Book Review: Hockey Card Stories 2

If you enjoyed the 2014 book “Hockey Card Stories,” then you will absolutely love the sequel, “Hockey Card Stories 2.” Author Ken Reid asks another 59 hockey players about what they think about one of their old trading cards. 

Right away, the book starts off with a hit: Bob McGill’s 1991-92 Upper Deck hockey card. If you’ve seen that card, then you know how awesome it is, perhaps for all the wrong reasons. McGill, however, is embarrassed by that card years later, but was happy to talk about why he dislikes it, and his time with the San Jose Sharks.

Notes
Title: Hockey Card Stories 2
Author: Ken Reid
Pages: 288 pages
Size: 6.25″ x 8.75″
Format: Paperback
Price: $16.95 U.S./ $19.95 Canada
Get it at Amazon for less
Publisher: ECW Press

Many players remember the game, or sometimes even the exact play, the photo on their card was taken. There are a lot of fun anecdotes in “Hockey Card Stories 2.” We learn about how the infamous Olaf Kolzig “Hot Dog” card came to be, as well as Gary Unger’s unique shot on his 1973-74 card.  One player sheepishly admits that he hadn’t scored in so long that his card’s photo was of him celebrating his goal drought being snapped. Another player, a goalie, disliked his rookie card photo, which showed him on the bench, so the next year he flagged down the trading card photographer and had him take a more flattering picture. 

About half of the cards in “Hockey Card Stories 2” are from the early 1990s, so those who grew up buying packs of Upper Deck and Score will especially love this book. 

Excerpt that epitomizes “Hockey Card Stories 2”: I remember when my rookie card came out, the card company gave me a huge stack of them. I looked at my card and thought, this is cool. I had collected cards for all those years and was fortunate to now have my own. 

What I like about “Hockey Card Stories 2”: This book focuses a lot on cards from the 1990s, particularly the hockey card boom years of 1990 to 1993. 

What I do not like about “Hockey Card Stories 2”: Reid talks about a few cards where the wrong player is pictured, or where photos are swapped on cards, but only talks with one player instead of both. Also, not one Pro Set card was featured. 🙁 

Rating 5 out of 5

Lack of Pro Set cards aside, “Hockey Card Stories 2” is an awesome book that every hockey card collector should own (along with the first book). Even if you are no longer a hockey card collector, but did collect once upon a time, you will greatly enjoy the stories Reid gathered for this book. ■

Follow Sal Barry on Twitter @PuckJunk

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Author: Sal Barry

Sal Barry is the editor and webmaster of Puck Junk. He is a freelance hockey writer, college professor and terrible hockey player. Follow him on Twitter @puckjunk

4 thoughts on “Book Review: Hockey Card Stories 2”

  1. Do you have any contact with Ken Reid? We should lobby for Hockey Card Stories 3 to be nothing but Pro Set. The 1990-91 set alone checks all the boxes – bizarre photo choices, a nexus of players whose careers span from the 70s to the 2010s, and errors by the truckload.

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