Month: December 2010

Why I love hockey and hate movie sequels

Thursday, I watched the movie Tron Legacy. Never mind that there were 13 perfectly good hockey games on Center Ice last night–I really wanted to see the new Tron flick, and finally had the chance to do so. I loved the original Tron from 1982, and could not wait to see what an updated take on this film would be like.

Well, I hated it.

I probably have not hated a sequel this much since Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice. Continue reading “Why I love hockey and hate movie sequels”

Seven 2005-06 Young Guns

I am now 7 cards closer to finishing my 2005-06 Upper Deck Hockey Set. I recently purchased some Young Guns.

The Series 2 Checklist features Alexander Ovechkin and Jeff Carter.

The other 6 cards–while not of superstar players–weren’t too bad either: Eric Nystrom, Keith Ballard, George Parros, Danny Richmond, Brad Richardson and Ryan Whitney.

I still need 29 more 2005-06 Young Guns to complete RC set. I’ve updated my Want List. If you have some extra YGs from that year, I’d like to trade for them.

The Set that Never Ends

This is the set that never ends
Yes it goes on and on my friend
Some people started collecting
Not knowing what it was
And they’ll continue buying it 
Forever just because…

The 2009-10 Champ’s Hockey mini set may very well be impossible to complete. I buy a few, and I need a few more. It’s like the hydra–you cut off a head, and two more grow back in its place. Only in this case, I fill a pocket on a card page, and two more pockets seem to magically empty.

Most normal collectors stuck to only the 100-card base set, then got on their lives. More power to them.

Seriously, what kind of nut would try and put together a short-printed, 480-card mini set that consists of animals, dead presidents / prime ministers, and “Wonders of the World?” Sure, there are rookies and Hall of Famers too. But most of these players can be found in other sets anyway.

Maybe I’m motivated by how hard the Champ’s mini set is to complete? It’s about the journey, not the destination, right?

As you can see from the scan above, I picked up a bunch of Champ’s minis yesterday. 34 to be exact.

Yet, I still need 290 more cards. It’s gonna be a while.

It might never end. 

And for those who are wondering, NO I haven’t finished the 2008-09 Champ’s mini set either.

Santa’s New Sleigh

1992 Upper Deck Christmas card #1 of 10 – Santa’s New Sleigh

1992 Upper Deck Christmas card #1 of 10 - Santa's New Sleigh‘Tis the season to show off awful, Christmas-themed trading cards. This one in particular was part of a 10-card set issued by Upper Deck in 1992. Each card shows Santa Claus and his elves engaged in different sporting activities – baseball, football, basketball and of course, hockey. The dealer that I purchased this set from can’t recollect its exact origin, but believed that Upper Deck sent it to him “back in the day” as a sort of promotional item. Continue reading “Santa’s New Sleigh”

Career in Cards: Chris Chelios

Last week, the Chicago Blackhawks honored former player and legend Chris Chelios with a pregame ceremony. Chelios retired in August, capping off a remarkable 27-year professional career that spanned from 1984 to 2010.

Chelios is my all-time favorite player. A defensive stalwart, he could help offensively too. He was rugged and would fight. Seemingly, there wasn’t anything Chelios couldn’t do…except take a night off. The man never quit, even when he was well into his forties and twice as old as many of the men he was playing against.

Now that Cheli has retired–or more appropriately, now that I have come to grips with his retirement–I thought it would be a good time to take a look back at his career…but with rectangular pieces of cardboard as the visuals.

Get comfortable…this is gonna take a while. Continue reading “Career in Cards: Chris Chelios”

1990 Blackhawks Holiday Card

This came in an envelope postmarked December 19, 1990…

Midway through the 1990-91 season, the Chicago Blackhawks sent my Aunt Gayle this holiday greeting card. This card was sent to all their season ticket holders. My Aunt knew that I collected everything hockey, so she gave me this card for safe keeping. And here it is, 20 years later. Continue reading “1990 Blackhawks Holiday Card”

A 20-cent Crosby RC FTW

Last week, you may recall that I visited a shop and picked up a bunch of hockey cards for 20 cents each. Well, the shopkeeper found more hockey cards and set them aside for me to look at. Like before, all were 20 cents each, including this one…

Yes, you are seeing that right: a 2005-06 Upper Deck Victory Sidney Crosby rookie card…20 cents for the win!

I’ll say it again as a haiku:

Crosby rookie card
Twenty cents won’t break the bank
My collection wins!

OK, I’m done gloating.

Unfortunately, the Crosby RC was the only “good” card I found, but I picked up a few other interesting ones, including…

1999-2000 Pacific Prism Sergei Fedorov – numbered 210 of 480 and oh-so shiny.

1999-2000 Pacific Prism Peter Forsberg –  numbered 46 out of 99. And purple-y. Who said disco is dead?

1999-2000 Pacific Prism Bill Guerin – Hey Tim, do you need this one?

1999-2000 Pacific Omega Ron Tugnutt – A great photo of an underrated goalie. Plus this one is numbered 252 of 299. Maybe it will become the cornerstone of a future Ron Tugnutt personal collection.

1999-2000 Pacific Paramount Vincent Lecavalier – Hey Justin G., is this something you can use?

2006-07 Fleer Ryan Potulny rookie card – Potulny is currently with the Chicago Blackhawks, so I will send this to him to try and get it autographed.

The rest of the cards were mainly commons of current and retired players that I hope to get autographed. Overall, not a bad haul for six bucks.

 

1989 Blackhawks Holiday Card

From 1989 to 1992, my Aunt Gaylehad seasons’ tickets to the Chicago Blackhawks games. In December of ’89, the Blackhawks sent her this holiday card…

Click to see larger.

The front shows a Christmas tree, adorned with lights, a glowing Blackhawks logo and a silver ornament,  reflecting an exciting scene from a Blackhawks game. Denis Savard, arms raised in the air, has scored against the New York Rangers. The crowd at old Chicago Stadium erupts in thunderous applause. Continue reading “1989 Blackhawks Holiday Card”

Free Panini Hockey Sticker Book

Bagged with the new issue of Beckett Hockey Magazine (Issue #221) is a 2010-11 Panini Hockey sticker album. The album has 72 full-color pages and  comes with 6 stickers:

Jonathan Toews, Henrik Sedin, Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby…

…P.K Subban and Ryan Miller.

Not a bad group of guys to be featured on promotional stickers.

While the newsstand price of Beckett Hockey is high at $10, it might be worthwhile to pick up this issue to get these promo stickers, which are adhered to a larger sheet stapled into the book, instead of on their own individual backings.

The 2010-11 Panini set contains 364 stickers. Each team is given 7 stickers. There are also stickers of logos, season highlights, award winners and a rookie subset. Unfortunately, all 30 of the rookies are guys who debuted late last year (leftover rookies), and not recent draft picks like Taylor Hall of Jeff Skinner.

One nice thing about collecting Panini stickers is that you can order directly from Panini the last few that you need for 20 cents apiece. I plan on purchasing a box or two and putting together this set.

Question of the week: Do you plan to collect the 2010-11 Panini Hockey sticker set? Vote in the poll above (upper right corner of this blog), and post your comments here on why/why not.

Update: You can order packets of stickers directly from Panini. A pack of 8 stickers is $1.00. There are 50 packs in a box, if you want to buy a whole box. An album can be purchased for $1.99. Prices include shipping. Send a check or money order payable to Panini America Inc. Orders can be sent to:

NHL Hockey 2010-11 Direct Sales
Panini America, Inc.
2300 E. Randol Mill Rd.
Arlington, TX 76011

If you got a little money left over after the holidays, maybe you wanna pick up a few dozen packs and get some trades going.