Book Review: Saving Face

A goalie mask is as functional as it is visually appealing. It offers protection and allows self-expression. Perhaps that is why the goalie mask is arguably the most iconic piece of sports equipment; it serves a purpose, but is fun to look at too.

The same can be said about “Saving Face: The Art and History of the Goalie Mask.” Like the masks it chronicles, this book is as functional as it is visually appealing. Do not mistake “Saving Face” for mere eye candy: it is the ultimate history book on the subject of goalie masks.

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Review: 1993-94 Pittsburgh Penguins

During the 1990s, Pittsburgh-area grocery chain FoodLand sponsored an annual set of Penguins trading cards. Children in and around the Pittsburgh area could get a card for free by from an on-duty police officer, who probably stored the cards in their back pockets, forever keeping them from a BGS 10 rating.

But I digress. The 1993-94 Penguins set looks good and has cards of many star players who went onto Hall of Fame careers.

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Review: 1993-94 High Liner Greatest Goalies Set & Album

Back in the 1990s, I was so jealous of Canadian people. Not because of Canada’s universal health care system — I was too young to appreciate that sort of thing then — but because all of the ways Canadians could get hockey cards. In the U.S., if a box of cereal or a frozen pizza had a trading card enclosed, it was usually a baseball or basketball card.

At a glance:
– 1993-94 High Liner Greatest Goalies
– 15 Cards (size: 2 1/2″ x 3 1/2″)
– One Mini Album
– Download checklist

But in The Great White North, hockey cards could be found packed in boxes of cereal, at local McDonald’s restaurants and even with fish sticks! The 1993-94 Greatest Goalies set was found, one card per box, in specially-marked packages of High Liner brand frozen fish products. It is a 15-card set that goalie enthusiasts should not overlook.

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Book Review: One Night Only

What is it like to say that you have played one — only one — game in the National Hockey League? Is it with a feeling of accomplishment, knowing that you have reached hockey’s highest level, albeit for just a few moments? Or is it with a sense of regret — a longing to have done better? In his new book, “One Night Only: Conversations with the NHL’s One-Game Wonders,” author Ken Reid asks what it is like to be in this exclusive, yet somewhat infamous, club.

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Box Break: 2015-16 Champ’s Hockey

I’ve always had a fondness for Upper Deck’s Champ’s cards; they have a very unique and classy look about them, especially since they’re rather low-fi with only a light gloss coat over a picture that is suppose to look more like a portrait rather than a photo, and an O-Pee-Che-esque brown cardboard back. They’ve also always included strange insert cards such as historical figures, high adventure locations and animals. OK, it’s interesting to ME, but I’m a scientist, so maybe I’m just weird and you all think it’s a waste of space where yet another Hal Gill common card could be hiding. You can voice your disagreement in a comment below.

Champ’s had been sleeping since 2009-10, so I was excited to see it return. Being burned by sets that had almost no cards featuring my favorite team, I did wait until a full checklist of the set and subsets came out before buying a hobby box at $100. If there’d been a famine of Carolina Hurricanes cards, I would have waited until a sale and then gotten them for 25% off. Thankfully that was not the case.

A box contains 20 packs. Each pack has six cards. A box averages one autograph, two memorabilia cards, four high series cards, six inserts and nine parallels/variants. I don’t know if it was just my box or if it is because this is one of the last sets put out for the season, but if you like rookie cards, then this box is your jam because I pulled 22! There are so many crazy things about this set that I’m getting lost in the details just trying to write about it, so let me back away and get down strictly to what popped up in the box break.

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Review: 1984-85 Topps Hockey

After producing no hockey card sets during the 1982-83 and 1983-84 seasons, Topps hockey cards made a comeback in 1984-85. That year, the company released a small, 165-card set. Considering that Topps’ annual baseball set had 792 cards, while their football set had 396 cards, putting out a hockey set with only 165 cards was a very conservative approach. Between the small set size, the set’s relative overproduction and the maddening amount of single-printed cards, the 1984-85 Topps set is perhaps the most disappointing hockey set of the 1980s.

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A Look Back at the 1991 Canada Cup

Twenty-five years ago today, Canada won the 1991 Canada Cup Tournament when they beat the United States. It would be the last Canada Cup, as the tournament would be renamed the World Cup of Hockey in 1996.

A few months after the 1991 Canada Cup, Upper Deck released its 1991-92 hockey card set, which included a Canada Cup subset. This was the first time that a set of trading cards would feature pictures and players from the Canada Cup. These Canada Cup cards were also the first hockey cards for many of the European players — some who would go on to lengthy NHL careers.

Here’s a look at how each of the six teams, as well as many of the players, performed at the 1991 Canada Cup.
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Puck Junk Podcast #17 – Sept. 12, 2016

…with Sal Barry and Tim Parish.

Player not working? Listen to the podcast on SoundCloud.

In today’s podcast, Sal and Tim (@TheRealDFG) talk abut the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, including some of the preliminary matches, as well as the upcoming tournament games. They also discuss ESPN’s coverage — or lack thereof — in the United States, the uniforms and the World Cup Trophy that no one likes very much.

Speaking of unlikable trophies, here is the World Cup Trophy, which was designed by Frank Gehry and first awarded in 2004.

And here’s the original World Cup of Hockey Trophy, that was only used in the 1996 tournament.

Finally, here’s a picture of the O’Brien Trophy, which might make a more suitable award than the current World Cup Trophy.

(You can learn more about the O’Brien Trophy here.)

Total time of this podcast is 47 minutes 15 seconds.

Theme music by Jim “Not the Goalie” Howard.

Are you excited about the 2016 World Cup of Hockey? Have you watched any of the preliminary games yet, or do you plan on watching the actual tournament? What do you think of the uniforms? The trophy? Leave a comment and let us know. ■

Card of the Week: Paper Sabre

1974-75 Topps #24 – Jacques Lemaire

It is not uncommon for a trading card company to sometimes spell a player’s name wrong. And occasionally, a card company might flub the player’s position, such as listing him as a defenseman when he’s really a forward. Heck, we all make mistakes. But showing a player on a team he never played for? Well, that’s a mistake that you would have to go out of your way to make. And that’s exactly what card company Topps did in 1974, when they pictured Jacques Lemaire with the Buffalo Sabres — a team that he never played for.
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Puck Junk Podcast #16 – August 31, 2016

…with Sal Barry and Jim Howard.

Player not working? Listen to the podcast on SoundCloud.

Sal Barry and guest host Jim Howard revisit the 1990s with the 1996-97 Pinnacle Mint set, which was a set of hockey cards and hockey coins. Yes, coins.

Here are a few pictures of the various cards and coins found in this set.

1996-97 Pinnacle Mint Bronze card (front and back)\

1996-97 Pinnacle Mint Bronze card and Silver card

1996-97 Pinnacle Mint card with hole (front and back)

1996-97 Pinnacle Mint card with coin inserted (front and back)

1996-97 Pinnacle Mint Mats Sundin bronze coin

1996-97 Pinnacle Mint Jaromir Jagr bronze coin

1996-97 Pinnacle Mint Pavel Bure bronze coin

Milton Berle and Pavel Bure coin

1996-97 Pinnacle Mint checklist and sweepstakes rules

1996-97 Pinnacle Mint sweepstakes rules card (large)

Total Time: 33:30

Theme music by Jim “Not the Goalie” Howard.

Did you collect Pinnacle Mint back in the day? Or are you collecting it now? Did you unearth one of the elusive gold coins? Do you like or dislike this set? Leave a comment and let us know. ■