October 2008 - Puck Junk

Card of the Week: I Has a Hot Dog

1995-96 Pinnacle card #134 – Olaf Kolzig

Olaf Kolzig was not what you’d call a “hot dog” during the early days of his long NHL tenure. The first five years of his pro career were mostly spent in the minor leagues, while the next three were spent playing second fiddle to former All-Star goaltender Jim Carey. Back then, “Olie the Goalie” spent more time riding the pine than stopping pucks.

During Kolzig’s time as a backup, he was shown on a Pinnacle hockey card, sitting on the bench and enjoying a hot dog – with his name spelled out in the mustard! Continue reading “Card of the Week: I Has a Hot Dog”

I voted today

No, I did not vote for the next President of the United States…that happens next month.

Instead, I (an American, go figure) voted for what I thought should be the new theme for “Hockey Night in Canada”.

Personally, I liked Canadian Gold by Colin Oberst better than the other finalist. Have a listen…

Now, you’re probably wondering why an American would care about this. Back in 1989, my family got a satellite dish–one of those big ones that are five feet in diameter. Not only could I watch a lot more hockey games than what was shown on SportsChannel at the time, but I could watch Hockey Night in Canada. I watched HNIC almost every weekend until I moved away to college. Like millions of other people The Hockey Theme grew on me. It is an awesome tune.

After not seeing Hockey Night In Canada for about a decade, I’ve decided to subscribe to the NHL Center Ice package, which means I can finally hear Don Cherry’s wisdom once more. But I’m kind of bummed that that totally badass tune will no longer be the precursor to the (usually) awesome match-up shown by CBC that night.

Tonight, I watched the Canucks/Flames game. CBC showed both anthem finalists during the second intermission, and Canadian Gold is the one I like better. Let’s hope it wins!

Card of the Week: Rubber Deck?

1991-92 Topps Stadium Club card #290 – Daniel Berthiaume

Look over the stick hand of goaltender Daniel Berthiaume, and you’ll see what looks like the letters PBER. Look to the right – through the mesh of the net – and you’ll make out the Upper Deck logo. Continue reading “Card of the Week: Rubber Deck?”

Puck Junk is 1 today

Wow, I must have had like ten other things on my mind if I just now realized that PuckJunk.com has reached its first anniversary.

I launched this site on October 5, 2007, although it had been an idea I wanted to do since late 2006. Once I decided to quit my 40-hour a week job as a web designer to concentrate on teaching and freelance, the abundance of free time allowed me to develop, launch and maintain this site.

But while my passion for all things hockey has not diminished, my free time has. While I was able to crank out 35 assorted articles from October to December 2007 (plus random blog posts), my output from January to September has been less than that–only 32 “real” articles as of this writing…though I do seem to be doing a lot of random blog posts about hockey stuff more so than last year.

A few things have gone down that have taken up a lot of my free time. I started dating this girl named Shellie in January, and things have worked out well–so well, that we are now living together. No complaints from her about my collecting habits, here, as she has hobbies of her own. Plus, I’m starting to get her “into” hockey.

Another thing that I have mentioned is that I started Graduate School. That is also eating up a good portion of my “free time”. As much as I love writing about old sets of cards, the idea of getting straight As in Grad School right now is a bit more appealing to me. Not only am I going back to college, but I am also writing for the school’s paper.

So, while I don’t always write on this site as much as I’d like to, it is always on my mind. Hopefully, with the hockey season now upon us, I’ll be able to get some new reviews up soon.