Month: December 2013

Review: 1987-88 O-Pee-Chee Leaders

41 of the best players from the ’86-87 season

016_f_zoomA popular trend in the late-1980s was the “leaders” set – a small, inexpensively priced set of trading cards focusing on the best players from the prior year. These cards were smaller in size and cheaper than regular cards, but also seen as premium cards due to their glossy fronts and the better cardstock that was used to print them on. O-Pee-Chee would make a Leaders set in the 1987-88 and 1988-89 seasons. Back in the day, you could a pack of five “super glossy hockey cards” for a quarter. Continue reading “Review: 1987-88 O-Pee-Chee Leaders”

Review: 1985 Islander News Bryan Trottier

Thirty-three cards o’ Trots

07_f_zoomReleased in 1985, this set of cards highlights the career (up to that point) of New York Islanders legend Bryan Trottier. The set sponsored by the New York Islander News and, according to Beckett, was issued by the Port Washington Police Department. The card fronts show photos of Trottier from various points in his career. The back of each card, written by Trottier, feature information about the photos, as well as a drug/alcohol prevention tip. Continue reading “Review: 1985 Islander News Bryan Trottier”

1991-92 Topps & Bowman promo sheet

sheet_frontThis is a nine-card uncut sheet of cards, given to retailers to promote the 1991-92 Topps and Bowman hockey card sets. As you can see, it features nine of the greatest hockey players from the 1990s: Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, Joe Sakic, Ray Bourque, Ed Belfour, Mark Messier, Pat Lafontaine, Steve Yzerman and Brett Hull. If you collect cards of any of these players, this is a very cool item to have in your collection.

The front of the sheet shows what the Topps and Bowman cards were going to look like when released later that year. Many of the photos used on these prototypes differ from the actual cards that were put in packs. Continue reading “1991-92 Topps & Bowman promo sheet”

2013-14 Upper Deck Series One Hockey Box Break

boxAnother hockey season, another Upper Deck Hockey set. This season’s Upper Deck Series One Hockey set came out in mid-November, and is loaded with quality rookie cards. Whereas the 2012-13 Young Guns class had to scrape the bottom of the rookie barrel, the 2013-14 set features the “Double Rookie Class,” meaning that Upper Deck can pick and choose the best new players from 2012-13 and 2013-14.

I recently bought a box of 2013-14 Upper Deck Series One. Here’s what I got: Continue reading “2013-14 Upper Deck Series One Hockey Box Break”

Merry Puckmas 2013

Puckmas_2013This year, I recycled a few old Christmas “cards.” Longtime readers of this blog (and all-around hockey card geeks) will recognize the two trading cards pictured above. If not…search this site and you’ll find out more about them.

Anyway, thank you very much to everyone who visits this website, reads what I write and encourages me to keep going.

Mario Lemieux Hallmark Hockey Greats Keepsake Ornament 2001 edition

Hallmark Hockey Greats, 2001

box_frontIn 2001, Hallmark released two hockey player ornaments: Jaromir Jagr and Mario Lemieux. The Jagr ornament was the fifth and final of the Hallmark Hockey Greats series. The 2001 Mario Lemieux ornament was technically not part of the series, but it does fit in with the other ornaments nicely. In fact, it is a straight-up repaint of the Lemieux Hockey Greats ornament released in 1998. Still, it is not noted as part of the Hockey Greats series on the box like the other ornaments from 1997 to 2001.

Releasing a second Mario Lemieux ornament made sense at the time. Lemieux came out of retirement in late December 2000, scoring 76 points in 43 games. During the 2001-02 season, he missed much of the season but was still considered one of hockey’s elite players. Continue reading “Mario Lemieux Hallmark Hockey Greats Keepsake Ornament 2001 edition”

Jaromir Jagr Hallmark Hockey Greats Keepsake Ornament

Hallmark Hockey Greats, 2001

box_frontHallmark continued it’s series of NHL player ornaments in 2001 with Jaromir Jagr. Although the box states that this is the “fifth and final” ornament in the series, there was actually two ornaments released in 2001 — Jagr and teammate Mario Lemeiux. Here, Jagr is decked out in the Pittsburgh Penguins road uniform. For a holiday ornament, this is actually a pretty cool-looking keepsake, due to the high level of sculpted and painted detail lavished on this figure. Continue reading “Jaromir Jagr Hallmark Hockey Greats Keepsake Ornament”

Gamers’ fondest memories of NHL ’94

Face-Off

The classic-era video game NHL ’94 celebrates its 20th anniversary this season, and remains as popular as ever. Originally released for Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Sega CD and PC computers, NHL ’94 is still enjoyed by gamers today. This year’s release by Electronic Arts, NHL ’14, even included an “NHL ’94 Mode” that let’s players experience the run-and-gun style of the old game.

But some gamers still seek out the old-school, pixelated experience. Using emulation software, many play head-to-head via the internet in online leagues hosted by the website NHL94.com. Several of these gamers who still live and breathe NHL ’94 today share their fondest memories of the game. Continue reading “Gamers’ fondest memories of NHL ’94”

1989-90 O-Pee-Chee Tembec Test prototype hockey cards

tembec_headerThings are good, but they can always be better. That’s probably what someone at the O-Pee-Chee card company thought in 1990, when they were looking to improve the quality of their hockey cards. Sometime that year, OPC experimented with a new type of paper stock that was brighter and whiter than the tan-colored stock they normally used. The paper stock was purchased from Tembec, a company that specializes in paper, pulp and lumber products. This resulted in a change of paper supplier for O-Pee-Chee — as well as some of the rarest hockey cards from 1990. Continue reading “1989-90 O-Pee-Chee Tembec Test prototype hockey cards”

Box Break: 2013-14 O-Pee-Chee Hockey

boxEight years ago, during the 2006-07 season, Upper Deck “leased” the rights from Topps to make O-Pee-Chee brand hockey cards. Wow, has it really been eight years? Where does the time go?

This year’s set feels like it could have been made in the 1980s. It features a basic design and many cards: 500 base cards of current and retired players and 100 “Marquee Rookies.” A box of 2013-14 O-Pee-Chee consists of 32 eight-card packs. Here are the results of the box I opened: Continue reading “Box Break: 2013-14 O-Pee-Chee Hockey”