2009-10 Black Diamond three-pack blister

A few days back, I purchased some hockey cards at Target. Like DFG, I too have been trying to swear off the retail packs this year. And I remember Card on Ice, saying the product wasn’t all that. But I had a 10% coupon on Target, and I was deeply intrigued by this 3-pack blister pack of 2009-10 Black Diamond Hockey cards.

Three-pack blister? That’s a pack of packs! Just the sheer novelty of that would be hard for me to pass up.

Including sales tax–but minus my discount at Target–it came out to $10–a cool $3.33 per pack. Worth it? Probably not. But then again, Jonathan Toews of my Chicago Blackhawks is on the card wrapper. Would “Tazer” steer me wrong?

These shiny, foil-y cards never look good when scanned, so I only scanned what I deemed the “best” card from each pack:

Pack 1

#1 – Jonas Hiller, Ducks
#2 – Sean Avery, Rangers
#49 – Jussi Jokinen, Hurricanes
#52 – Pekka Rinne, Predators
#81 – David Krejci, Bruins

Krejci gets “best card status” from this pack because I know some guy who blogs about him.

Pack 2

#13 – Evgeni Nabokov, Sharks
#26 – Nik Antropov, Rangers
#35 – Patrik Elias, Devils
#42 – Jack Johnson, Kings
#136 – Dale Hawerchuk, Jets

A Triple Diamond card seeded 1 in every 4 packs, I beat the odds by getting one in the 3 packs I purchased. Plus, it is always great to get a card of a retired great like “Ducky.”

Pack 3

#3 – Peter Mueller, Coyotes
#8 – Justin Abdelkader, Red Wings
#14 – Joe Pavelski, Sharks
#37 – Scott Hartnell, Flyers
#72 – Erik Cole, Hurricanes

Hmmmm….none of these guys really stand out to me, so I’ll arbitrarily pick Abdelkader as the best card in the pack because it is colorful.

The backs of each card are actually pretty well laid-out. I guess I’m a sucker for symmetry.

What I like is that the team logo is on one side of the player’s head shot, while the vitals (position, height, weight, shoots and DOB) are on the right.

The back accommodates up to 5 lines of stats. As much as I prefer complete statistics, I almost expect these kinds of sets to only show a few years.

I don’t know if this is a set that I will collect. Retail packs suck, and a hobby box goes for $90 to $100–but their only upside seems to be jersey cards or parallels, neither of which I am particularly fond of.

Review: 1979-80 Topps Hockey

An iconic set from an amazing year

1979-80 was an epic year for hockey for so many reasons. It was a changing of the guard, with Wayne Gretzky playing his first NHL season, and Gordie Howe playing in his last. It was also the first season after the NHL absorbed four WHA (World Hockey Association) teams. And it was a year that a team of Americans would pull off one of the biggest miracles on ice. But that’s another story.

Like the year it represents, the 1979-80 Topps set was a landmark release, and still remains popular among collectors today. Continue reading “Review: 1979-80 Topps Hockey”

Maria Rooth

2002 Sports Illustrated for Kids card #127 – Maria Rooth

While sifting through a stack of cards from Sports Illustrated for Kids recently, I found this odd little piece of cardboard. It is unusual I n that it is a card of a collegiate hockey player. No wait – a collegiate woman hockey player. Hold the phone – a Swedish woman collegiate hockey player who is also an Olympic hero: Maria Rooth. Continue reading “Maria Rooth”

Star Cards? You better run…

OK, so maybe I did not encounter a Dalek trying to sell me hockey cards…but I damn near came close this past Sunday when Shellie and I visited a Chicago-area mall. Staring me down at the end of a dimly-lit corridor was this monstrosity:

Don’t be charmed by the pretty pink and blue lights…this thing is evil. EVIL!

Upon closer examination, the window displays cards of Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith. A little green sticker at the top says “Guaranteed unsearched,” while a white sticker at the bottom says “4 cards for only 25 cents.” The machine also sells Star Wars CCG cards, and the Dalek–I mean vending machine–behind this one sells baseball and football cards.

“It’s only a quarter–here,” said Shellie, handing me a quarter from her purse.

“Ah, why not? It will give me something to blog about,” I replied.

I put in a quarter…and nothing happened.

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a quarter and put that one in, thinking that would fix the problem.

It didn’t.

Perhaps taking inspiration from the Hanson Brothers of Slap Shot, Shellie said “Stand back” as she kicked the machine hard enough to rock it back and forth.

Instead of 4 cards, the machine spat out 6:

Ian Fraser, Mike Kruselnyski, Sergei Fedorov, Johan Garpenlov, Geoff Courtnall and Daniel Marios. A bit heavy on the 1991-92 Stadium Club.

“Try that again,” I suggested. 2 more cards emerged:

Ken Wregget, and is that….? Yes, it is Eric Lindros on water skis. (soon to be a “Card of the Week”).

“I should just leave you here with a roll of quarters,” Shellie mused.

“No! These are the kinds of hockey cards that I’m trying to get rid of, not get more of.”

Later that day, on our way out of the mall, we passed the evil machine again.

“Here–one more time,” said Shellie, handing me a quarter. I think she liked this thing more than I did. Maybe she enjoyed kicking it.

Next to the coin slot, in the tray where the cards land, were these 3 freebies–perhaps the machine vended them after we left?

Dino Ciccarelli, Dominik Hasek and Joe Murphy. Great, more Stadium Club…

I put in the quarter that Shellie gave me, and–surprise, surprise–nothing happened. So, Shellie decided to unplug the vending machine, plug it back in, and then give it a good shove. Finally, the Star Cards machine, fearing for its life, complied, producing 4 cards:

Kelly Miller, Marc Bureau, Brad Lauer and Mike Hough. Hardly what you’d call “star cards.”

For 75 cents I am the proud owner 15 useless hockey cards from the early 1990s. Two things surprise me:

1. I didn’t get any Pro Set cards, but did get 7 Stadium Club cards.

2. The cards were not vended in cardboard sleeves to protect them. Similar machines in the 1980s and 1990s would usually put the cards inside a folded piece of cardboard. No so today, as the cardboard folder would be worth more than the cards they protect.

So, take my advice: if you see one of these Star Card vending machines at a mall near you, keep walking. Or better yet–run!

1963-64 Parkhurst #83 – Ralph Backstrom

My first ’63-64 Parkhurst card of the new year, Ralph Backstrom bumps me up to 21 out of 99 cards in that set. Four more cards, and I’ll be 1/4 of the way there.

In 2008, I only purchased 2 cards from this set (though one of them was Gordie Howe).

In 2009, I made a more concentrated effort to build this set, picking up 18 cards for my set.

This year, I hope to get another 24 cards for this set–about one every two weeks. On a limited budget, that makes it a challenge. Most of the cards in this release are not that hard to come by, but I’d rather wait until I can get a good deal. This Backstrom card here cost me $8.02, but it has no creases, no marks and four sharp corners…well worth it for a 47-year old card.

Career in Cards: Curtis Joseph

Curtis Joseph retired last week after a 19-year NHL career. What better tribute than to take a look back at his career–in hockey cards. Below is a selection of his cards, one from each year in his career. Some are off the beaten path, while others are just plain cool. Continue reading

Jim Craig: An American Hockey Hero

1980-81 Topps #22: Jim Craig

Next month is the 30th anniversary of the United States’ biggest Olympic triumph – and one of the biggest upsets in sports history: the Miracle on Ice. During the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY, American goaltender Jim Craig helped the U.S. beat the ridiculously-talented Soviet hockey team. Craig stopped 36 of 39 shots, and the U.S. hung on to win the semifinal game 4-3. Two nights later, Craig and company beat Finland 4-2. It was the first time since 1960 that the United States would win a gold medal in Olympic ice hockey. Continue reading “Jim Craig: An American Hockey Hero”

Brian Campbell Autographs

Last week Monday, Shellie and I got a few autographs from Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Brian Campbell. I got a photo signed, while Shellie got a Champ’s card signed for me. Campbell commented on the card, saying that he thought it looked cool.

We also put together this 40-second video:

Card of the Week: Captain Cammi

1993-94 Classic Pro Prospects card #248 – Cammi Granato

For the next two months, the Card of the Week will feature a card of a past Olympic hero, starting with Cammi Granato. She was the team captain of the 1998 U.S. Women’s Olympic Hockey Team. It was the first time that women’s hockey was a medal sport at the Olympics, and the U.S. team beat Canada in the final game to win the gold. Continue reading “Card of the Week: Captain Cammi”

1990 Indianapolis Ice ticket stub

I didn’t have the time today to do a full write-up, but came across this old ticket stub from 1990 while filing away some team schedules my new friend Bill gave me (thanks, Bill). The stub in question is from a team called the Indianapolis Ice, who for the majority of their existence were the top minor league affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks.

The wavy pink lines make this ticket stub hard to read, so go ahead and click on it to see it more legibly. You’ll notice that it reads Indianapolis Ice vs. Bad Guys..Just lovely. That always made me laugh. So politically un-correct. Not “vs. Opponents” or “vs. TBA”, but against the BAD GUYS!!!

Unfortunately, I did not attend this game. My Mom and Aunt Gayle went to Indianapolis, and my Mom gave me her stub (as well as a few other Indy Ice things). Since this was from a playoff game, the tickets were printed before the opponent–and the date–were known. That makes figuring out the day of this game rather difficult.

The ticket says 1990 Playoff Game I. Since “I” is the 9th letter of the alphabet (last time I checked), that would mean that this game was most likely against the Salt Lake Golden Eagles, since that is the team that they played in Round Two.

During the playoffs, goaltending duties for the Ice were mostly left to Jimmy Waite, with Darren Pang chipping in here and there a few games. The leading playoff scorers for the Ice were Mike Eagles and Mike Stapleton. The Ice won Round One 4-1 over the Peoria Rivermen, and won Round Two 4-1 against Salt Lake. In the third and final round, the Ice swept the Muskegon Lumberjacks 4-0 to win their first and only Turner Cup Championship.