Fresh from The Onion

The Onion newspaper doesn’t riff on hockey too much, but this was in last Thursday’s issue:

Senators Accuse Thrashers Of Pouring It On After 3-1 Loss

OTTAWA—Following their 3-1 loss Wednesday, Senators players accused the visiting Thrashers of poor sportsmanship for keeping up the intensity long after the game was out of reach. “At the end of the second period it was 2-1, meaning the game was basically over,” said Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson, who called the Thrashers’ behavior in tallying the gaudy score a violation of the hockey code. “What’s going to happen? We’re somehow going to score a goal and tie it? Maybe. Flukes happen, miracles happen. But are we going to score twice? This is hockey we’re talking about, after all.” Alfredsson would not rule out his team attempting to score three goals on the Thrashers in their next meeting regardless of whether the Thrashers score at all.

The archive of The Onion‘s hockey articles can be seen here.

Top 5 Puck Junk Articles of 2010

OK, so we are 1 month into 2011, but I saw another blogger do this and I wanted to steal the idea follow suit. So, here are Puck Junk’s 5 most read articles of 2010.

5. Vintage Rookie Card Haul – Apparently, hockey card collectors like reading about old hockey cards.

4. Painted Penguin – Everything about this card is just plain wrong.

3. 2010 Blackhawks Training Camp Fest – My recap of the ‘Hawks first day of Training Camp. Special guest appearance by the Stanley Cup.

2. 2010-11 Upper Deck Victory review – The first (and so far only) video review I did of a hockey card set.

1. Sports Card Girl is a Scam – My investigation of a fake blogger who was running a link farm under the guise of a cute card collecting female. Apparently, this ruffled enough feathers to merit (in-actionable) legal threats against me.

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All right, enough about 2010. I hope 2011 is another good year for Puck Junk–and for my fellow hockey card bloggers too.

1991 All-Star Game & Heroes of Hockey Tickets

Click to see larger.

Above are my tickets stubs from the 1991 NHL All-Star Game (left) and 1991 Heroes of Hockey and Skills Competition (right–otherwise known as “All-Star Friday.”

My Aunt and Uncle had seasons tickets to the Blackhawks games. They took me to a lot of games when I was a kid, and probably were going to take me to the game anyway. But my Grandmother paid them for my tickets to the game and skills competition as an early birthday present.

For some reason, our seats at the All-Star Game were better than our usual seats. Normally, we were in Mezzanine Row H, but for this weekend we were in Row D–4 rows closer than usual. Heck, we sat closer than Gordie Howe, who was in our section but about 5 or 6 rows back from us. Continue reading “1991 All-Star Game & Heroes of Hockey Tickets”

Video: 1991 NHL All-Star Weekend


Year: 1991
Length: 11 minutes

This video clip  shows highlights from the 1991 NHL All-Star Weekend  January 17 to 19, 1991 in Chicago. It is from a  VHS tape that the Chicago Blackhawks sent their season ticket holders.

There are many interviews with great players like Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Jeremy Roenick and Mark Messier. It also addresses the controversy of goaltender Ed Belfour being snubbed as an All-Star selection.

Here’s a quick rundown of what’s in the video:

  • 0:10 to 1:45 – All-Star skills clinic & autograph session
  • 1:46 to 4:05 – Heroes of Hockey Game
  • 4:06 to 7:47 – NHL Skills Competition
  • 7:48 to 10:55 – 42nd NHL All-Star Game

The video is a bit long, so I understand if you don’t want to watch it. However, I took a screen shot from the 2:20 mark:

Yes! My 15-year old self is in the background of Dennis Hull’s interview. 

This was after the All-Star skills clinic held on Thursday. I honestly don’t remember seeing myself back in the video “back in the day,” so I was quite surprised to see this while digitizing the footage.

National Hockey Card Day is February 12


Upper Deck will continue National Hockey Card Day for a third year in a row–or NHCD as us cool kids call it.

On Saturday, February 12, 2011, hockey card collectors in Canada can get a free pack of hockey cards at their local card shop or at participating chain stores. The cards themselves are from a special, 16-card NHCD set that will feature some of Canada’s most popular players.

That’s right–this year the set will have an extra card, whereas the previous two NHCD sets had 15 cards.

Personally,  I wish Upper Deck would also have NHCD in the United States. Yes, hockey is “Canada’s sport,” but the U.S. has 80% of the NHL teams. Go figure. Plus, there is greater opportunity to grow the hobby in the U.S. with such a promotion.

What if Upper Deck were to have International Hockey Card Day next year, and give out cards in Canada and the U.S.? They could even take it a step further and give out different sets in each country.

While the NHCD set strictly has Canadian players (Gretzky, Crosby, Lemieux, Toews), the United States counterpart could feature some awesome American players from past and present (Joe Mullen, Chris Chelios, Jim Craig, Ryan Miller). And you’d end up with collectors in one country trading with collectors in the other country so as to get both sets. This idea has potential.

Would someone pick me up a complete 2011 NHCD set?  I will gladly trade for this year’s set (plus a wrapper), or purchase one if the price is right.