Puck Junk

2007-2008 MVP Rookie Pack Breakdown

Last week, I received my 12 MVP Rookie Redemption Packs from Upper Deck. Each pack had three cards, for a total of 36 cards. Unfortunately, I did not get all 30 cards that I needed; I go 27 of the 30, plus 9 duplicates. Here are the cards I got in my 12 packs:

351 Johnathan Toews x 2
352 Carey Price
353 Bobby Ryan x 2
354 Sam Gagner
355 Patrick Kane
356 Nicklas Bergfors x 2
357 Eric Johnson
358 Nicklas Backstrom x 2
359 Anton Stralman
360 Jonathan Bernier
361 Bryan Little x 2
362 Kris Russell x 2
363 Andrew Cogliano x 2
364 Marc Staal
366 Peter Mueller
367 Ondrej Pavelec
368 Martin Hanzal
369 Matt Smaby
370 Brian Elliot
372 Matt Niskanen
374 James Sheppard
375 Kyle Chipcura x 2
376 Tyler Kennedy
377 Jiri Tlusty
378 Mason Raymond
379 David Perron x 2
380 Milan Lucic

It’s nice that I got a spare Jonathan Toews card (yay!), I am sorry that I didn’t get a spare card of Patrick Kane. I’ve heard of Bobby Ryan and Niklas Backstrom, so having spares of them can’t be a bad thing…but I’m drawing a blank at Bryan Little or Andrew Cogliano.

The three “update rookies” that I still need are:

365 Nick Foligno
371 Brett Sterling
373 Devin Setoguchi

Overall, I need those three update rookies, 26 other rookie cards and one base card, and then I’ll have the entire MVP set. I am planning on adding my want lists and trade lists to this site soon. In the meantime, if anyone has that Folingo, Sterling or Setoguchi cards for trade, drop me a line.

Review: 1992-93 Team Pinnacle

6 cards, 12 illustrations of 90s greats

Inserted in packs of 1992-93 Pinnacle hockey trading cards, Team Pinnacle featured twelve of the greatest men to lace up skates in the 1990s. Two centers, two left wingers, two right wingers, two goalies and four defensemen are depicted in these action-oriented illustrations. While you’d think these dudes were starters in the NHL All-Star Game, or named to the NHL All-Star Team (as selected by the sports writers), that is not the case here. These guys are “Team Pinnacle”, as selected by Pinnacle (a.k.a. Score) Trading Card Company. Continue reading “Review: 1992-93 Team Pinnacle”

Black ‘n’ Belushi

1991-92 Pro Set Platinum Card #300 – James Belushi, Celebrity Captain

In 1991, the National Hockey League celebrated its 75th Anniversary. The Original Six teams wore throwback jerseys, harkening back to the 1920s. Another part of this celebration was that each of the 22 teams had its own “Celebrity Captain”. Some teams named former players as their Celebrity Captain – such as Terry O’ Reilly (Boston) and Maurice Richard (Montreal). Other teams chose instead to name a personality or actor as their captain. For the Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago-born actor and Second City alum James Belushi served as the team’s Celebrity Captain. Continue reading “Black ‘n’ Belushi”

2007-08 MVP Rookie Packs

Awesome! Today I got my 2007-2008 MVP Rookie Packs. If you redeemed your MVP redemption cards, then watch your mailbox–you should be getting your Rookie Packs soon.

I redeemed my redemption cards online on November 7. Two months later, I have these packs. There are 30 different rookie cards (numbered 351-380), and I have 12 packs (each contains 3 cards). It would be highly unlikely that I’d get all 30 cards that I need, and only 6 doubles. But if I get a lot of doubles, hopefully they will be of Patrick Kane and Johnathan Toews.

Review: 1987-88 O-Pee-Chee Hockey

Overlooked set has many good rookie cards

Like the previous year, this season’s O-Pee-Chee set contained 264 cards. The first 198 cards were identical to the 1987-88 Topps Hockey set – both Topps and O-Pee-Chee use the same photographs. Cards of players traded in the off-season differ slightly in this set. Players who got traded have a short text blurb mentioning the player’s new whereabouts (“Now with Black Hawks”, “Now with Maple Leafs”, and so forth). The team name on the front of the card is also changed to reflect the player’s new digs. Continue reading “Review: 1987-88 O-Pee-Chee Hockey”

Card of the Week: Kodak Moment

1987-88 OPC Leaders #14 – Glen Hanlon

We’ve all had to live down an embarrassing photo at least once in our lifetime. These “Kodak moments” we’ve had to endure were usually the byproduct of too much alcohol or a lousy haircut. My eight grade class photo was forever ruined by a bad case of “bed head.” Later on in college, a friend and I got drunk one night, and stumbled around my dorm room, knocking into things, while my roommate got photos of our buffoonery. Not much you can do about that, just laugh it off. Besides, it’s not like our own embarrassing photographs get printed in the thousands, and distributed in packs of hockey cards like this little gem of Red Wings goalie Glen Hanlon. Continue reading “Card of the Week: Kodak Moment”

Happy New Year

OK, so this post is a few days late, but I would like to wish the ten or so people who visit this website a Happy New Year.

When my school where I teach at went on break in mid-December, I had lofty aspirations to update this site five times a week…at least for a few weeks. After all, how can I expect to develop a following if I update this site once a week or less?

But that goal was lofty indeed. Even though I was free of work-related responsibilities, I still had to contend with family, friends and the holidays.

So, Puck Junk has not been updated all that much over the past two week. But I did manage to go to three Blackhawks games in December. I don’t think I’ve been to three games in the past three years. Of course, my seats were far from the action, so I didn’t bother taking many photos. I did snap a few before one of the games…

Click image to enlarge.

Card of the Week: Return to Sender

1983-84 O-Pee-Chee #131 – Ken Solheim

Look at the back of this card of Ken Solheim, and you will see that he was traded from the Minnesota North Stars to the Detroit Red Wings near the end of the 1982-83 season.

Flip the card over to the front, and you’ll notice that Solheim’s North Stars uniform has been airbrushed over, so as to look like a Red Wings uniform.

However, the card still has a North Stars name and logo at the top, as well as an annoying little bit of text that reads “Now with Minnesota”.

Now with Minnesota? And yet, Solheim’s North Stars jersey has been painted over to look like a Red Wings jersey. What’s going on here? What team is he on? Continue reading “Card of the Week: Return to Sender”

Eric Lindros Hallmark Keepsake Ornament

Hallmark Hockey Greats, 2000

During the holiday season of 2000 Hallmark continued its line of “Hockey Greats” Keepsake Ornaments. Philadelphia Flyers forward Eric Lindros was chosen to be this year’s tree decoration. At that time, Lindros was at the top of his game, and was one of the best players in the NHL. However, he was not established as one of the all-time greats of hockey. Perhaps Bobby Orr or Patrick Roy would have made a better choice of players, but that’s neither here nor there. Lindros was still a superstar. Continue reading “Eric Lindros Hallmark Keepsake Ornament”

Gordie Howe Hallmark Keepsake Ornament

Hallmark Hockey Greats, 1999

For their third ornament in the “Hockey Greats Series”, Hallmark decided to pick a long-retired hockey legend: Gordie Howe. Howe last played pro hockey in 1980, so I never saw him play. I still bought this ornament back in 1999, partially because I had the previous two (typical collector mentality, eh?).

This ornament feels very different than the prior two – Wayne Gretzky in 1997 and Mario Lemieux in 1998 – in that Howe was from a different time, having played the bulk of his career in the “Original Six” era. In a way, that makes this ornament feel more old-timey, like something you would hang from a Christmas tree. Continue reading “Gordie Howe Hallmark Keepsake Ornament”