News & Views

R.I.P. Patrick Swayze

Another actor from the film “Youngblood” has passed away. Patrick Swayze died yesterday after battling pancreatic cancer for the past 20 months. He was 57 years of age. Voted People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive in 1991, Swayze is best known for films “Dirty Dancing” and “Ghost.” But hockey aficionados will always remember him as Derek Sutton, team captain of the Hamilton Mustangs in “Youngblood.”

Swayze’s character of Sutton was cool. He got the ladies, he could score goals and he could fight. He explained to Dean Youngblood that he’d be happy to play for the “Tallahassee Warthogs,” and also uttered my favorite line in the film: “Thank God there is a sport for middle-sized white boys.”

Swayze is the second person from that film to pass away this year. Back in May, former NHL player Peter Zezel died. Zezel played a non-speaking character named Rossini (he’s the guy who gets sent out to replace Dean at the end of the film, only to skate back to the bench). Although Zezel played mostly for teams that rivaled the Blackhawks, I was a fan of his because of his role in the film.

As a tribute to Swayze–and a belated one to Zezel–here are some custom hockey cards I made (seen at the top, and below). “Youngblood” was a film I enjoyed many times over during my teenage years. Thanks for the happy memories, guys.










FYI, I was up until 3 am making custom hockey cards. I must be nuts. Then again, for what it’s worth I really liked “Youngblood”…

1963-64 Parkhurst #24 – Ralph Backstrom

Ten! Yes, now I have 10 out of 99 cards from the 1963-64 Parkhurst hockey set. That’s 10% of the set–a milestone, you could say.

As you can see, this card has two wicked creases. I purchased it in the same lot as the Jean-Guy Talbot and Gilles Tremblay cards.

The eBay listing did not mention creases, and the photo was too small to see any defects. The dealer offered to refund me $5 (one-third of the total purchase price for the three cards, excluding shipping). But I decided to hang onto it. I can always upgrade later.

Completed my Champ’s base set

I just acquired the last five base cards needed to complete my 2008-09 Champ’s Hockey base set. I also picked up four Champ’s Rookies–including Drew Doughty and Justin Pogge. I now have 76 of 100 Champ’s Rookies.

Most sane, normal hockey collectors would stop either once they have the Champ’s base set or the base set and 100 rookies. But I am not a normal collector. For some foolhardy reason, I am also trying to collect all of the Mini Rookies and all of the Natural History Collection cards. I must really like this set, eh? Anyway, here is what I need to have a complete “master set” of Champ’s:

– 24 Champ’s Rookies cards

– 79 Mini Rookies cards

– 169 Natural History Collection cards

Yep, those last two will take a while. Anyone who has any extra Champ’s cards, please see my Want List. Maybe we can work out a trade.

1963-64 Parkhurst #21 – Gilles Tremblay

This is one cool card. Tremblay’s gaze is solemn. The horizontal lines add to the seriousness of the composition. All of that is slightly undermined by his mouth, which is trying very hard not to smile. It is as if he is trying to show that he is a proud member of Les Habitants, but at the same time cannot completely stifle his exuberance for being on the Canadiens.

Nah. I’m probably just reading way too much into that. Either way, this is the 8th card I’ve added to my Parkies set (91 to go).

1963-64 Parkhurst #91 – Terry Harper

As much as I’d love to add something new to this site every day–and I really should if I ever want to build up a following–it is sometimes impossible due to my college schedule. I had a final project that involved a long article (about 1,200 words), an interactive flash piece and a short video. The good news is that it was about comic books. With school done for a few weeks, I can now dote on this site for the next few weeks.
I recently added the 7th card to my still-diminutive 1963-64 Parkhurst hockey set. It is dinged at the bottom–which is hard to see with the “PUCKJUNK.com” watermark over it–but good enough for this set (considering that my Gordie Howe card has a pin hole and ink on it). Seven down, 92 to go…

I wasn’t going to touch this…

…but I have to say something about Patrick Kane being arrested early Sunday morning. I mean it isn’t every day that the Blackhawks make the front page…

…and the back page…

…of both local newspapers in Chicago.

Usually, that kind of stuff is reserved for when a Chicago Bears player gets in trouble for bringing a gun into a night club. Or when a Chicago Bulls player is revealed to have cheated on his college entrance exam. Or–in all fairness to the media–when a White Sox player pitches a perfect game.

But here he is, Patrick Kane, the golden boy of Chicago hockey. And now he has his own mugshot. I tell ya, kids grow up so fast these days.

For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, Patrick Kane and his cousin were arrested in Buffalo after beating up a cab driver. As reported, the 20-year-old Kane and his 21-year-old cousin James took a cab home from the downtown club district in Buffalo. The fare was $13.80. The Kane cousins paid him $15, but got mad when the cabbie gave them back a dollar but informed them that he did not have twenty cents change. The Kane cousins punched the cab driver repeatedly and broke his glasses. Someone saw what was going on, and called the cops. Or so the story goes.

And just like that, little Kaner has a rap sheet. Not as long as Bob Probert’s rap sheet, but hey–Kane is only 20. Give him time.

Anyway, here are a few collected articles about this incident:

Kane arrested, pleads not guilty to robbery charge (NHL.com)

Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane arrested in Buffalo, NY (The Hockey News)

Tough-guy act doesn’t befit Kane (Chicago Tribune)

Kane hires high-powered defense attorney (The Buffalo News)

But Len Ziehm, the ‘Hawks beat writer for the Chicago Sun-Times, doesn’t believe the hype:

Hard to Fathom (Chicago Sun-Times)

A day later, the cab driver’s lawyer is downplaying what happened:

Attorneys downplay allegations against Blackhawks’ Patrick Kane (Chicago Tribune)

So what do I think? It is hard for me to imagine that Patrick Kane would do such a thing. But then again, my judgment is clouded because I’m a Blackhawks fan. Many athletes–hockey players included–have done boneheaded things. Maybe Kane is one of them.

By the way, Kane will appear on the box cover of Electronic Art’s “NHL ’10” video game when it is released on September 15. Perhaps this incident was caused by the “EA Box Cover Curse”? You know, when a player appears on the cover of a video game and then has a bad year that very same season?

Though I wonder if EA should modify the box art a bit…

NOTE: For those who were wondering, the Chicago Bears player I referred to is Tank Johnson, the Bulls player is Derrick Rose and the White Sox player is Mark Buehrle.

Thanks, Mark

A few days ago, I got some cards in the mail from Mark, a fellow blogger who maintains a site called Stats-On-The-Back.

Attached was a note that read:

Sal, 1 Cubs team set + every hockey card I own. Enjoy.

Mark was giving away some of his baseball card collection, and gave me a complete Chicago Cubs team set from the 1986 Fleer series. But he also gave me, and I quote “every hockey card” that he owned–all 19 of them. No complaints here. As the saying goes, “Give me your tired, your poor, your Pro Set.”

Let’s take a look at some of the cooler cards, shall we? Besides the 1990-91 Pro Set Gordie Howe card we see above, Mark also sent me…

2009 Upper Deck 20th Anniversary #1039 – Detroit Red Wings
Well, here’s a card I haven’t seen before. Apparently, this is part of a 2,500 card (yes, 2,500!) 20th Anniversary set inserted in the various Upper Deck baseball cards. I wonder if anyone out there is crazy enough to try to collect the entire set. If so, send me your hockey doubles.

1984-85 Topps #158 – Tom Barrasso
How about that? A vintage card. Barrasso won the Calder and the Vezina in 1984, and was named a 1st team All-Star, as shown on this card. He would later help the Penguins win two Stanley Cups. Speaking of which…

1991-92 Pro Set #319 – Pittsburgh Penguins
Da na na na na nah – HEY! Da na na na na nah – HEY! As long as we’re on the topic of Penguins…

1993-94 EA Sports #104 – Ulf Samuelsson
This is from a set of cards released by Electronic Arts in conjunction with the video game NHL ’94. About six months ago, I wrote a retrospective for Beckett about the game and card set. You can read that review in its entirety here.

Ummmm…uhhhhh, this isn’t a hockey card…

1990-91 Bowman Hat Tricks #1 – Brett Hull
OK, this is more like it. Nothing like a Topps-era glossy insert, eh?

Now, onto that Cubs set. I’ve scanned the cards of the three most popular Cubs of that era–at least among me and my classmates circa 1986.

Ryne Sandberg
All-Star, Golden Glove and Hall of Fame member. I think Sandberg was every kid’s favorite Cub in the 1980s.

Rick Sutcliffe
Sutcliffe was the 1979 NL Rookie of the Year award winner, and also won the Cy Young in 1984.

Keith Moreland
The guy was a power hitter back in the day.

So, thanks for the freebies, Mark. This Cubs team set is greatly appreciated, as are the hockey cards.

1963-64 Parkhurst #28 – Jean Gauthier

I’ve finally added a Montreal Canadiens player to my upstart 1963-64 Parkhurst set-in-progress. I purchased this card at the same time I purchased the Pete Goegan card. It has a few medium creases on the front, as well as some dirt (above his head, to the right).

But like the Goegan card, this Gauthier card cost me the princely sum of $3.24, including shipping (the dealer only charged me $2.50 to ship the two cards, then mailed them in a plain, stamped envelope).

Maybe when I’m rich, famous, or rich AND famous I’ll be able to afford a near-mint version of this card. Until then, I’ll just have to settle for this war-torn veteran.

And yes, for those keeping score at home, this is the 6th card in the set I started a year ago. Only 93 more cards to go.

2009 Blackhawks Convention – Day Three

Chicago,IL
July 19, 2009

Shellie and I arrived at the convention around 8:30 am. I headed off to the VIP signing session that I had won, while Shellie went to wait in line for Murray Bannerman.

At 9 am sharp, we finally learned who will be signing for us–Stan Mikita! While I did get his autograph last year, I don’t mind getting it again this year. Mikita nicely signed this 8″ by 10″ photograph.


Look familiar? The same photo was used on a 1990-91 Pro Set card. Continue reading “2009 Blackhawks Convention – Day Three”