She wants you to....

Join up for the fourth annual Just A Bit Offside Fantasy Hockey League that is......

 besides, what else are you going to be doing on a tuesday night?

leave a comment if interested with your email address.

All those who participated last year have had email invites sent....

It's that time again!!!

That's right! It's the first night for NHL pre-season hockey! And while I don't watch much pre-season stuff, it's a nice reminder that the regular season is only four short weeks away.

Any uber early predictions for surprise playoff teams? Cup winners?

Trade Night Booty.

there's another card shop in Calgary that I do not frequent that often. There were reasons for my choices... some of you may remember my rantings on them in a post over two years ago. I won't bring it up again as there is no need. Things are changing there, and for the better. I have to go there sometimes to get supplies that my shop doesn't carry. I now have more reasons to go as they have quarter boxes!!! Well, quarter binders anyways. And dollar boxes! That was a nice surprise. I'll show you the pillage from those in another post. This post is about their very first trade night.

When I found out they were having a trade night, I figured I'd check it out. Hey, mention the phrases "door prizes" and "free pizza" and I'm there.

I didn't win any door prizes, but I did get my fill of pizza.... and some very sweet trades with a bunch of collectors that I hadn't met before.

I scanned a bunch of 'em here... and I'll mostly let the pictures do the talking. See if you can make it to the very end....

 Patrick Roy 10/11 OPC sp... one more sp closer to set completion. 11/12 OPC comes out on the 20th. I don't think I'll finish this one first.

 a couple of Carey Price base cards...

 Carey Price Zenith insert

 I traded for this SPx Price, but I had it already. Oops.

 This is better... a die-cut triple diamond Black Diamond Carey Price.

 sweet looking Victory insert... Vitory has had some really nice inserts over the years...

 another  base card, but one I didn't have yet! Bonus!

 hard to tell, but this eX Price is see through on the sides.... a really nice looking card.

 someone wanted my 08/09 Steve Mason exclusive /100... he had this 08/09 Markov exclusive /100. Done deal.

 These next two autographed cards I traded with the card shop to get. I had a couple of autos he wanted, and he had these.... Rejean Houle on card Parkhurst auto, and...

 a Steve Shutt Artifacts auto. Very cool.

 I was also able to trade for a bunch of Upper Deck Young Guns short printed rookie cards to help me with my set chasing. Mr Reimer is from the 09/10 set... he'll be the Leafs starting goalie this season.

 and I got a bunch from 08/09 as well.... John Mitchell

 John Curry... who probably will never play for the Penguins. Blocked by Fleury and that Russian kid...

 One of, if not the best player on the Blues, Alex Pietrangelo. I was psyched to get this card... but not as psyched as I was to get this one....

Drew Doughty rookie! Ah yeah!

Congrats for making it to the end... give yourself a cookie. On me. I'm good for it.

Disaster in Russia...

The plane carrying the KHL hockey team, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, has crashed into the Volga river shortly after takeoff from Yaroslavl on it's way to Minsk, Belarus where the Lokomotiv where scheduled to open the new KHL season on thursday by playing the Dinamo Minsk.
Of the 45 people on board, 37 passengers and 8 crew, only 2 survived. One crew member and player Alexander Galimov.

Among the roster of the Lokomotive are former NHL'ers Pavol Demitra, Ruslan Salei, New Jersey draft pick Alexander Vasyunov, who played 18 games in the NHL last season. As well as international stars like Swedish goalie Stefan Liv, and Czech stars Josef Vaicek and Jan Marek.

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl was coached by Canadian and long time NHL defenceman, Brad McCrimmon.

Yaroslav was an elite team in the KHL, having captured championships in 1997, 2002, 2003, and finished third last season.

An extremely sad and tragic day in pro sports.....

EDIT: as more details become available, it appears that initial survivor, Alexander Galimov, succombed to his injuries and has died. Alexander was burned on over 90% of his body.

Glorious... for it is, The Subban.

I picked this* up at my card shop the other day.... a PK Subban McFarlane variant chase figure #/3000.

*image ganked off of the interwebs.