Hockey cards, collectibles and culture
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.
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.
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.
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.
Continue reading “A Look Back at the 1991 Canada Cup”
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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. ■
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.
Continue reading “Card of the Week: Paper Sabre”
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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. ■
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There were a lot of surprises in the NHL this summer. Sal and Tim compare eight big NHL news stories from the offseason, trying to determine which in each of these pairs was the crazier story:
Patrick Roy quitting as Avalanche coach
vs.
Randy Carlyle being re-hired as coach of the Ducks
Las Vegas getting an expansion team
vs.
The return of the World Cup of Hockey
P.K. Subban – Shea Weber trade
vs.
Taylor Hall – Adam Larsson trade
Jimmy Vesey free agent sweepstakes
vs.
Steven Stamkos re-signing with the Lightning
After that, we keep whittling it down until we agree which story caught took us by surprise the most.
Total Time: 1:07:56
Theme music by Jim “Not the Goalie” Howard.
So, what do you think? What do you believe was the most surprising news story in the NHL this summer? Do you agree or disagree with Sal and Tim’s consensus? Leave a comment and let us know! ■
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Twenty years ago, one of the most over-the-top hockey card sets was unleashed on unsuspecting collectors. Of course, we are talking about the Fleer Metal Universe set from 1996-97, which superimposed hockey players into weird cosmic settings.
Ever want to see Theoren Fleury on an alien planet with giant flowers, Felix Potvin catching an exploding puck, Dave Manson at the nucleus of an atom or Steve Yzerman with a frickin’ laser on his head?
If you said “Yes!” to any of those, well then, this is the set for you.
Podcast #14 is 36 minutes long and features rockin’ new intro music by Jim “Not the Goalie” Howard.
Here are some of the cards that we talk about.
Curtis Joseph fighting off a swarm of flying eyeballs.
Dave Manson at the nucleus of an atom (or about to go nuclear!).
Steve Yzerman after being assimilated by the Borg.
Theoren Fleury skating through a flower garden on an alien planet.
Doug Weight being attacked by metal claws! Extreme!
Sandis Ozolinsh impersonating the Kool-Aid Man. OH YEAH!
Roman Vopat emerging from a Stargate.
Felix Potvin catching an exploding hand grenade.
BONUS:
Two more cards that we don’t talk about, but are still fun to look at.
Bryan Berard hated his “fish sticks” Islanders jersey so much that he set it on fire. Unfortunately, he forgot to take it off first.
Steve Rucchin shattering a metal wall with a bruising body check. This may be the most “1990s” card ever made because it features a player who was only in the NHL because the league expanded like crazy, wearing a third jersey, on a shiny metallic trading card.
We want to know! Did you ever collect the 1996-97 Fleer Metal Universe Hockey set? What do you think about it? Leave a comment below. ■
Earlier this month, The Hockey News published an article that I worked diligently on writing: “Blood, Guts & Glory – The Making of Youngblood: An Oral History.” For those who subscribe to the magazine, it is in the current issue. However, THN also put my “Youngblood” article on their website for everyone to read.
For those who don’t know, “Youngblood” is a hockey movie that came out in 1986. The film starred Rob Lowe as an aspiring hockey player from the U.S. who joins a junior team in Hamilton, Ontario. The film co-stars Patrick Swayze (who sadly passed away in 2009) as the Mustangs’ team captain.
While Lowe, through his agent, refused to talk with me about “Youngblood,” I still spoke with many awesome sources: director and writer Peter Markle, cinematographer Mark Irwin, hockey coordinator Eric Nesterenko (a veteran of 20 NHL seasons) and former OHL player George Finn, who played the bad guy. I also interviewed a stunt double and two background hockey players, including Steve Thomas.
You can read the article at The Hockey News’ website here. ■