My National Hockey Card Day USA Recap

2013 NHCD USA #16 - Jonathan QuickI was excited that National Hockey Card Day in the USA was “celebrating” its second anniversary this past Saturday. Comic book collectors have “Free Comic Book Day.” Baseball card collectors have (or at least had) “Free Baseball Card Day.” So, it is pretty awesome that hockey card collectors in America have what is basically “Free Hockey Card Day.”

Unlike last year, though, I only hit up two shops. Most stores within Chicago were not participating–though many in the far-off suburbs were. And this year, I only needed to build two sets–one for me and one for Kazi. Last year, I had a few more sets to put together, hence visiting more stores. This year, NHCD was a more streamlined experience.

Store #1
The first shop I visited was Elite Sports. The owner is nice, but his store does not have much in hockey cards. Fortunately, the pack of O-Pee-Chee I bought (to get the free Jonathan Quick card) had a sticker of Marc-Andre Fleur, thus completing my sticker set.

2012-13 O-Pee-Chee Stickers #S-79 - Marc-Andre FleuryStore #2
The second card store I went to was AU Sports, now in Morton Grove (link). One of the owners, Frank, is a big hockey fan and was proudly wearing his red Patrick Sharp Blackhawks jersey. A few customers at the store gave me their NHCD packs, so after a total of 7 packs (plus a few loose cards Frank threw my way), I had two complete sets. Mission accomplished.

And yes, the collation was much better this year than it was in 2012.

I also purchased a few goodies from AU Sports, including:

  • 13 more Jeremy Roenick Rookie Cards for my “1000 JR RCs Project”
  • A complete set of 1999-00 Upper Deck HoloGRFX hockey cards
  • A complete set of 1999-00 Topps Premier Plus hockey cards
  • A Chicago Hounds (a 1-year UHL team) pocket schedule
2006-07 Chicago Hounds Schedule
You never heard of the Chicago Hounds? Neither did most people in Chicago. The team lasted one season.

Did any American collectors participate in NHCD? If so, let me know how you did.

Also, I have a few extra NHCD cards–check my Singles, RCs & Inserts Trade page. I am looking to trade for the Gretzky/Lemieux Canada Cup card and some of the oversized NHCD Canadian cards.

 

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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

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