Aaron Ekblad, Supersized!

ekblad_oversized_cardThis year, the NHL Draft was held in my home state of Florida, and I was lucky enough to be able to make the trip down to the BB&T Center in Sunrise to attend. On day two of the Draft, Upper Deck was sponsoring a free autograph signing with Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad. He went first overall in the 2014 draft, and at the time of the 2015 draft was only days removed from claiming the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s Rookie of the Year. So the fact that he was scheduled to sign autographs — and sign them at no cost — was a pretty big deal to me.

After getting in line and waiting a few minutes, the Upper Deck staff, as well as arena staff, came over to the line and informed us that Ekblad would only be signing a card provided by Upper Deck, Continue reading “Aaron Ekblad, Supersized!”

The Tampa Bay Lightning: A Championship in Newspapers

lightning_newspapers_mainEditor’s Note: Zach Bare is a new writer for Puck Junk. Please give him a warm welcome — even if you’re not a Lightning fan 🙂

One of my favorite ways to remember a historical event of the Tampa Bay Lightning is to save the newspaper from the morning after. That all started back in 2004, after the Lightning eliminated the Philadelphia Flyers and won the Eastern Conference en route to their first Stanley Cup appearance. It was only by chance though, that I ended up getting my hands on and then keeping these historic headlines.

Continue reading “The Tampa Bay Lightning: A Championship in Newspapers”