News & Views

Yesterday was Halloween, and today is the 50th anniversary of when Jacques Plante first wore a goalie mask in a game–November 1, 1959.

What is ironic about these two days being back-to-back is that the classic, “Jason-style” goalie mask will forever be associated with Halloween (the holiday, not the movie).

“Really, are we all that different…?”
The fiberglass goalie masks worn by guys like Plante, Tony Esposito and Gerry Cheevers was phased out during the 1980s, and pretty much gone by 1990. Sam St. Laurent was the final guy in the NHL to wear the fiberglass “face” mask, last appearing for the Red Wings in 14 games during the 1989-90 season.

Yet, the very same classic goalie mask still “means” hockey–even though it was last used in the NHL 20 years ago. Most goalies started to change over to helmets during the early-to-mid 1980s, after Bernie Parent sustained a career-ending eye-injury in 1979.

Though no longer used in hockey, the classic goalie mask continues to be a symbol of Halloween. Worn by Jason Vorhees in the “Friday the 13th” series of movies, the plain white goalie mask remains a staple for people who don’t want to put a lot of thought into dressing up once a year–never mind the fact that those films, like the mask itself, have not been relevant since the 1980s.

Get some black clothes, a $5 toy mask and a machete (prop or otherwise) and you’ve got the lazy man’s Halloween costume. 97 out of 100 people will get it (the other 3 will think you’re a zombie Pelle Lindbergh).

Fitting to both Halloween and the anniversary of the goalie mask, the Chicago Blackhawks gave out a Halloween-inspired mask to fans who attended their game on October 30. I think Wayne and Garth would approve.

No, not that Wayne and Garth.

“Game on!”

By the way, here’s a cool article about one of the last goalies to go without a mask.

The Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League (AHL) have signed Chris Chelios today. He will make his debut with the team on Friday. The full story can be seen on the Chicago Wolves’ website.

As many of you know, Chelios is my favorite player. Way back when he was with the Montreal Canadiens, I enjoyed his rough-and-tumble style of play. When he became a Chicago Blackhawks player in 1990, he also became my favorite player. He was our top defenseman on the team, but also contributed a lot of offense. In fact, he led the team in scoring during the 1995-96 season.

Virtually all of the players I grew up watching have retired–but not Chelios. He kept soldiering on over all these years. My joke all along has been that I will still be a kid until Chelios retires. And it looks like Chelios will stave off retirement a little while longer.

Above is Chris Chelios’ rookie card, from the 1984-85 season. Below is a custom card I made of Chelios–based on the ’84-85 design–but wearing a Chicago Wolves uniform (well, practice jersey anyway).

Way back in March 2008, I got this card in a pack of 2007-08 O-Pee-Chee Hockey:

As you can see, it is a Quad Jerseys card of four Minnesota Wild players: Marian Gaborik, Pierre Marc-Bouchard, Adam Hall and Pavol Demitra. I instantly hated this card because it features a purple swatch next to Demitra. Why would you put four Minnesota players on a card, feature four swatches swatches of their jerseys, but use a Kings jersey for one of the players? It doesn’t make sense, and it ruins what would otherwise be a fantastic card.

Would you make a game-used card that featured a game-used swatch of a Kings jersey worn by Wayne Gretzky, but use a photograph of Gretz with the Oilers? No, that would be stupid, and kill what could otherwise be a nice presentation. Yet, each year Upper Deck gives us cards of showing a player wearing the jersey from his “new” team, but using a swatch from a jersey from his “old” team. I once got a card of Marc Savard that pictured him as a Thrasher, colored the card in Bruins colors (and said “Boston Bruins” at the bottom) and used a swatch from a Flames jersey. That was one messed up card.

So, I’ve decided that I will no longer accept this. On September 15, I sent the Minnesota Wild Quad Jerseys card back to Upper Deck with a letter explaining that I did not want this “defective” piece of merchandise.

To make sure this letter did not get “lost”, I sent it via Signature Confirmation, so that someone would have to sign when the Post Office delivered it. On September 18, it was delivered and signed for by someone named “Ventura”.

On September 30, I received a padded envelope from Upper Deck. It contained a letter–mostly the typical “form letter,” but the bottom is actually personalized to my particular case…

(The typo “yourcard” is theirs, not mine. *I* use spell-check.)

Upper Deck returned the Quad Jerseys card, explaining that the card was not defective–they just knowingly used a swatch from the wrong team. But it’s cool, because Demitra was a King at one time, just not when he was pictured on this card. Their fuzzy logic is frustrating.

Perhaps as a means to placate me, UD’s customer service also enclosed this 2007-08 Upper Deck Black Diamond “Gemography” card of Patrice Bergeron.

So, I gained an autographed card–which is always nice–but still have the same lousy Minnesota Wild jersey card with a swatch from a Kings jersey. Plus, I just now realized that the gray swatch used for Adam Hall is from his days with the Nashville Predators, making this card an even bigger piece of crap. Had I noticed that before, I would have mentioned that in my letter too.

I did not do this as a means to “extort” an autographed card from Upper Deck. While I did ask for a replacement card, I told Upper Deck that I did not care what it was so long as the jersey was “right”.

As we collectors, we should not accept “defective” memorabilia cards, where the swatch is not from the same team as the player pictured. Seriously, who wants that in their collection?

So here is what I propose: if you get such a card in a pack of 2009-10 hockey cards, where the jersey swatch is not from the same team as the photographed player, send it back to Upper Deck. Let them know that you will not accept such a defective card. And it is a defect–not in the manufacturing process, but in their thought process. Remember, these game-used memorabilia cards are what drives up the cost of hockey cards–if we are paying for something, we should be paying for something we want.

Who is with me on this?

Puck Junk is two years old.

Yes, the terrible twos.

I should be more happy about this, but I’m not.

I’m a web designer. I make websites.

Sites come and go.

Some of the best websites I’ve done have since gone to website heaven.

My previous “passion project”, which was based on “The Matrix” movies, lasted six years until I got tired of it and took it offline.

Too many hobbies, not enough time to create websites for all of them (though I try).

Conventional logic should dictate that in order for a website to succeed, new content should be added every day. Well, I guess the reason why I’m a bit disappointed is that I don’t update this site every day or every other day.

Instead, I tend to be streaky. I go through some weeks where–BAM!–I update the site five days a week. And then there are other times where I can’t even find the time to update in two weeks. My last post was my tribute to Patrick Swayze…and that was 20 days ago!

For those who are still reading and not bored yet, here are some numbers–who doesn’t love stats?

In Puck Junk’s first season, I’ve updated the site 142 times–67 in-depth articles and 75 “off the cuff” blog posts.

During Puck Junk’s second season, I’ve updated only 85 times–25 full articles and 60 shorter blog posts.

In total, I’ve updated 227 times out of 730 days. Even if I omit Saturdays and Sundays, that would be 227/522, or approximately 43% of the time.

So, that’s adds up to a little less than every other day.

Lately, I’ve been swamped with school work. Grad school has been kicking my butt. I’m doing okay in my “Writing for Magazines” class, but I’m falling behind in my “New Media and Culture” class. One is a lot of writing, the other is a lot of reading. Both are time-consuming, leaving me little time for this site or my autograph blog.

Hopefully, this week I’ll be able to squeeze a little time out to write here and there. I’ve got a Card of the Week to post that’s been a thousand years in the making. I’ve got an interesting Chicago Blackhawks collectible to show off too. Finally, I conducted a hockey card-related “experiment” to see what would happen. I plan on getting these three little gems up on this site this week.