How to Get a David Ayres Rookie Card

The whole sports world has been abuzz about David Ayres, the 42-year old emergency backup goaltender who manned the pipes when both Carolina Hurricanes goaltenders went down with injuries in a February 22 game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ayers, who works for the Toronto Marlies AHL team as a facilities manager and Zamboni driver, was on hand for the Maple Leafs should either team need an emergency goalie. He played in nearly half of that game and stopped eight out of 10 shots that he faced, recording the win in the Hurricanes’ 6-3 victory. He is the first EBUG to be credited with a win in an NHL contest.

Of course, whenever an EBUG makes an appearance, the question is if he will be featured on a hockey card. And the answer is yes — Ayres will be featured on two hockey cards this year. One you can purchase between now and the morning of Friday, March 6, as a part of Upper Deck’s “Game Dated Moments” set. The other Ayres card will come out in May, but will be much tougher to get.

So, if you’d like to own a David Ayres rookie card right now, but don’t understand how Upper Deck E-Pack works, never bought hockey cards online before, or haven’t bought trading cards since they came packaged with gum, then read on.

What to do Right Now…

The David Ayres “Game Dated Moments” Upper Deck Hockey card will only be available for purchase between now and the morning of March 6, 2020. To get one, you will need an Upper Deck E-Pack account and a credit card or PayPal account.

Step 1 – Sign up for an Upper Deck E-Pack account

Upper Deck E-Pack is a website where Upper Deck sells its trading cards directly to consumers. Some of the cards are digital-only, while other cards are physical cards that can later be mailed to you. David Ayres currently has a card available in the Game Dated Moments set. It is a physical card that can be mailed to you once it is printed. The E-Pack website works on both computers and mobile devices, but I find it a bit easier to navigate using a regular desktop or laptop computer.

1. Go to www.upperdeckeppack.com

2. Click on the Sign In button in the upper-right corner.

3. Click the Join Now button, and fill out the form.

Now that you are registered as a user, you can purchase cards on E-Pack.

Step 2: Head to the Store & add *any* hockey card pack to your cart

Ayres’ card that is available this week is in a set called Game Dated Moments as Card #54. This card comes by itself in Pack #54 for $3.99, so purchase that pack and you have Ayers’ first-ever card.

However, in order to buy his card, you will first have to add any hockey pack to your shopping cart. This can be as cheaply as adding a pack of 2018-19 Compendium Hockey to your cart for 99 cents.

I decided to purchase a few packs of 2019-20 Upper Deck Series One Hockey, because that’s a set I collect anyway.

1. Add any hockey pack to your shopping cart. You only need to buy one pack of any hockey product, which will allow you to buy as many packs of Game Dated Moments as you wish.

2. Add this Game Dated Moments pack to your cart: Card #54 (February 22, 2020) – Emergency Goaltender Ayers Makes NHL Debut and Earns Win. Every pack has just this card, so if you want, say, five copies of this card, you’d buy five of Pack #54.

3. Click the Cart icon in the upper-right corner, proceed to checkout and pay.

Step 3: Open Your Packs

Once you’ve paid for the cards, head over to My Packs to open your packs. Every Game Dated Moments Pack #54 has a David Ayres card. Right now, you own the card, but it hasn’t been printed yet. But don’t worry — it will.

What to do Later..

Once you purchase Game Dated Moments Pack #54, the David Ayres rookie card is yours. But if you eventually want to have the card in-hand, you will need to create a COMC account, link it to your E-Pack account, and then have the card mailed to you.

Step 4: Create a COMC Account

In a few weeks, the David Ayres card will be printed and stored with an online card seller called Check Out My Cards, or COMC for short. Any physical card that is purchased via Upper Deck E-Pack will eventually get shipped by COMC once you request shipment of the card. So, in order to do that, you will need a COMC account.

1. Go to www.comc.com.

2. Click Register in the upper-right corner and sign up for an account

You don’t need to do this step now, but you will eventually when you want your David Ayres cards shipped to you.

Step 5: Link your E-Pack Account to your COMC Account

Once you have a COMC account, you will want to link it to your E-Pack account. That way, you can transfer your cards to COMC, who in turn will ship them to you.

1. Click on the Menu icon in the upper-right hand corner.

2. Click Accounts.

3. Click Linked Accounts.

4. From here, you will be able to link your E-Pack and COMC accounts.

Step 6: Keep an Eye Out for an Email from Upper Deck

In a week or so, you will get an email from Upper Deck informing you that your Game Dated Moments cards of David Ayres are ready to be transferred to your COMC account.

Step 7: Transfer the Card to COMC

You’ll need to go to your E-Pack account, click on My Collection and scroll to the David Ayres card. Click on it, and you will see a button to transfer the card to COMC. You won’t see this option until after you get the email from Upper Deck stating that the card is ready for transfer.

Step 8: Have Your Card Shipped to You

Finally, you will have to go back to your COMC account and request shipment of your David Ayres card(s), plus any other cards you may have purchased via E-Pack and transferred to your COMC account.

Shipping costs around $5, so when all is said and done, it will cost you about $10 to have one David Ayres rookie card, assuming that you purchased a 99-cent pack of Compendium to unlock the $4 Game Dated Moments pack. But that’s a pretty small price to pay to own something as cool as a card of the Zamboni driver who made NHL history.

Any questions? Leave a comment or reach out to me on Twitter @puckjunk.

Follow Sal Barry on Twitter @PuckJunk. ■