February 13, 2008 - Puck Junk

2007-08 OPC wax box break #4

Box number four in my OPC box breaks…

– 183 base cards
– 18 Marquee Rookies
– 4 Base Parallels
– 3 Team Checklists
– 2 Season Highlights
– 2 In-Action
– 1 Stat Leaders
– 1 Record Breakers
– 1 Marquee Rookies parallel
– 1 OPC Buyback (1989-90 OPC Vezina Trophy: Patrick Roy–again!!!)

Why did I want two of these?

Not only did I get another 1989-90 OPC card…but I got the exact same card that I pulled from the last box! I am now the proud owner of not one, but two 1989-90 OPC Patrick Roy Vezina Trophy cards. It’s easier to get this 19-year old card than it is to get a card of 19-year old Patrick Kane. In four boxes, I’ve gotten two of this Roy card, and not one Kane.

I got a decent Marquee Rookie card of Washington Capitals Nicklas Backstrom

I also got a Marquee Rookies parallel of Marc Staal–I think they call these cards “Micromotion” in the Beckett guide:

Semi-Pro trading cards

A classmate of mine from Second City (where I take improv lessons) gave me a three-pack of Semi-Pro trading cards.

And no, I don’t mean AHL or IHL trading cards from yesteryear.

These trading cards are based on the new Will Ferrell movie coming out on February 29. In the film, Ferrell plays the player/owner/coach of a minor-league basketball team that *could* become eligible to join the NBA if he can turn the team around.

Although Semi-Pro is a basketball movie–and this is a hockey site–these cards are just too cool not to show off:

Will Ferrell as Jackie Moon

Woody Harrelson as Ed Monix

André Benjamin as Clarence “Coffee Black” Withers

Produced by Upper Deck, these cards resemble the old Topps basketball cards from the 1970s, as that is when the film takes place.

Also included with the cards was a big pink stick of sugar free chewing gum. Yum!

2007-08 OPC wax box break #3

Another day, another box break. I got a few good rookie cards in this one (more on those in a moment). Here’s what this 36-pack box yielded me:

– 185 base cards
– 18 Marquee Rookies
– 3 Base Parallels
– 3 Team Checklists
– 2 Stat Leaders
– 2 Season Highlights
– 1 In-Action
– 1 Record Breakers
– 1 Marquee Rookies parallel
– 1 OPC Buyback (1989-90 OPC Vezina Trophy: Patrick Roy)

Wow…another 1989-90 OPC card. Though this one is of Patrick Roy, so maybe it’s worth a quarter instead of a dime.

I did get two good Marquee Rookies in this box: Jonathan Towes and Jack Johnson.

The only top-tier rookie card I need now is Patrick Kane…

Beckett Hockey – Feb. 2008

I received my issue of Beckett Hockey for February 2008, and was pleasantly surprised to see a picture of Vincent Lecavalier fighting Jarome Iginla on the cover!

You don’t often see fighting on hockey cards (except maybe this one), and for a few years in the 1990s you didn’t even have fighting in hockey video games.

So, it shocks me–but in a good way–to see fighting on a cover of a hockey magazine. Even more so since Lecavalier and Iginla are known for scoring goals, not throwing punches.

Granted, this isn’t an NHL-made or NHL-endorsed product. You could very easily see a photo like this on the cover of The Hockey News. But on a collectibles magazine, I still find it surprising. But in a good way.

Fighting is a part of hockey. I like it when publications et. all own up to that fact.

Here is a video of the Lecavalier-Iginla fight, from the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals.