Oh noes!!!1! Chris Chelios arrested!

Chris Chelios–my favorite hockey player of all time–was arrested for drunken driving in late December. Yeah, old news by now. The story was reported on Tuesday, January 6. It’s still sinking in for me. The story was reported on the news in Chicago and Detroit, as well as The Hockey News. I’m sure it was reported on in Montreal too; the city where he broke into the NHL.

It’s funny how the Chicago report uses his full name, Christos K. Chelios. They only give you the “full name treatment” if you die or commit a crime.

Ironically, after Tuesday night’s game in Hamilton against the Bulldogs, Chelios commented about a bad call by a referee, suggesting that perhaps the ref was “hung over.” But when asked about his DUI charge, Chelios immediately left the locker room. He can dish it out, but can’t take it.

Sigh.

This is not how I want to remember Chris Chelios. This is not how I want the world to remember Chris Chelios. Speaking of “the world,” a DUI is not the end of the world. And fortunately, no one was hurt. But still, a bit of irresponsibility for someone I look up to.

As it stands now, Chelios has a lot of critics–and this won’t help. He is 47 and playing for the minor-league Chicago Wolves of the AHL. He’s trying to work his way back into the NHL, but it seems the popular fan sentiment is that he is making a fool of himself and should retire.

I don’t think so. As long as the heart (and the legs, and the lungs, etc.) are willing, he should keep playing. As is the tag line of one of my favorite personal care product goes, Chelios should “stay in the game.”

 

Why I’m glad USA won the WJC

The World Junior Championship is over. Team USA beat Team Canada 6-5 in OT, winning the gold for the first time since 2004.

I’m not glad that USA won because I was intently following the tournament. I’ve watched a game here and there, and being in school tonight I was only able to catch midway through the third to the end of the final game.

I’m not glad that that USA won because I’m some sort of super patriot. I think overzealous displays of nationalism are borderline embarrassing in this day and age of the “global village.”

I am glad that USA won because it will quell the talk of how the Canadian team was “supposed” to win this year, how it was their “destiny” or whatnot.

But not this time.

Yes, the rest of us get it. Canada invented ice hockey. Canadians make the best hockey players…though the best hockey player in the world right now is Russian. Canada getting a silver medal in a hockey tournament is as unfathomable as USA getting a silver medal in Olympic basketball. But it happens.

Perhaps I’m a little glad about this because it might get more American kids interested in hockey, just like the 1980 Olympics inspired one generation to lace ’em up, while watching Wayne Gretzky play in Los Angeles inspired the next group.

No, a US victory at the WJC probably wont’ have the same effect. But in the end, Canada will up their game and most likely win the gold next year. Then the US, as well as the other countries, will bring it to the next level too.

Then the game of hockey will get even better, and everyone wins.

2009-10 MVP pack

I purchased a pack of 2009-10 Upper Deck MVP hockey cards the other day. $1.99 (plus tax) gets you 8 cards. That’s pretty good, considering that a pack of Fleer Ultra only nets you 5 cards for that price, while an 8-card pack of Upper Deck costs $1 more at $2.99. Fittingly, last year’s Stanley Cup MVP Evgeni Malkin is on the MVP card wrapper. Anyway, on to the cards!!!

Card #248, Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames – Getting “iggy” with it. A good way to start off this pack. Not only is the guy a superstar, but he’s an Olympian too. 2010 will be his third Olympic tournament.

Card #176, Keith Ballard, Florida Panthers – Hey Keith, watch that stick!
Card #200, Loui Eriksson, Dallas Stars – Eriksson will represent Sweden in the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Card #156, Marek Zidlicky, Minnesota Wild –  Zidlicky will also appear in the Olympics this year, playing for the Czech Republic.
Card #275, Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins –  Bergeron currently leads the Bruins in scoring. Oh yeah, he’ll be in the Olympics too, playing for Team Canada.
Card #63, Jordan Staal, Pittsburgh Penguins – Man, there are some great cards in this pack!
Card #132, Shea Weber, Nashville Predators – Another guy who will play for Canada in the 2010 Olympics, Weber is one of my favorite defensemen of today.
Card #325, Alexander Sulzer, Nashville Predators – MVP Rookies are seeded 1 in every 2 packs. Believe it or not, Sulzer will be in the Olympics too, for the German team.

Overall, this was a pretty sweet pack. Some superstars and some Olympians, and a rookie card.

My biggest problem with Upper Deck MVP is the shiny foil silver facsimile autograph on the front of each card. I collect autograph cards TTM, but I don’t like getting MVP cards signed because they already have a pre-printed ‘graph on it…and that just looks silly when you get a real autograph on it.

I can also do without all the other shiny stuff. The Upper Deck logo in the corner I can live with, but the MVP logo should have been smaller. Instead, that garish blob of silver becomes the first thing your eye notices.

But believe it or not, I still like these cards. They’re pretty good looking (for MVP, anyway). Hey, at least Upper Deck retired that shield-type design that they used every year since 2006.

I’m totally going to see this

You may have seen commercials for a movie called The Tooth Fairy during the Winter Classic on Friday. Here is the official trailer for that film.

Oh man, where is the downside? This could be one of those so-bad-it’s-awesome kind of films. It’s about the meanest, roughest pro hockey player who has to become a tooth fairy. As if the irony of that isn’t delicious enough, it stars Duane “The Rock” Johnson as the main character. “The Tooth Fairy” comes out on January 22. It will probably suck, but probably end up being unintentionally funny in the process too.

Lidstrom / Chelios / Rafalski GU

Normally, I despise jersey cards. I think they are useless as far as my collection is concerned. Plus, jersey cards end up inflating the price of packs of cards that *might* contain one (Upper Deck, OPC). But every now and then, I make an exception, and purchase such a card for my collection. Behold:

Chris Chelios is my favorite player, so I try to get as many different cards of his as possible–including jersey cards. This one in particular has game-used jersey swatches from Niklas Lidstrom, Chelios and Brian Rafalski. The first two are locks to make the Hall of Fame when they retire. While Rafalski probably wont land in the Hall, he has thus far has a pretty good hockey career–in college, in Europe and in the NHL–and will represent the United States in the 2010 Olympics this February.

So how much did this card of three great players set me back? With shipping, $3.52. That just underscores how worthless these darn things are.  I do like the way the red P in OPC is flanked by a white O and white C, giving the card a bit of symmetry.

One small step…

Well, I did it. I managed to update Puck Junk once a day during December. After finishing my grad classes for the quarter in late November, I promised myself that I’d try to do a daily update for an entire month. Counting this New Year’s Day post, my streak is now at 38 straight days (Nov. 25 – Jan. 1). This is the first time that I’ve managed to write something every day.

Another first, Puck Junk has eclipsed 1,000 visits in a month, with a total count of 1,208 visits for December. I know in the grander scheme of the web, a thousand visits a month is nothing–some sites get that traffic in a day. Regardless, I feel pretty good about that.

Sure, this is not the most exciting blog post I’ve ever written. I’m still recovering from an awesome New Year’s Eve banquet. I ate too much and got to bed real late, but managed to get up just in time to see this year’s Winter Classic.

Speaking of which, it is a good thing that  Tim Thomas’ selfish play didn’t cost his team the game, eh?

2009-10 Upper Deck Hockey box break

A few days back at a card show, I purchased a box of 2009-10 Upper Deck Hockey. Here is what got:

169 Base Cards: Thankfully, I did not get any duplicates. This gives me about 85% of a complete base set.

6 Young Guns: Artem Amisimov, Jamie Benn, Dimitry Kulikov, Matt Pelech, Sergei Shirokov and James Van Riemsdyk. Other than Van Riemsdyk, a disappointing lot. Sure, we all want a Tavares rookie card, but I would have been happy with an Anti Niemi YG.

And now, onto the inserts that most of us don’t want anyway:

2 All World Team: Pekka Rinne and Patrick Kane. Looks like every hockey card set is going to have some sort of quasi-tie-in with the Olympics.

2 Draft Day Gems: Pekka Rinne and Theoren Fleury. What, is Rinne in every insert set?

2 Faces of the Franchise: Joe Thornton and Ales Hemsky. WHY?????????? What makes these any different than the typical “Hometown Heroes” inserts?
1 Top Guns: Thomas Vanek. Another useless insert set….
 
1 Season Highlight: Evgeni Malkin. Yawn.
2 Martin Brodeur Hockey Heroes: Looks like New Jersey’s “fat goalie” (as Sean Avery called him) gets his own insert set. 

1 Limited-to-100 Parallel: Dimitry Kulikov, numbered 069/100. Great…now I got the regular and parallel versions of this guy.

 
 2 UD Game Jersey: Jason Pominville and Jason Spezza. Two jersey cards of two Jasons. As much as I detest jersey cards, I am glad that the swatches at least match the uniforms the players are wearing.
Overall, I like Upper Deck brand-cards, but can do without the inserts . None of them really “grab” me, though the Draft Day Gems insert set is an interesting idea. It is lame that you get only 6 Young Guns in a box, but 10 insert cards. No one buys Upper Deck in hopes of getting a Pekka Rinne All-World Team  insert card. Maybe that will all change if someone else gets a license to do hockey cards next season.


Pittsburgh Penguins Keychain

Every time I renew my subscription to “The Hockey News,” I get a free “spinner” keychain. One side features a team logo, which spins around to reveal an alternate logo on the other side.This year, I chose the Penguins, and received it a few days ago.

One side of the keychain has the “penguin with a stick” logo… Continue reading “Pittsburgh Penguins Keychain”

Review: 2009 National Hockey Card Day

15 cards of Canada’s most beloved players

2009 National Hockey Card Day #11 - Wayne GretzkyGiven away in 5-card foil packs on February 21, 2009, the National Hockey Card Day set by Upper Deck focused on some of Canada’s most beloved players. Packs were handed out, free of charge, at card shops, Toys R’ Us, and Wal-Mart stores across Canada as an effort to increase interest in hockey card collecting. This is similar to Free Comic Book Day, when numerous comic books – made especially for the event – are given away at comic shops across the U.S. The 2009 National Hockey Card Day set has 15 cards: 5 are of rookies, 5 of popular current superstars and 5 of retired greats. Continue reading “Review: 2009 National Hockey Card Day”