Category: News & Views

Tom Fenton to Get a Real Card

Former collegiate goaltender Tom Fenton–who appeared as an emergency backup goalie for the Phoenix Coyotes last month–is getting his own hockey card. Today, hockey card manufacturer In the Game announced that Fenton will be a part of the 2010-11 Between the Pipes set.

“You’re not going to see him in any other products this season,” stated ITG president Dr. Brian Price in a press release, “so it was important that we do our best to bring his cards to collectors.”

Between the Pipes focuses exclusively on goaltenders, and this year’s set will feature both signed and unsigned cards of Fenton. As ITG does not have an NHL license, they will most likely show Fenton from his playing days with the American International College Yellow Jackets.

As a hockey card collector, I am excited that Fenton is going to get a card. While Fenton’s role as a one-game backup goalie hardly significant in the grander scheme of pro hockey, it is still pretty darn cool.

Besides, do we really need another card of Brodeur, Roy or Luongo, when we can have one of someone who played a small, but interesting role for a night?

Apparently, I’m Quote-Worthy

A few months ago, I subscribed to a magazine called The Want List, which focuses exclusively on hockey cards and memorabilia. Recently, they asked some of their readers to rate what they thought the most influential hockey jerseys were.

I just got the new issue yesterday, and on page 37 I am quoted in The Want List’s 25 Most Influential Hockey Jerseys article.

OK, so it’s not like I wrote the Declaration of Independence or anything. But it is still cool to see my name on paper.

Two issues in, and I’m really enjoying my subscription to The Want List. The majority of it is about hockey cards, but some of it also covers hockey jerseys (obviously), hockey toys, hockey pucks, hockey DVDs…the key word here is hockey.

I’m also learning some new stuff from this mag, too. One article in the new ish was about hockey cards made by the Paterson and Paulin chocolate companies during the 1920s. Admittedly, I don’t know too much about cards from that era.

The Want List is chock-full of hockey card articles. If you are interested in learning more or subscribing to the magazine, check out their website.

Why I love hockey and hate movie sequels

Thursday, I watched the movie Tron Legacy. Never mind that there were 13 perfectly good hockey games on Center Ice last night–I really wanted to see the new Tron flick, and finally had the chance to do so. I loved the original Tron from 1982, and could not wait to see what an updated take on this film would be like.

Well, I hated it.

I probably have not hated a sequel this much since Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice. Continue reading “Why I love hockey and hate movie sequels”

Seven 2005-06 Young Guns

I am now 7 cards closer to finishing my 2005-06 Upper Deck Hockey Set. I recently purchased some Young Guns.

The Series 2 Checklist features Alexander Ovechkin and Jeff Carter.

The other 6 cards–while not of superstar players–weren’t too bad either: Eric Nystrom, Keith Ballard, George Parros, Danny Richmond, Brad Richardson and Ryan Whitney.

I still need 29 more 2005-06 Young Guns to complete RC set. I’ve updated my Want List. If you have some extra YGs from that year, I’d like to trade for them.

The Set that Never Ends

This is the set that never ends
Yes it goes on and on my friend
Some people started collecting
Not knowing what it was
And they’ll continue buying it 
Forever just because…

The 2009-10 Champ’s Hockey mini set may very well be impossible to complete. I buy a few, and I need a few more. It’s like the hydra–you cut off a head, and two more grow back in its place. Only in this case, I fill a pocket on a card page, and two more pockets seem to magically empty.

Most normal collectors stuck to only the 100-card base set, then got on their lives. More power to them.

Seriously, what kind of nut would try and put together a short-printed, 480-card mini set that consists of animals, dead presidents / prime ministers, and “Wonders of the World?” Sure, there are rookies and Hall of Famers too. But most of these players can be found in other sets anyway.

Maybe I’m motivated by how hard the Champ’s mini set is to complete? It’s about the journey, not the destination, right?

As you can see from the scan above, I picked up a bunch of Champ’s minis yesterday. 34 to be exact.

Yet, I still need 290 more cards. It’s gonna be a while.

It might never end. 

And for those who are wondering, NO I haven’t finished the 2008-09 Champ’s mini set either.

A 20-cent Crosby RC FTW

Last week, you may recall that I visited a shop and picked up a bunch of hockey cards for 20 cents each. Well, the shopkeeper found more hockey cards and set them aside for me to look at. Like before, all were 20 cents each, including this one…

Yes, you are seeing that right: a 2005-06 Upper Deck Victory Sidney Crosby rookie card…20 cents for the win!

I’ll say it again as a haiku:

Crosby rookie card
Twenty cents won’t break the bank
My collection wins!

OK, I’m done gloating.

Unfortunately, the Crosby RC was the only “good” card I found, but I picked up a few other interesting ones, including…

1999-2000 Pacific Prism Sergei Fedorov – numbered 210 of 480 and oh-so shiny.

1999-2000 Pacific Prism Peter Forsberg –  numbered 46 out of 99. And purple-y. Who said disco is dead?

1999-2000 Pacific Prism Bill Guerin – Hey Tim, do you need this one?

1999-2000 Pacific Omega Ron Tugnutt – A great photo of an underrated goalie. Plus this one is numbered 252 of 299. Maybe it will become the cornerstone of a future Ron Tugnutt personal collection.

1999-2000 Pacific Paramount Vincent Lecavalier – Hey Justin G., is this something you can use?

2006-07 Fleer Ryan Potulny rookie card – Potulny is currently with the Chicago Blackhawks, so I will send this to him to try and get it autographed.

The rest of the cards were mainly commons of current and retired players that I hope to get autographed. Overall, not a bad haul for six bucks.

 

Free Panini Hockey Sticker Book

Bagged with the new issue of Beckett Hockey Magazine (Issue #221) is a 2010-11 Panini Hockey sticker album. The album has 72 full-color pages and  comes with 6 stickers:

Jonathan Toews, Henrik Sedin, Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby…

…P.K Subban and Ryan Miller.

Not a bad group of guys to be featured on promotional stickers.

While the newsstand price of Beckett Hockey is high at $10, it might be worthwhile to pick up this issue to get these promo stickers, which are adhered to a larger sheet stapled into the book, instead of on their own individual backings.

The 2010-11 Panini set contains 364 stickers. Each team is given 7 stickers. There are also stickers of logos, season highlights, award winners and a rookie subset. Unfortunately, all 30 of the rookies are guys who debuted late last year (leftover rookies), and not recent draft picks like Taylor Hall of Jeff Skinner.

One nice thing about collecting Panini stickers is that you can order directly from Panini the last few that you need for 20 cents apiece. I plan on purchasing a box or two and putting together this set.

Question of the week: Do you plan to collect the 2010-11 Panini Hockey sticker set? Vote in the poll above (upper right corner of this blog), and post your comments here on why/why not.

Update: You can order packets of stickers directly from Panini. A pack of 8 stickers is $1.00. There are 50 packs in a box, if you want to buy a whole box. An album can be purchased for $1.99. Prices include shipping. Send a check or money order payable to Panini America Inc. Orders can be sent to:

NHL Hockey 2010-11 Direct Sales
Panini America, Inc.
2300 E. Randol Mill Rd.
Arlington, TX 76011

If you got a little money left over after the holidays, maybe you wanna pick up a few dozen packs and get some trades going.

More Vintage Pickups

Believe it or not, I am still sorting through and putting away cards that I purchased at that card show last month.

Since mid-November, I’ve started a second teaching job, have been promoting a blogging class that I’m teaching in January, and am now promoting and organizing an art show based on video games and toys. So, my hobbies have taken a backseat to more academic pursuits.

I’m finally getting around to posting some more “common” 1970s O-PeeChee cards that I got last month.

Sorry about the group scans. Just want to show these off and put them away before bedtime.

Some 1969-70 and 1970-71 O-Pee-Chee cards

More 1970-71 O-Pee-Chee cards…look at the pretty, pretty colors!

Six cards from the 1971-72 O-Pee-Chee set, including Hall of Fame defenseman Harry Howell (lower right).

Finally, some unmarked checklist cards from the 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Hockey set.

There you have it…28 cards from various 1970s OPC sets. One day, all of these sets will be complete. In the meantime, I will continue to chip away at them a few cards at a time.

20 cents each? Hell yes!

Saturday, I visited a store I don’t go to too often. It is not a card shop; rather, it is a store that sells a bit of everything. I never find sports cards there. That changed when I found a bunch of good hockey cards–for a mere 20 cents each!

Sifting through several thousand mixed cards–mostly Pokemon CCGs, baseball and non-sport–I unearthed 140 or so hockey cards. Many of them were rookies and inserts. Take a look at what I found:

11 2007-08 Upper Deck Young Guns – Two Bobby Ryan RCs, as well as Young Guns of Milan Lucic, Tobias Enstrom, Erik Johnson, Peter Mueller, Mayson Raymond, Rob Schremp and Villie Koistonen. Plus Jaroslav Hlinka and Tom Gilbert. All for 20 cents each.

21 2007-08 OPC Marquee Rookies – Mostly scrubs, but some good ones too, including Erik Johnson, Jaroslav Halak, Andrew Cogliano, David Clarkson, Mayson Raymond, Nick Foligno and Martin Hanzal. Also pictured above are two cards of Brett Sterling (regular and foil versions). Sterling is well-known to fans of the AHL’s Chicago Wolves.

6 2007-08 OPC Inserts – Two team checklists, a Season Highlights card of Evgeni Malkin, an In Action card of Roberto Luongo and two Stat Leaders cards. Fortunately, the two Stat Leaders cards were ones I needed for my set.

9 random rookie cards – Yes–the card in the upper left is a 2005-06 MVP Dion Phaneuf rookie card. The card next to it is a David Moss Ice Premiers RC numbered 287/999. The rest aren’t anything special, but will hopefully one day get traded to a fellow collector who is trying to complete some sets.

Some Stars and Inserts – Base and insert cards of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Alex Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Vincent Lecavalier and Paul Stastny.

More Stars and Inserts – An Alex Tanguay Black Diamond Double Diamond and some various inserts from the 2007-08 Upper Deck set.

There were other cards I purchased too, but nothing special–Artifacts base cards, Black Diamond base cards and some “junk wax era” Classic Cards from the mid-1990s.

I guess there are two lessons here:

  1. Sometimes you find things you like for a steal.
  2. Sometimes you find things you like in the least likely of places.