Flames all around us...

Not much to say really. The latest card offerings since Upper Deck flagship came out have been.... bleh to say the least.

Went to a large, well, large for this area, card show last weekend. If I get around to scanning the cards I'll post on that later.

 

So for now, I'll show off a couple of ttm returns I've received in the past little while. Both Calgary Flames related. I'm all about themes ya know.

 

Goaltender Jonas Hiller kindly signed three pics and a card for me. One for each of his teams...

 

Anaheim Ducks

 

Calgary Flames

and of course Switzerland in the last Olympics.

oh, and a card sans mask in case you were wondering what young Jonas looked like.

and the future of the Flames. Mr Franchise, Sean Monahan.

Sean is not known for his penmanship.

Thanks guys. I appreciate the returns.

Has anybody else been testing the through the mail waters? Any successes? Failures? Stories?

TTM Success! Gilles Gilbert, Don Cherry's favourite!

It's been awhile since I posted a ttm success, and they're piling up. Literally. So let's knock one out.

One of my faves growing up, was goalie Gilles Gilbert. The Bruins weren't that annoying yet. And in all of the goalie magazines that I begged my parents to buy when at Safeway always had full colour shots featuring Gilbert in a variety of cool poses.

I really miss those magazines.

Gilles is a gracious ttm signer. He always takes time for his fans. He signed three 8x10's and three cards for me.

Gilles makes a save with Bobby Orr and Don Marcotte looking on in the background. I think the North Star is Dan Maloney, but I haven't tried figuring it out yet.

According to Gilles' comments in the note he sent, he saved this shot and it went wide.

Works for me.

These shots are all from early in his career before he started adding stars to his mask. If you love goalie masks, you know what I'm talking about.

When my wife saw these, she exclaimed what a perfect signature he has, and she's right.

Apparently the crowd was late arriving for this one...

After a brief start in Minnesota, Gilles spent most of his career as a starter in Boston. The final two years were spent in Detroit. Not the Detroit you all know now..... the Detroit from the 70's and 80's... those two years did not do any favours to Gilles' career numbers.

Thanks Gilles!

TTM Success - Norm Ullman, Hall of Famer.

I recently got back a successful autograph request from Hall of Famer, Norm Ullman.

Norm started his career with Detroit in 1955-56, and ended it with the WHA's Edmonton Oilers at the end of the 1976-77 season.
His NHL career with Detroit lasted 12 1/2 seasons before a blockbuster trade sent him to Toronto for the next 8 1/2 years.
In that trade, Detroit sent Ullman, Floyd Smith, Paul Henderson and Doug Barrie in exchange for Frank Mahovlich, Pete Stemkowski, Gary Unger and Carl Brewer.

Norm managed 490 goals and 739 assists in 1410 career NHL games. His last two years of pro hockey were spent in the WHA, recording 130 points in 144 games.

He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1982

This is actually the second request Mr Ullman has returned. Last year I sent him four cards for him to sign.

I love adding pieces of living history to my collection. Photos like the ones above will always have a place in my home.
Thanks Norm.

TTM Success! Jonathan Bernier

Let's knock off another success due to the lockout. Kings goalie, Jonathan Bernier,  who after 485 days, decided to return my request.

I see a few other returns from him posted around the interwebs, so he must've got bored during the lockout and cleaned house. Or rather, cleaned beachfront condo.

Either way, I'm not complaining because LOOK!!!!!!!!

One of the best damn uniforms in all of sport. The Awesomeness knows no bounds.

Jonathan also signed two cards for me, although they got smunched in the post.

Thanks for the return Jonathan. Glad you found the time.

Glorious. For it is, The Subban

If the lockout was good for anything, I'll admit it was a lot easier tracking down bigger name players for ttm attempts.
Since they didn't have a lot of playing/practicing/travelling to do, they tended to stay in one spot long enough to receive mail.

Which brings me to the reason for that epic post title.

I sent a couple of 8x10's to P.K. Subban. And being the great guy that he is, he signed them and returned them to me in only a week.

P.K. spent the entire lockout playing in and organizing charity games with other unemployed NHL'ers.

This one with Carey Price has already been sent off to Carey in hopes of a dual auto.

*fingers crossed*

No one worked harder or did more to try and keep the fans morale up during the lockout. Thanks for that P.K.

 

Now sign a damn contract and get back on the ice. Games start Saturday. We need you.

TTM Success! Gilles Villemure

I wrote to Gilles Villemure a little while ago. A couple of weeks later he returned my stuff all signed in bright blue sharpie.

Gilles Villemure was a longtime goalie for the New York Rangers before finishing his career with the Chicago Black Hawks.

Gilles never really got a shot early on in his career, playing in only 13 games in his first 6 seasons. But once he got his shot, he made the most of it, making the All Star team in the next three years and winning the Vezina trophy as top keeper.

He also made this nifty mask.

I say nifty, my wife says creepy.

Gilles also played for the Vancouver Canucks. But that was for them in the WHL.

 

I don't know what I like more, the net with the old style boards, the chain link, the old advertising, or the Johnny Canuck logo on his sweater.

 

It's all awesome.

 

Besides the 8x10's, Gilles also signed some cards I sent.

 

Merci Gilles!

The Cup Overfloweth... TTM Success Dave Andreychuk

Awhile back one of my local shops was selling 8x10's for $1. I bought a stack of them for my ttm attempts. I've had a few find their way back to me.

 

Today's success - Dave Andreychuk

 

 Dave played for almost 23 seasons in the NHL, starting as a 19 year old rookie in 1982. He played 1600 regular season games and 164 playoff games before finally getting to do what you see here. Hoist the Cup.
I vividly remember watching this game as Tampa beat Calgary for their first Cup. My wife was sitting next to me wondering why everyone was talking about Andreychuk.
I told her his story... 22 years of trying. 1600 games. She thought that was pretty cool that he finally got his moment. As did I.

Dave signed that 8x10 and several cards for me via his home address.

Thanks Dave... You provided me with a memory I'll never forget.

TTM Success! Richard "Dickie" Moore...

Back in late May or early June I went to a few card shows (including one in Edmonton) with the specific purpose of finding a vintage card of Dickie Moore. (two time Art Ross trophy winner as leagues top scorer, and six time Stanley Cup winner.) I needed one to send out for an autograph request. I found a couple of beauties, but they were too expensive and too nice to risk on an auto.

 

Then I found a guy who had no display cases, but rather piles of stuff. binders, photo albums, shoe boxes, etc... all of it with older odds and ends inside. I inquired about Dickie Moore cards and he went to digging. He found one, again, too nice... he asked why I didn't like that condition, and I explained. His eyes lit up and he told me he had just what I was after.... two piles over near the bottom he unearthed a binder and went straight to the back where he pulled out this.

 

PERFECT! How much? 5 bucks he said... I offered $3, and he took it. Brilliant. A 1960-61 Parkhurst Dickie Moore for $3.

 

It now looks like this.....

 Mr Moore also signed an 8x10 of him in action....

 as well as a "Tall Boy" card of him when he went slumming to Toronto.

Mr Moore was also kind enough to send a hand written letter back thanking me for my letter.

A real class act.

Now..... who can identify the other two players in the 8x10 with Dickie Moore?

He's Big, He's Bald....

He's Alex Auld.
Alex played last season with Montreal, before signing in the offseason for his second stint in Ottawa. I sent two 8x10's and two cards to him c/o the Senators. Alex was kind enough to sign and return all four items.

During his one year with the Habs, there was defenceman Hal Gill at 6'7", Alex at 6'5" and then Carey Price at 6'4". You know your team has issues when two of the three biggest guys on the team are your goalies. Thankfully, Jacques Martin and his smurf patrol are gone... and Randy Cunneyworth did his best to increase size and toughness.

That's Roman Hamrlik (#44) helping out Alex.... Roman is having a pretty good playoff series with Washington right now.

Both cards I sent were from 2009-10 OPC. The Update card...

and his regular base card.

Thanks Alex!!! And good luck to you wherever you end up playing next season.

TTM Success! Jaroslav Halak!

Who? St Louis Blues goalie Jaroslav Halak.

I wrote to both Blues goaltenders during training camp at the start of this season. Halak returned his in about six weeks. Their other goalie, Brian Elliott, I'm still waiting for. *fingers crossed*

Jaro is having his best season of his brief career this year. Regaining the form of his playoff drive with Montreal a couple of seasons ago, Jaro is 25-11-7 with a 1.92 GAA and 6 shutouts so far this year. He will certainly be in the Vezina conversation at the season's end. He and Elliott will definitely win the Bill Jennings Award for best team goaltending.

Jaro signed both of the 8x10`s I sent him....

 Great artwork of Jacques Plante on the side of his mask....

But he did not sign the card I sent him. 2/3 ain`t bad folks.

Thanks Jaro!! and good luck in the playoffs!

TTM Success! Dennis Maruk takes his time...

Where to start with this great TTM success? Well for one, Dennis Maruk was a great sniper on some really horrible teams in the '70's. Two, for a really small guy (5'8"), he could really skate and had a powerful shot.

 Three, Dennis was also known for epic facial hair.

 and finally four, Dennis returned these signed cards to me over two YEARS after I sent them out to him.

Some things are worth the wait. Thanks Dennis.

TTM Success! The Non-French Speaking Carey Price!

I'm not ashamed to admit that when I opened my envelope to see who was kind enough to return an autographed picture and I saw this inside.... I let out a Squee and did a little dance. For those of you who know me well, the visual of that in itself is worth the price of admission.

 It's no secret that Carey is my favourite current player. Us small town B.C. boys got to stick together.
Carey is well known for being great about signing autographs. It may take a little while, but he signs them all.
I sent this midway through training camp, and received them the last day of January.

I thought I'd mix it up a little and send him a baseball card to sign. Well, a hockey card. From a baseball card set. You know what I mean.

Thanks Carey!!!

TTM Success! Glenn Hall - Hall of Famer

I really have got to knock off some of these through the mail success' I've got piling up in the draft folder.

So today I give you Hall of Fame goalie, Glenn Hall.

 Glenn "Mr Goalie" Hall spent 4 seasons in Detroit before being traded to Chicago where he played for another 10 seasons.
In the 1967 expansion draft, St Louis chose both him and Jacques Plante for their new goalie tandem. Talk about instant success.

 Glenn ended his career with over 400 wins, 84 shutouts, and a 2.49 GAA with one Stanley Cup win. He won rookie of the year in 1956. Over his career he also won three vezina trophies as best goalie.
Glenn is probably best known to the casual fan as the goalie in the photograph of Bobby Orr flying through the air after scoring the 1970 Stanley Cup Winning goal in overtime. You know the one.

I'm glad to have a success from such a great player.

TTM Success! Brett Hull, The Golden Brett, Hall of Famer

Ahhh... I may never catch up from my time without a scanner.... (read:slacking)....
In celebration of the fact that the St Louis Blues are in first place overall for the first time this late in the season since....... a horrifically long time, I'll feature a Blue today. Not just any Blue either.

Today's TTM return is from Hall of Famer Brett Hull.
Brett certainly lived up to the expectations of having a famous father... he scored over 80 goals in one season, over 70 three times, over 50 five times and over 40 eight times. Including the vaunted 50 goals in 50 games.

Where did I get this? Why, from Brett Hull of course.
What is it? An 8x10 from his days in St Louis.

Nice! Although Brett decided to keep the three cards I sent him. If any of you get extras from him, They're Mine!

Thanks Brett!