveblog 04.24

As much as I'd like to give people more advance notice, these live chat sessions are the result of realizing that -- at the moment for t...

Rotten tomatoes not included

The Tampa Bay Lightning brass -- owner Oren Koules , general manager Brian Lawton and coach Rick Tocchet , will make themselves available f...

One shy of two dozen

What started out as a blank slate , so to speak, quickly became one of my favorite pieces from the 2008-09 hockey-hounding campaign. All tol...

Flashbacks 04.22

Like reading about or looking at hockey autographs? Me, too. Check out these installments from past hockey-hounding campaigns: Jan. 16, 2008...

Surreal, man, surreal

If you look hard enough, it's easy to find art within the sport of speed, steel and vulcanized rubber. Even if you're sitting in a r...

A tie-breaker?

What Hound Central 4.0 readers couldn't decide, the first round of the NHL playoffs will. For the time time ever, we had a tie among the...

This was great news

We had a major announcement yesterday afternoon at my employer, the St. Petersburg Times . Thankfully, we wouldn't be hearing of the ch...

Way to go, Patrice

I can't let an opportunity pass to tip Hound Central 4.0's roughed-up Copper SK600 Boston's Patrice Bergeron for teaching Montr...

In the crease

I'm not sure who was more nervous. Colin or me. Accepting an invitation to participate in a Tampa Bay Jr. Lightning mites practice, he m...

Mr. Efficiency

In the interest of saving time next season, I've reprogrammed my new cell phone's Quick Text responses to the messages I inevitably ...

Hockey Quiz No. 9

Well, at least I know that Hound Central 4.0's Hockey Quizzes have at least two faithful and entirely correct readers -- Drew, an old Be...

Playoffs picks

For as long as I can remember, rooting for the underdogs in any playoff series carries great appeal. Still, though, one should be realistic,...

Flashbacks 04.14

Now, I know most of you come here looking for tales of our hockey-hounding adventures. But, did you know there are hundreds of hounding repo...

Fan Pack: New York Rangers

I imagine this might come across as being extremely ungrateful, especially within the Big Apple, but what is an organization like the New Yo...

Sunday morning homily XXX

Well, folks, I don't know what to tell you. With the Tampa Bay Lightning missing the playoffs for the second straight year, our 2008-09 ...

Hello, Tony O

Though Colin may have gotten more than 300 autographs on his hand-drawn team sheets over the course of the 2008-09 hockey-hounding season, ...

Easy to take

As much as I'd love to crow about snagging an autograph or two from Washington's Alex Ovechkin during the Capitals' visit Thurs...

Right places, right times

Colin and I had just finished a great breakfast ( try the Belgian waffles and chocolate chip pancakes ) at First Watch in Tampa when I felt...

Last puck of the season

It wasn't until a moment ago, as I was importing this picture, did I realize that one of these two pucks signed by Washington's Nick...

Did you know this?

If I have a calling card when it comes to hounding, it's my penchant for pulling out obscure pucks for players and coaches to sign. Not ...

Not much room left

Want to see what happens when you cram 22 autographs from 20 players ( yes, two players signed twice ) on one of Colin's team sheets? We...

Gallery: Washington Capitals

After hearing of the hassles during one of the Capitals earlier trips to Hockey Bay , I didn't hold out much hope for a decent season-cl...

My apologies

That Atlanta hounding report, online earlier in raw form for a few hours, posted a bit early. It will be back, once the proper time and effo...

Getting closer

Now that we're in the final week of the 2008-09 hockey-hounding season down here in Hockey Bay, we're turning our attention to certa...

Sorry, Marty

It's hard to believe, isn't it, that it takes until the 2008-09 season's final week for Tampa Bay's Marty St. Louis to get ...

Nice tandem

The Choice Rookies subset within the 2008-09 Collectors Choice set is a perfect complement to the 2008-09 Rookie Class so-called box set . ...

A real clunker

It'll have to go down as a pretty sad day in Hound Central history. When the biggest highlight of hounding the Pittsburgh Penguins Tuesd...

Firsthand knowledge

Looking back over the past 13 months, I've got to give Bill Guerin , a trade-day acquisition by the Pittsburgh Penguins, a long round of...

Big difference

Chances are, Pittsburgh defenseman Philippe Boucher isn't at the top of too many hounds' wish lists. In a sense, that's a shame...

Gallery: Pittsburgh Penguins II

Want to see pictures of Pittsburgh's Big Three -- Sidney Crosby , Evgeni Malkin and Marc-Andre Fleury ? Me, too. For the second time th...

Just dessert

Want to know when the Hockey Gods are looking out for you? When someone trying to take advantage of you ends up with the short end of the st...

Sunday morning homily XXIX

For a week devoid of hockey, I'm having a hard time remembering a better one in our time down here in Hockey Bay. From chasing trains to...

Going racing

Just because the Lightning were up in Long Island tonight, it doesn't mean that we sat home and twiddled our thumbs. Nope, not with the ...