Friday, November 26, 2010

1974-75 Topps Card #6 Top Power Play Goal Scorers

Card Features: Mickey Redmond and Rick MacLeish
 These are the snipers... the Brett Hull and Steven Stamkos of the '70's. With better moustaches. Mickey was one helluva goal scorer, with 145 goals in the last three years. Unfortunately a back injury not long after this card came out ended his career waaaaay too early. MacLeish would play another 10 seasons ending with 104 career power play goals.
Again, some interesting 'Western' teams. Philly, Pittsburgh, Atlanta....

This marks the last leader card to begin the set. Starting with card #7, we finally get into the individual players.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

TTM success with the Greatest Living Former Maple Leaf !!!

I recently received back a TTM request from Maple Leaf all time great, Allan Bester. Mr Bester was kind enough to sign two photos and four cards for me. I was thrilled to get him before he was elected to the Hockey hall of Fame and became all snooty and started charging for his 'graph....
 I really want to get an address for Borje Salming and get him to sign this one as well.....
 '90/91 Score, all the rage with the kids these days....
 '90/91 OPC
 '90/91 Bowman ( I got a lot of cards from this year, alright?)
 and the best of them all, an '09/10 In The Game Between The Pipes GREATS OF THE GAME!!!
this ranks right up there with Grant Fuhr on the giggle-meter.......

But anyways.... Allan was kind enough to sign these for me and return them in only 14 days. Thanks!!!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

This is what we are heading for... sadly enough...

If I was this guy, I would have this image matted and framed. He could be the next Old Spice Guy.
I present to you... Too Much Man!

Easy girls... easy...

When the hell did this become a penalty?

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Late to the party card show booty....

The last show I went to about two weeks ago was a wash. All I came home with was a complete '08/09 In The Game Between The Pipes set for $5. Like my friend said..."he had me at $5..."

The show the week before that, I came home with some singles. Nothing vintage this time unfortunately, but still some good stuff for the soul. Better than soup.

First up, four cards from the new Panini Certified Parallel From hell set. Total cost, $3.00

The Jimmy Howard is /250, Guy Lafleur is out of /500
 Next we have a random sampling out of a 5 for $1 pile. I love dealers, that's LOVE dealers that have a 5 for $1 pile.

 This card should actually be a Silver Medal Mask.... heh.....
 Fight! FIGHT!
 This was an insert in this years Heroes and Prospects set... on the back is a number, and if the player on the front gets drafted in the slot that matches the number, you could redeem it for a special auto/patch somethingorother.... unfortunately the number on the back of this card is 09. Taylor Hall at 9? Not a chance.
 Lastly, I found some Young Guns to help finish, or at least get me closer, to my '08/09 Upper Deck set. $2.50 got me five Young Guns.... I needed four of them, mr Gillies was a duplicate. But I can use him as tradebait hopefully.





A pocketful of singles for, well, $6.50
I hope this weekend's show is better.... I couldn't go to trade night at my LCS because the weather and roads are so bad. It's a 35-40 minute drive on summer roads, now? In over a foot of snow? Who knows...

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

TTM Success, Brent Gilchrist!

One of my recent through the mail autograph requests went out to former player, Brent Gilchrist.
 Brent signed three cards for me...
 all in black fine point sharpie.
Request sent out on November 5, 2010, and returned to me Novemeber 16, 2010 - 11 days.

Thanks Brent!!!

Monday, November 15, 2010

1974-75 Topps card #5 Penalty Minute Leaders

 The 5th of six leader cards to start us off sees us get to the nitty gritty. It was a different game in the '70's. Guys like Gretzky and Crosby would not have made it in this league. All your top point getters could all take care of themselves. I guess that's why Dave Semenko had such a long career.
Moving on... Bryan Watson changed teams 9 times between 6 different teams through a 16 year career. His 255 penalty minutes in '73/74 was actually split between three teams. Pittsburgh, St Louis and Detroit.(pictured) In his 21 games with Detroit, Bryan racked up 99 minutes in penalties. Not bad.
Dave Schultz's 348 minutes was a mere warmup for his '74/75 season in which he accumulated 472 penalty minutes. A record that still stands today. I think he could have done better in '73/74, but he wasted so much effort in scoring 20 goals. In his record year, he only potted 9 goals. Priorities kids. Make a list if you need to.
For the first time in what I can remember, I see a list from 1970's hockey with a player on it that I had no clue existed. Barry Wilkins of Vancouver, come on down.

Let's see a little '70's hockey to calm the nerves, eh?

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

2010-11 Upper Deck Hockey Box Break Review

Today is the day. It's been marked on a lot of people's calendars for months. For Canadian card shop owners, it's christmas. Yes, it's the day Upper Deck Series 1  hockey comes out. The most anticipated release of the hobby year.
My LCS asked me not to be lined up outside his door at noon when he opened. Maybe around 2:00 he said. At 2:00, the delivery truck rolled up and dropped off the awesome. I was handed the first box out of the first case. I felt euphoric. The guy behind me was handed the next two. The next two CASES. I was brought back down to earth. But I'll take what I get.
24 packs per box, 8 cards per pack. 2 jerseys per box. (I wish they would call them sweaters. Hockey players don't wear jerseys) 6 Young Gun rookies per box. And numerous hard to get inserts.... Let's see what this year's looks like.

The base card, full bleed as usual, bright, vibrant colours and interesting photography.
 A lot of horizontal cards....
 My pet peeve with Upper Deck. LOSE THE FOIL!!!!!! What's this guy's name? Yeah...
 Lose the foil.... really.
The card backs are plain, but all the important information is included. Player's name, number, position, height, weight, birthplace, birthdate, and CAREER stats. I cannot stress how important career stats are.
 although all the legal logo crap at the bottom is getting a bit ridiculous.

They brought the All World set back again, two per box...
 Steven and Henrik, Canada and Sweden
 my two Game Jersey Sweater cards are Marty Turco of the Dallas Stars Chicago Blackhawks.
 and, in a Windy City sweep, a Doug Wilson.
 Unlike last year, these are both certified to have been used in an official NHL game.
It's Upper Deck's 20th Anniversary this year, and they're celebrating by putting in retro inserts in the style of their original 1990/91 hockey set. These fall at 6 per box....
 with the Young Gun versions falling at one every two boxes....
 Now the rookies everyone chases.... six Young Guns per box. A HUGE rookie checklist this year. Taylor Hall, and Jordan Eberle will probably the most sought after. Leaf fans will want Nazem Kadri and I want, yeah, you guessed it, P.K. Subban.
My six? Well, no Hall or Eberle of course. I got Nick Johnson of the Penguins, Kyle Clifford of the Kings, Cody Almond of the Wild, Mr Bonino here, showing again why foil should be banned.
 Every Leafs fan wet dream....
 and YYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I got my white whale. Unbelievable. You should have seen the jig I did around the living room when I pulled this. Epic. My wife is still giggling.

All in all I like the set. By far the best hockey release so far of 2010/11. With Upper Deck base, you know what you're going to get, and you get it. No surprises, no disappointments.

One box will give you 170/200 cards in the set with no duplicates, 6/50 Young Guns, and a few inserts. Key word 'few'.

8.5/10

Monday, November 8, 2010

Score! Well, actually, no, not really.

It's been out for almost two weeks now. 2010/11 Panini Score Hockey. Yes, it if looks familiar, it's because they copied paid hommage to the original 1990/91 Score hockey set. But if the design sucked then, why pay tribute to it now? Anyways... the photography has improved...
 I notice looking at all the Montreal cards, almost all of them were taken during last season's playoffs. Which is kinda cool.
 The rookies have their own design. Again, Donini rears it's ugly head. Seriously, hire a new designer... or more than the one you've been using for the last 5 years.
 Some subsets include Net Cams, basically an excuse to get more goalie cards in the set. Cool with me.
 Playoff Heroes... not a good design at all.
 Sudden Death. Again, why?
 But here's where they almost came up with an epic win. Almost. Take a look at Simon Gagne's card here....
 take a closer look.
 all right, let me spell it out....
Woot! So close. If they had only put it in the main body of the photograph like the old school OPC....


My wife paid $5 for this blaster. 11 packs, 55 cards. (actually, she bought 4 blasters, I just haven't busted the other three yet)

For $5, yeah okay... but they were on sale at half price, so no, it isn't worth it. This sells at $1 a pack to compete with Upper Deck's Victory. And if it had been released two months ago with Victory, it would've done well. But it was delayed and delayed again. Now, tomorrow, November 9, Upper Deck Series 1 is live and this release will be forgotten about.
The original buyback autos would've been cool, but they are #'d to /5 and are impossible to find.

This is a set of What Could Have Been........