Jim Howard

Hockey enthusiast who pays the bills as a traveling geologist. More of a lover than a fighter, he's a fairly cheap date; just ask his wife. He'd prefer to be outside in the rain that stuck in the office on a beautiful day.

Best of the Worst: 2020-21 Upper Deck Series 1 Hockey

Greetings, my fellow hockey fans who aren’t watching hockey! While we are trying to socially distance and wash our hands like NBC Sports washed it’s hands of several problematic co-hosts, Upper Deck dropped a lump of coal in our turkey before yelling, “Happy St. Paddy’s Day!” and throwing beaded necklaces at us. And who can blame them since we don’t know what day it is, let alone what holiday. But that’s no lump of coal: it’s a box of Upper Deck’s Series 1!  If it was coal, it would have said “Panini.”

Before jumping to the goods, I was worried that I wouldn’t find enough cards to make fun of in a post, and this has been the case for the past few boxes of Upper Deck’s flagship hockey set. Honestly, the first half of the packs that I exhumed not only lacked of comical merriment fuel, but frankly, they lacked anything awesome or inspiring. The cards were boring. Dull. Safe. But thankfully, the later half of the box got things back on track! 

Continue reading “Best of the Worst: 2020-21 Upper Deck Series 1 Hockey”

Book Review: 99 Stories of the Game

Hey, Wayne! What is This Book? Please Explain. 

Stumbling around in a discount book store last fall, I found a copy of 99 Stories of the Game by Wayne Gretzky sitting by the cash register. I’d seen this book before and had passing interest, as in I was mildly interested in reading it one day, but I’d always passed on it. But this one has a gold sticker in the corner advertizing it as a signed copy and I actually had to put my eyeballs on the ink to see if was real. It was! Who is going to turn down a $15 autograph of the man whose many accomplishments also include hawking a ready to eat soup mix from your own Stanley Cup?

I will say that the title is a little misleading, or it was for me. Continue reading “Book Review: 99 Stories of the Game”

Hockey Road Trip Across the Carolinas

Hello, hockey nerds! Today, I’m hopefully going to wow all of you, and maybe inspire some of you to go on a Hockey Road Trip. Over the summer, Tom Dundon, The Most Interesting Man in Hockey, reached an agreement with the Greenville (South Carolina) Swamp Rabbits to become the ECHL affiliates of the (North) Carolina Hurricanes. This made a lot of sense as they are only little more than an hour’s drive from Charlotte where the Calder Cup Champion AHL affiliate Charlotte Checkers play. Almost as soon as this was announced, my friends and I waited with bated breath for the schedules of all three teams to be published and looked for a time to visit on a Lost Hockey Weekend Roadtrip. That perfect weekend ended up being January 17 to 19, 2020.

My wife, my best friend and I planned this weekend because all three teams were playing at home on consecutive days; the Canes played on Friday, the Bog Bunnies on Saturday, and the Checkers on Sunday afternoon, which was all too perfect because with a three hour drive back, it meant that we only had spent one night out of town and without having to take a day off of work!

Continue reading “Hockey Road Trip Across the Carolinas”

Best of the Worst: 2019-20 Upper Deck Series 1 Hockey

Hello again, my friends. I hope we’re all thankful and fat from Thanksgiving leftovers (or not, if you’re from outside the United States), but let’s dive into Upper Deck’s latest givings and see where their photographers dropped the ball before New Years!

Continue reading “Best of the Worst: 2019-20 Upper Deck Series 1 Hockey”

Fender NHL Telecaster Electric Guitars

Y’all ready for some pickin’n grinnin’???  If there was one thing I could collect more than hockey-related vinyl records, it would be guitars.  Like, any guitars; doesn’t have be hockey-related.  My wife put a cap on my collection, and I’d go real broke, real fast doing that.  But I do want to share something that crosses my path that could be worth the cold, hard cash.

In the years 1999 and 2000, Fender made a limited run of guitars for the teams in the league, all limited to a maximum of 100 per club and painted with the team’s logo, plus another potential 100 featuring the NHL shield. Continue reading “Fender NHL Telecaster Electric Guitars”

Hockey Cards That Need to Be Made

Ideas Beyond Jersey and Autograph Cards

My boss once gave me some advice during a performance review: “Don’t come to me with problems, come to me with solutions.” I’m sure it meant for me not to bother him complaints, but I took it another way. If you have a question, also have a variety of answers ready and we can figure out what’s best.

Taking this to heart, I’ve complained about how the rising cost of little cardboard rectangles should be worth your hard earned cash. Let’s be honest; you have a better chance of breaking even with a scratch off lottery ticket. But I’ve yet to offer solutions of what ideas would grow my little t-rex arms long enough to reach my wallet buried deep in my back pocket.

What follows are card idea, or notions at least, that are a breath of fresh air to the usual jersey cards and autographs. Upper Deck, if you’re reading this, you’re more than welcome to take these ideas and make them a reality for all the trading card nerds. But Panini – you you keep your hands to yourself!

Continue reading “Hockey Cards That Need to Be Made”

Year of the Pig, Part III: The Postseason

Part III in the recap of the 2018-19 Carolina Hurricanes’ season & run to the Conference Finals. But will there be a Part IV? 

Note: Be sure to read Part 1 and Part 2 first. 

In the Hurricanes first postseason game in a decade they fared OK, but played like a team that was still in the regular season, while a far more experienced Washington squad played “playoff hockey.” Andrei Svechnikov, being a rookie, didn’t know they were suppose to lose, and put up two goals to make the Canes look good. Game 2 ended tighter, but novice play in OT put them down 0-2 in the series. Another rookie, Warren Foegele, started to make a name for himself here (besides being the thief that stole all the E’s out of Petr Mrazek’s name).

Game 3 was in Raleigh, the first game in a generation of new fans. Continue reading “Year of the Pig, Part III: The Postseason”