A Journey 35 Years In the Making.

A long time ago in a frozen land far, far away, a boy undertook a mission that, unbeknownst to him, would take 35 years to complete.

But complete it he did.

 

The 1979/80 OPC hockey set was the very first set I bought packs for. I remember them vividly. I remember when my dad would come home and plunk down 8-10 packs that he brought home for me. Man, those were the days.

Tearing open the wax. The gum was horrible, even then. Looking at all of the cards. Letting out a whoop for joy every time I found a card I hadn't seen before. Or one from my favourite team. (No one cared about rookie cards then. No one. They weren't even a thing then.)

 

I completed the set a couple of times. Yes, it's Gretzky's rookie year. Yes, I have several of them. But it was the set that I was after. Even then. The completism. (yes, that is a word. For us set collectors, anyways.)

And part of that, remember there was no internet, no smart phones, no tablets, was keeping track of your progress.

But the card companies knew that. They even included cards within the set to help you along your way.

We called them checklists.

And not the checklists you see today. those mamby pamby things barely deserve the name. These checklists had little boxes beside each name for you to..... well, check off. Thus the name. (Yes. Check them off. You heard me. We wrote on our cards. WROTE! WITH PENS! Heresy!)

 

The 79/80 OPC hockey set went all out with checklists. There were three set checklists in the set. In a 396 card set, that meant 132 cards listed on each card, 66 on each side.

AND.

They included a team checklist card for every team in the league. Normally that would be a team photo on the front, with the corresponding checklist on the back.

But 79/80 was a special year. The NHL was absorbing four new teams from the now defunct WHA.

Edmonton, Hartford, Quebec, and Winterpeg, I mean, Winnipeg were all now part of the NHL.

 

I took pretty good care of my cards, and when I looked through my sets, only a scant handful needed upgrading to become NrMT/MT sets.

That part was easy.

 

It was the checklists that weren't so easy. The reason?

 

Here you see the front of the card that eluded me for 35 years.

 

 

And here is what the back looked like on the average card that I've looked at over that time. Including all of mine. Yeah, not only did I mark off the ones in my sets, but my duplicate ones too....

And apparently I wasn't the only one. Card after card I knocked off my list, save this one. Card #81.
Every time I found an unmarked one, it was either graded, or had a ridiculous price tag. Or both. $15 for a checklist??? Pack sand.

But I found one. The front scan is above, this is the clean unmarked back. Although my scanner cut off a bit of the border. It is nicely centered.

All for $3. Done. Thank you for being fair Mr Card Show Seller Sir.


Now there are those of you who are turning up your collective noses right now. Marked checklists are beautiful! You cry...
Well I agree. But most of the public doesn't. So I needed to do this.

However.

While I now have minty fresh unmarked checklists in my set, I still have all of my hand marked checklists from back then in those same pages. That way everyone is happy. Especially me.

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?

How to turn a Diamond King into a Pop Up.

 

I don't really know how it came about... but Ryan Cracknell and I just completed a trade that sent a stack of baseball his way, and hockey mine.

 

I sent over 15 minty fresh Donruss Diamond Kings from various years, along with a few 2015 Topps Series 1, in exchange for some OPC inserts from the past few seasons. All sets that I'm working on.

 

First, some Pop Ups that of course, don't pop up. Or down. Or pop period.

 

 

then a couple of mini "V" series

and finally some OPC rookie Update cards that are only found in packs of Upper Deck. Yeah. Like that makes sense.

But wouldn't you know it....

All three of these...

are cards I already had. There was a failure to edit the checklist. Oops. Like that's never happened before.
Oh well, into the trade box they go.

Thanks Ryan.

10 for 10

You know the story. We've all been there. There's a card show. You want to go. But. You have little time, and even less cash.

So you go for it. In and out. Not the burger joint. And not what she said.

Hit up a couple of tables with lotsa boxes and even more sale signs.

 

The results? 10 cards for $10.

 

Here we go.

 

 

I've been after this card since I found out it existed about a year after it came out in '08.

 

 It's a SP. I found it in a binder of Habs cards that he wanted $50 for. The only card I needed was this one, and a deal was struck for a dollar.
Yay me.

The same guy supplied these next three cards for the sum of one dollar.

 I'm chasing the 06/07 OPC set, and finding this card brings me one closer. A rookie / sophomore showdown. I don't think the rookie did too well in this one. Advantage Getzlaf.

He had probably 30 or so 08/09 OPC SP hi numbers..... but only one that I needed.

 Voracek was leading the league in scoring at the All Star break, causing a lot of dealers to go scrambling into their quarter and commons boxes to pull this card out and price it at $5 -$10... I'm glad I found a guy who was lazy.

And the immortal Aaron Palushaj.

 Turns out I already had it.
Whoops.


Onto the next table, and I grabbed 6 cards for $5. All from the same set. All numbered parallels.

I think I already have this one too..... but I haven't found it yet.

This one was new to me though. Now he just needs another call up.

Boo yeah. Mr Hart trophy himself.

 By the by... did you see the video of Carey Price photobombing a kid taking a selfie during the game? He's as cool as the other side of the pillow. Forget about Billy Dee...

Why did I buy a Predator? Meh. He'll go in the trade box.

But I've wanted this card since it came out. This is just an awesome shot of Bernie.

 And it's number 69 (giggity) of 85! For .84 cents!


The final card at the final table as I was leaving....
It was new.
It was sooooo shiny.
It was Carey.
It was $3.
It was (and is) mine.

and just like that, there I was, gone. Heading back home in time to pick up my wife and take her to all the places she had planned for us.
Ten dollars lighter.
Ten cards happier.

Heading to the F.L.A.....

One of, if not the greatest to ever put on skates is on the move again. Jaromir Jagr as we know and love his 'fro....

 

even though he now actually looks more like this...

is taking his talents to South Beach.

I read a few interesting tidbits about this particular swap, so I thought I'd  copy it share with you.



1. Jagr's first NHL game came before 10 of his teammates were born. Aleksander Barkov, Nick Bjugstad, Jonathan Huberbeau, Brandon Pirri, Vincent Trocheck, Garrett Wilson, Erik Gudbranson, Dmitry Kulikov, Alex Petrovic and Aaron Ekblad.


2. Ekblad is the youngest of Jagr's new teammates. He was born on Feb. 7, the same day Jagr scored a goal for the Penguins against the Devils. Jagr scored 135 goals before Ekblad was born. Or 134, depending on exactly when Jagr's goal went in.


3. Jagr may have started in the NHL before the Panthers were founded, but he's actually played 104 fewer games than the Florida franchise because he spent three years playing in Russia in the middle of his career.


4. Despite playing in fewer games, Jagr has 128 more wins than the Panthers franchise.


5. Because Jagr's teams won more games than the Panthers, they made the playoffs more often. Jagr has played in 202 playoff games in his career, while the Panthers have only played 38. Florida scored 94 goals in those games, while Jagr has scored or assisted on 121 playoff goals.

Talk about providing some veteran leadership.

I for one hope this move gives the Panthers the last boost they need to grab the final playoff spot in the East. I would really enjoy watching Jagr in the playoffs one last time.


I suppose these guys will now need another member.





They're all from Calgary? Hmmmm.... I wonder how I'd look with a mullet? And where the hell can I get a Panther sweater?

It was Epic in it's Awesomeness.

That should get some headline writers rolling over in their graves...

Anyways, while out on a play date last night, I witnessed one of the greatest sights to be seen in pro hockey in decades.

Yes.

The return of the Los Angeles Kings golden sweaters.

It turned a game I wouldn't have given the time of day to, into a game that I watched very closely.
The only downside, if there was one, is that unlike Jonathan Bernier a couple of years ago when the Kings brought out the royal purple sweaters, was that current goalie Jonathan Quick did NOT have a vintage style mask and pads prepared for the event. *

still the same boring silver and black. Looks good on the Raiders, and that's it.
I sure hope to see these wee beauties a few more times in the near future. Since the Kings won easily 5-3 with above pictured Tyler Toffoli scoring his first hat trick, maybe we will.
I know at least Tyler will want to.

* as first reported by @OscarGamblesFro

Buffalo visits Carolina. But nobody noticed.

Wow.



Great idea Gary.

Yeah. I get it. It's cold outside. You know why? It's winter. That's why. It's what it does. Put a coat on.
Seriously.