Month: December 2009

Card of the Week: Me

1989-90 trading card of Sal Barry

Sal Barry 1989Like most hockey fans, I too made an attempt to play the game. Having discovered hockey in January 1989, I quickly decided that it was a game that I must learn to play. I soon purchased a floor hockey stick, and encouraged all of my friends in the neighborhood to follow suit. By March of ’89, we were playing street hockey in the alley behind my Aunt’s house on a regular basis. But that was not good enough for me; I would also have to try my hand at ice hockey…real hockey. Continue reading “Card of the Week: Me”

Two Wrongs and a Right

Here are two wrong ways to use a hockey stick, followed by the right way.

WRONG WAY #1 – Using your stick to start a fight…between fans.
After being named the first star of the game, Anaheim Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer tosses his stick over the glass, intending to give it to a little girl. But his toss had bad aim, and the stick ended up in the midst of some adults who decided to fight over it.

WRONG WAY #2 – Using your stick to (literally) beat the goalie…on your own team.
Keith Ballard of the Florida Panther attempts to bang his stick on the goalpost after the Atlanta Thrashers score. Instead, he cracks his own goalie–Tomas Vokoun–in the head. Vokoun, who was removed from the game on a stretcher, was cut and needed stitches.

(You only really need to see the first 1:15)

RIGHT WAY TO USE A HOCKEY STICK
Now, check out this sweet goal by Chicago Blackahwks captain Jonathan Toews, who beats two defenders and the goalie, scores while getting tripped, and celebrates his goal in mid-air a la Bobby Orr.

Kids, that’s how you use a hockey stick. What an awesome goal. Too bad the Blackhawks lost that game 4-1.

Trailer: Forgotten Miracle

A new documentary about the 1960 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team will be released this week. That’s right, the 1960 team. Every four years, all the buzz among U.S. hockey fans is usually about the “Miracle on Ice” from 1980. But many of us overlook the fact that 20 years prior, the miracle first occurred when the U.S. team beat Russia, Canada and Czechoslovakia en route to U.S.A.’s first gold medal in hockey.

Here is the trailer to the documentary about the 1960 Olympic team, aptly entitled “Forgotten Miracle.”

Visit the Forgotten Miracle official website here.

Review: 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee

A great shot that just misses the mark

2009-10 OPC #230 - Patrick Sharp (front)For the fourth year in a row, Upper Deck has leased the name “O-Pee-Chee” from Topps in order to brand a set of hockey cards. Overtly emblazoning the O-Pee-Chee logo and featuring Wayne Gretzky on the box and wrapper, the set is clearly meant to appeal to old school collectors who cut their card-collecting teeth during the 1970s and 1980s. And for the most part, it will. Comprising the set are 500 base cards, 50 short-printed Marquee Rookies and 50 short-printed Legends.

Continue reading “Review: 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee”

Trio of Hawks Sign Extensions

The Chicago Blackhawks have signed three of their top players to contract extensions today. Forwards Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane have signed 5-year deals, while defenseman Duncan Keith has signed a 13-year pact.

Toews and Kane’s deals are worth $31.5 million ($6.3 big ones per year), while Keith’s deal was for $72 million ($5.54 mil per year).

Full stories about this can be found on NHL.com and the Blackhawks’ website.

This is exciting news for Blackhawks fans like myself, who would hate to see the team’s great young players end up signing elsewhere. Brian Campbell and Marian Hossa might be the best-paid players on the team, but Kane, Toews and Keith are the core.

This calls for another LOLTaves:

Upcoming Hockey Figures

Here’s a quick rundown of NHL SportsPicks Series 23 and 24 by McFarlane Toys.

NHL Series 23 – January 2010
Marc-Ander Fleury (Pittsburgh Penguins)
Alexander Ovechkin 4 (Washington Capitals)
Gordie Howe (Hartford Whalers)
Teemu Selanne 2 (Anaheim Ducks)
Bobby Orr 3 (Boston Bruins)
Luke Schenn (Toronto Maple Leafs)

NHL Series 24 – April 2010
Robyn Regehr (Calgary Flames)
Michael Cammalleri (Montreal Canadiens)
Jonathan Toews (Chicago Blackhawks)
Tim Thomas (Boston Bruins)
John Tavares (New York Islanders)
Jonas Gustavsson (Toronto Maple Leafs)

NHL Series 23 seems to be a pretty typical assortment. I’m already tired of Ovechkin figures and Maple Leafs figures. A figure of Gordie Howe with the Hartford Whalers should be interesting, though a figure of him as a Houston Aeros would really rock.

Now, NHL Series 24 has my attention. McFarlane Toys is making figures of popular rookies John Tavares and Jonas Gustavsson while they are still rookies. Mike Cammaleri is currently second in scoring for Montreal, and Tim Thomas has more than established himself as a top-tier player.

But what really excites me is that there will be a figure of Blackahwks team captain Jonathan Toews. While there have been recent figures of retired ‘Hawks (Stan Mikita, Bobby Hull and Bobby Orr), this is the first figure of a current ‘Hawk since Nikolai Khabibulin was released in NHL Series Series 12 (May 2006).

Which leads me to ask, why no Blackhawks figures for so long? They have been among the hottest teams in hockey in the past two years. Patrick Kane won the Calder Trophy in 2008, but still has yet to be immortalized as a figure. Current stars Marian Hossa and Christobal Huet both appeared as SportsPicks in 2007; why not repaint them as Chicago players?

Either way, I’ll be looking to get a few of these. I’ve really slowed down on the SportsPicks as of late. I really need to get my hands on this one.

Hockey Card Haul – Part 4: Sets

OK, this is the end of all my gloating, I promise. In addition to the rookie cards, vintage cards and autographs I bought at the card show on November 22, I also hit the mother load of cheap complete sets:

2005-06 Upper Deck Series 2 (base set 243-442) – $5
1998-99 Pacific (1-451) $8
1997-98 Collectors’ Choice (1-320) – $5
1997-98 Pacific Paramount (1-198) – $8
1996-97 Collectors’ Choice (1-348) – $8
1995-96 Score Summit (1-200 – $6
1992-93 Classic Pro Prospects (1-150) – $3
1992-93 Pinnacle Canadian (1-420) – $6

That’s $49 for 8 complete sets. The best part is that all of these sets came in new Ultra Pro pages. So more accurately, $49 got me 8 complete sets and 258 card pages.

I also purchased three other sets, though they did not include pages:

2004-05 SP Authentic (base set 1-90) – $5
2004-05 Upper Deck Ice (base set 1-90) – $5
1993-94 Parkhurst (1-540) – $6

In all, that is 3,007 new cards in my collection for $65–a mere 2.2 cents per card! That’s enough cards to go around a hockey rink 1.5 times.