Cardboard Hockey, ETC.

A Final Update

2010-06-29T19:46:00.000-05:00

I have been known in the past to over saturate myself with things that I get into, whether it be a certain band or movie or whatever. I either listen to or watch or read about until I lose all interest in that particular thing.

About a year and a half ago I was looking around the Internet and I happened across a site dedicated to hockey cards. I used to be obsessed with hockey cards, along with football cards when I first discovered my dad's cards in our basement. After reading through this blog something inside of me clicked back on. You know that feeling about being a kid and how fun it was. I decided that I was going to re-live my childhood, by collecting cards again.

It was great for about a year, but then it started to hit me. I over saturated my desire. I spent a lot of money on boxes of cards that I never look at, and I can't use them as an investment, because they are not high end cards, therefore they are worth nothing, which is fine. It's about collecting. I've also run out of space for them all.

I just bought a house so I have a million more things that my money unfortunately has to go to. The kicker is this past year I did not even fully watch on hockey game. Last year I went into overkill mode and it just turned me off to the entire experience of watching.

I still read other hockey card blogs from time to time and will continue to do that, but I can't really continue with my own.

I really appreciate you folks that have read my blog, I hope that you enjoyed it. Maybe someday I will begin again, but until then...it was fun.

-Brandon Wagner

USA! USA!

2010-02-28T14:28:00.001-06:00

Let's go team USA! Make us proud.

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Gee, Thanks Beckett 

2010-02-03T11:40:00.000-06:00

I got my last issue of Beckett Hockey (for this subscription anyway) a few days ago and included with the issue was a 2009-10 Panini Hockey sticker album.

Now you're probably wondering why this seems like a bad thing to me, well it's not necessarily, it's just that I already have a tough time trying to find hockey cards in my area (and having money) and now they rope me into wanting to collect a product that is not readily available anywhere near me. They even started me off with a sheet of 4 stickers.

#70 - Mike Cammalleri
#129 - Maxime Talbot
#142 - Vesa Toskala
#214 - Mike Modano

Fortunately or unfortunately, I really do want to fill out these pages with stickers, it makes me feel like a kid again.

Every team has 2 pages dedicated to them. There is also a seperate section for rookies among other random stickers. The book is set up like a hockey nerds dream.

I know that you were just being nice Beckett, and I appreciate it, but come on now.

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Happy Hockey Day(in Canada)

2010-01-30T13:24:00.001-06:00

Happy Hockey Day to all you Canadiens that read my blog. You lucky Canucks get free hockey cards today, not to mention that you can get cards at your local McDonalds. The only thing us Americans can get at McDonalds is heart disease.

Last Saturday was Hockey Day in Minnesota and you know what we got? We got to watch some hockey, which was great, but no luck getting free cards.

I'm just kidding though. Enjoy your "holiday" and if anyone wants I will gladly accept an extra cards that you may pick-up today *wink, wink*

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Does Anyone...

2010-01-23T08:43:00.000-06:00

...have a contact number or email for Topps? The reason I ask is because I bought a starter deck of Puck Attax(I'm still waiting, if anyone wants to play.)and my Nikolai Khabibulin puck/card is bent pretty bad for being enclosed inside a pack, inside a box.

I've looked at their website and I can't seen to find any info. that is helpful. I want to see if they will replace it. Has anyone ever gotten anything replaced before? Was it a process? Or was it a fairly painless task?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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2009-10 Upper Deck Series 1 Rack Pack: Second Half

2010-01-16T10:39:00.000-06:00

I know that I promised to post this a few days ago, but I forgot. Sorry. Here what was in the bottom pack.

#141 - Brenden Morrow
#93 - Nicklas Backstrom
#119 - Rick Nash

#25 - Chris Phillips
#150 - Corey Parros

#194 - Ethan Moreau
#30 - Luke Schenn
#115 - R.J. Umberger

#143 - Matt Niskanen
#157 - Ryane Clowe
#NET12 - Evgeni Nabokov (Netminders Insert)

#113 - Kris Versteeg
#98 - Alexander Semin
#68 - Marc Staal
#12 - Nathan Gerbe
#54 - David Clarkson

Well that's it. Nothing too impressive, great players no doubt. I'm kind of upset that I didn't pull at least one Young Guns Rookie, but oh well. That's what you get when you go retail I guess.

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2009-10 Upper Deck Series 1 Rack Pack: First Half

2010-01-16T10:31:00.001-06:00

I went to Target yesterday to get my Puck Attax: Starter Box (I'm still waiting for anyone who wants to go head to head) and some cheap, about to expire London Broil cut steaks, which I'm having tonight. Yum. Anyway, I wanted to get some other cards, but I didn't want to drop $20 on a blaster box, at least not yesterday anyway.

The rack packs are only $5 for 32 cards randomly inserted into basically to "fat packs". So even though I'm probably not going to get a lot of inserts, it's a good cheap way to start collecting the set.

Here are the cards that were in the top pack:

#83 - Jim Corvo
#147 - Bobby Ryan
#23 - Daniel Alfredsson
#167 - Kevin Bieksa
#148 - Ryan Getzlaf

#92 - Noah Welch

#132 - Pekka Rinne
#160 - Keith Yandle
#139 - Mike Modano
#19 - Josh Gorges
#57 - Rick DiPietro
#174 - Craig Conroy
#18 - Carey Price

#166 - Daniel Sedin
#158 - Evgeni Nabokov

#AG12 - Tim Thomas
(Ambassadors of the Game Insert)

I really like the look of this set. Lots of on ice action, which a lot of other card sets lack. (I believe that Upper Deck used this same type of design for last years baseball set, I think.)

Tomorrow I'll open the bottom pack and list those cards.

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A Quick Question to Anyone/Everyone Who Reads This Blog.

2010-01-14T19:57:00.003-06:00

I've been wanting to play Topps Puck Attax, but I know of no one in my area that would want to play with me. So my question is, if you have these cards or are thinking about getting a starter set like myself. Would you want to play this game with me? We can do it through email or text messaging or something.

I know that this is kind of a kids game, but this isn't Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokemon. No this is hockey and cards and hockey cards and that rules.

So please, if you have a hankering to start something new, maybe we can get a bunch of people to play and have tournaments with prizes or something. So please leave a comment if you are interested and maybe I'll see you on the cardboard ice.

WTF!!!!

2010-01-12T17:12:00.004-06:00

So today on my Facebook I run across an update from Upper Deck with this video on it.

This is ridiculous! I don't know if anyone that reads this is part of this club, but come on. I'm going to steal a comment left by a few people:

" I really wish facebook had a dislike button. I don't have a passion for cards because I can't afford to crack cases. Give me a break. These guys are what's wrong with the hobby."

"just because i don't break 15 cases of "The Cup" or any other thousand dollar product, it doesn't mean that i don't have the same passion.....segregation at it's best. You really piss me off Upper deck..."

As you've seen from my blaster box/retail/hobby pack breaks/rips, that I love cards just as much as the next person, but because I can only afford 1991-92 Score/Pro Set/Topps/O-Pee-Chee, that I can't become a Diamond Club member? That's Bulls***!

I along with thousands of others spend what little cash they have on UD products. I love cards and so do other people that read this blog. I mean it's a blog dedicated to hockey cards. Also the vast majority of the people who read my blog have card related blogs themselves. If that isn't love and dedication, I don't know what is?

Anyway that is my rant. I don't know how anyone else feels, but it's not like I can get a different brand of hockey cards if I want any new ones, since UD holds a monopoly on the sport. I don't have a problem with the company's product, just this particular practice.

Spending My Christmas Gift Card On What Else?

2010-01-10T14:44:00.000-06:00

Food and hockey cards. Well, groceries and hockey cards. It's not like I spent my gift card on Big Macs or anything.

The hockey cards were pretty slim pickins at Wal-Mart, but I did find 1 blaster box of 2009-10 Upper Deck MVP.

I know that some people don't like the looks of the MVP product, but I think it's great. The pictures leave a little to be desired, but I've always loved the silver foil signatures on each card, it seems a bit more personal, even though it's a mass produced product.

Anyway. The box had 12 packs in it with each pack containing 8 cards. The big draw of this product to me is that it is a fairly inexpensive product that could yeild some very nice hits, like; Two-on-Two Jerseys, Hart Candidates, Hart Winners, Winter Classic, One-on-One Autographs...etc.

Another draw is the 50 rookies included in this years set. Here are the ones that I pulled. Rookies are inserted 1:2 packs.

#319 - Matt Pelech (Calgary Flames)
#328 - Andrew MacDonald (New York Islanders)
#341 - Derek Peltier (Colorado Avalanche)
#359 - Phil Oreskovic (Toronto Maple Leafs)
#379 - Michael Del Zotto (New York Rangers)
#381 - James Van Riemsdyk (Philadelphia Flyers)

Hart Candidates:

#HC7 - Henrik Lundqvist
#HC12 - Luke Schenn

#HC17 - Henrik Zetterberg

Winter Classic:

#WC9 - Scott Hartnell

#WC14 - Milan Lucic
#WC18 - Patrice Bergeron

As you may have guessed the Winter Classic Inserts feature players from both the Boston Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers, who played outdoors at Boston on January 1, 2010. Boston won the game

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2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Tin Pt.2

2010-01-07T09:47:00.001-06:00

Alright. Time for part 2. These next cards are all shiny foil inserts. So without further ado..

#AST11 - Marian Hossa (All-Star Insert)

#TW2 - Alexander Ovechkin (Trophy Winner Insert)

#RB5 - Jarome Iginla (Record Breaker Insert)

#TC7 - 2008-09 Chicago Blackhawks (Team Checklist Insert)

#CBH16 - Bobby Clarke (Canadian Heroes Foil Insert)

#CBH17 - Patrick Roy (Canadian Heroes Foil Insert)

I really like the look of these shiny inserts. As opposed to scanning them, when I take a picture of them I think they turn out really cool looking.

I'm assuming that because it's an Olympic year, that's why O-Pee-Chee is doing the Canadian Heroes inserts, which is cool and all but how about 30th anniversary insert with the 1980 USA Hockey team? Just a thought.

I don't like the base cards as much as last years set, but I really like the inserts, but if you are a set collector-type person than the big "O" is your best bet. Because like last year, the amount of base cards in the set is just massive. I'm not sure but I think it's again somewhere in the 600s if I'm not mistaken?

In closing. Even though the weather this year prevented me from having the Christmas that I took time off of work for, it was nice that being stuck at home wasn't boring, since I had a tin of sweet cards to sift through.

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2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Tin Pt.1

2010-01-06T07:42:00.001-06:00

For the first time since I was like 12, I recieved some cards for Christmas from my brother and sister-in law. Thanks again by the way.

The cards in question are 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee, that came in a nice tin featuring Sidney Crosby.

The tin said it contained 13 packs, but inside I found 14, so there's no complaining there. Now since there were 14 packs I don't really feel like posting every single card, because that would take a long time. So, I'd like to post the hits/my favorite cards from the tin.

Like last year O-Pee-Chee has a retro parellel set. Unlike last years cards, which were based on the famous 1979-80 set. These are not based on an earlier hockey set. I believe that they just came up with a nice retro design. I like how it looks.

#252 - Chris Osgood

#595 - Mike Bossy

#87 - Sidney Crosby

Also like last years set, this set contains high numbered "Legends" cards.

#575 - Guy Charbonneau

#551 - Wayne Gretzky

#568 - Clark Gillies

These cards look a little more gaudy than last years, but there still pretty cool. The Clark Gillies card looks more like a painting than an actual pic.

To be continued...

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An Early Gift From "Sal"ta Claus

2009-12-30T12:25:00.001-06:00

Christmas came a smidgen early this year by way of an unexpected, yet greatly appreciated package from Sal over at PuckJunk.com.

"Sal"ta Claus was nice enough to send me a set of 1991-92 Upper Deck McDonalds All-Stars cards.

The set contains 25 regular cards and 6 holograms. Each card features the player in either a Wales Conference sweater or a Campbell Conference one. The only exception is Cam Neely who is clearly wearing his Boston Bruins jersey

I miss the days of the Wales vs Campbell Conference All-Star games. The players seemed to actually play hard during those games, which is not really the case anymore. I am glad though that they stopped having the North America vs Europe All-Star games.

Anyway this is a very cool little set that kind of makes me a little upset that I don't live in Canada. If I did I could go to McDonalds and instead of just receiving heart disease from the food, I could also aquire some sweet hockey cards that they still sell even to this day.

Now I'm not going to show every card in the set, but I will show 5 of my favorites from the set.

#Mc-15: Steve Larmer

#Mc-5: Joe Sakic

#Mc-11: Paul Coffey

#Mc-9: Andy Moog

#McH-04: Brett Hull (Hologram)

It's tough to pick just 5 when the entire set features the likes of Gretzky and Yzerman, but there you go.

So in closing, thanks a lot Sal I really appreciate it and I hope that in future I will come across something that you need and I can "pay it forward".

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Something a Tad Different.

2009-12-29T22:01:00.001-06:00

I've had an iPhone for just over a year now and until right now I haven't even looked for an application for my blog. Needless to say I have found one and I will probably be posting future posts from my iPhone.

It's easier for me to do it this way only because I sometimes have a lot of downtime at work and the computers there don't like to load and let me use my blog correctly.

The pictures might not be scanner quality, but there will be pictures and that's the important thing right? So please let me know what you think, about how it looks or whatever you like or dislike.

Thanks in advance.

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Happy Holidays

2009-12-26T16:20:00.002-06:00

I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa and have a Happy New Year.

I know that it has been awhile, but for Christmas this year my brother and sister-in-law got me a Sidney Crosby tin of 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee hockey packs that I will open over the next month here and post what is in them.

So stay tuned those of you that still actually follow this blog. I appreciate it.

Some Puck Junk Or Mail That You Want to Recieve

2009-10-19T17:52:00.004-05:00

The other day I went to check the mail expecting the usual pile of junk mail and bills, but today was different. There was an envelope from Sal who runs the hockey card blog, Puck Junk.com. I wasn't expecting anything like this at all so this was a great surprise. I opened the envelope to find a 1979-80 Topps Bobby Smith rookie card. This is very exciting not only to own a Bobby Smith rookie, who played for my favorite team ever; The Minnesota North Stars, but this is my first and so far only card from the infamous 1979-80 set.

As anyone who collects hockey cards knows, the 1979-80 Topps/O-Pee-Chee set contains the infamous Wayne Gretzky rookie card. In semi-related history; Smith as a junior playing for the Ottawa 67's in the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League or the OMJHL set league records for the most points and most assists in a single season during 1977-78. He compiled 69 goals and 123 assists for a total of 192 points, beating out Wayne Gretzky(182 points) for the scoring title and winning also the Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy. In 1979 he also won the Calder Trophy for being the "most proficient rookie in the the NHL". Smith played for 5 years with the North Stars before being traded to the Montreal Canadiens during the 1983-84 season. Smith and the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup in 1986. He continued to play for the Canadiens until 1990 when he came back to the North Stars to finish out his hockey playing career in 1993.

After his playing career, Smith went on to be the majority owner of the OMJHL's Halifax Mooseheads and he also served as the General Manager of the Phoenix Coyotes from 1997-2000, which Gretzky would come to co-own in 2001, coincidence? Probably.

To wrap things up I wold just like to say thanks to Sal for the "Puck Junk" mail. I really appreciate it and hopefully I'll come across something else that I can send your way.

The First Cards Of The Season...For Me Anyways.

2009-10-05T11:07:00.007-05:00

Finally the 2009-10 hockey season has started and I'm back at blogging, I'm going to tell you all that my summer was busy, but it wasn't, but you don't need to know that...wait, what? You didn't hear that did you? Anyway the season is underway and I need to write about some darn cards so here we go.

I picked up my first two packs of the 09-10 season and here they are.

2009-10 Fleer Ultra:

#146 - Alexander Ovechkin

#152 - David Steckel

#229 - Matt Beleskey: Ultra Rookie, Gold Medallion

#10 - Marc Savard

#31 - Patrick Kane

Final Thoughts: An Ovechkin right out of the gate, that is pretty sweet. That might just be a sign of things to come this season. Let's see if Patrick Kane can make it through the season without beating anyone up over $1.80. Marc Savard is off to a great start this season with 1 goal and 2 assists after the Bruins second game. Ultra redesigned their cards a little this year, changing how the name looks at the bottom and moving it to the sides of each card, except for the horizontal cards they are still located at the bottom. A new design and a low per pack price will make me come back and buy some more for sure. Good product Ultra as usual.

2009-10 Upper Deck Victory:

#67 - Fabian Brunnstrom

#94 - Dustin Brown

#116 - Martin Brodeur

#125 - Kyle Okposo

#136 - Jason Spezza

#SG34 - Thomas Vanek: Stars of the Game Insert

Final Thoughts: Brunnstrom had a pretty good rookie season last year putting up some pretty good numbers for playing only 55 games. This season he already has an assist in 1 game. Brown is also a player that has been getting better each year that he plays, he also has 1 assist in the Kings first game this year so far. Brodeur is always a nice pull, always a reliable player. It's nice to see Okposo doing well even though I hated watching him and his college team the Minnesota Gophers play against my "home" team the UMD Bulldogs a few years back. I really like how the Stars of the Game inserts look, I liked them last year and I like them this year. Overall I've always liked the Victory cards and I think that they are great for the budget conscious of us. They actual cards are not worth too much, but if you want to collect some nice looking cards that feature all the best players, than this is the set for you.

Hockey's back folks!

Minnesota Wild's New Third Jersey Leaked!

2009-08-26T15:09:00.003-05:00

Being Minnesota born and raised, it should come as no surprise that I grew up on the North Stars. When they left I was very disappointed, but low and behold 7 years later we got another team, this time the Wild? What kind of name is the Wild? Anyway I was just happy to have a team again to root for, but I always thought that their jersey's were just a tad cheesy. Today though the Wild's new third jersey was leaked online. It was supposed to be unveiled at the State Fair on August 30th, but Icethetics broke it, along with a few other teams jerseys and a possible new logo for the Florida Panthers. I'm focusing on the Wild though, so without further ado:

I think that it looks pretty nice and I like that they have a star dotting the i and having it run all the way across the t. It's almost a reminder of the North Stars of old. I look forward to seeing them on the ice and I hope that they stick around for awhile, because in the past 3rd jersey have not always been a huge hit...I'm looking at you the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

Thanks Sal!

2009-08-18T17:18:00.006-05:00

A few months ago, Sal over at PuckJunk.com gave away a bunch of sweet Panini stickers from 1995. Here is what he sent my way.

#98 - New York Islanders

#218 - Winipeg Jets

#25 - Andrew Cassels

#96 - Darius Kasparaitis

#28 - Geoff Sanderson

#214 - Keith Tkachuk

He also sent me his business card that is so fancy that it would make Patrick Bateman blush(American Psycho joke). With its high gloss and thick card stock, you would think that Upper Deck had made them for him.

Thanks a lot Sal and like I said to you in the email I sent, if I were still in school I would have these stickers slapped all over my Trapper Keeper.

It's Been Awhile...Again.

2009-08-14T19:43:00.005-05:00

I've been meaning to write some more, but this summer has been kicking my butt and I can't seem to find the time to buy any cards, let alone write about them. A month or so back though I did buy a pack of cards that I've never seen before, but they were very cool looking and the right price.

1994-95 Parkhurst 1956-57 Parkies: This is obviously a reprint of Parkhurst's 1956-57 set. Ah 1956, when men were men and those men didn't wear helmets and goalies didn't wear masks. Also there were only 6 teams in the NHL so chances are that if you buy 2 or more packs your going to pull a lot of the same team, in fact in 1 of my packs every card was a New York Ranger, albeit all different players. I bought 3 packs and here is the cream of the crop from those packs.

#92 - Lorne "Gump" Worsley

#24 - Ed Litzenberger

#19 - Marcel Bonin

#66 - Henri Richard

#72 - Jacques Plante

#155 - Lindsay Loses Battle

#103 - Johnny Bower

#141 - Glenn Hall: Second Team All-Star

#165 - Gump Stops Leafs

Final Thoughts: This is a very cool reprint set featuring some of the best players ever to play the game and a very recognizable card design. I could totally collect more sets like this and I just may do that in the future.

I'm going to try and post some more. Please believe me, I will, but for what I lack this summer, once October rolls around and the season starts back up, things on this blog will restart a-rollin'. Just have faith in me and stick around.

It's Been Awhile.

2009-07-21T18:22:00.003-05:00

Man! it's been a long time since I've written anything. I've been pretty busy, at least that's what I'm going to tell you anyway.

Now that the Stanley Cup Finals are over I've noticed a sever lack of hockey cards in the stores, but leave it to my local card shop to rise above the call of duty and get a box of 2008-09 Black Diamond.

I bought 3 packs and didn't get much of anything, but on my 4th and last pack I pulled a very sweet card:

#173 - Mr. Hockey (Gordie Howe): Quad Diamond

Needless to say that I was pretty happy about that, but I still don't understand why his name on all of the Upper Deck cards are labeled as Mr. Hockey. Is his name under a copyright? Are they just playing up the fact that he is one of the best players ever to play the game? I don't know, but if someone knows, please clue me in. I would appreciate it.

Hockey Giveaway...

2009-07-01T17:52:00.003-05:00

Over at Puck Junk!

Sal is opening his treasure trove of shiny team logo stickers for us fans of his blog. So head on over to check out the rules and maybe, just maybe you could be walking down the halls of your school next fall being stopped by all the chicks (or dudes) asking where you got that sweet looking Mighty Ducks sticker for your trapper keeper.

What The F Card of the Day: June 25, 2009

2009-06-25T14:26:00.005-05:00

1992 Topps Stadium Club:
#225 - Rob Zettler

"Come with me if you want to live."

2 Promised Memorabilia Cards

2009-06-18T21:01:00.003-05:00

If anyone is still interested in these entries anymore, I know that it's taken me like 3 weeks to get through this box, but it's been a busy 3 weeks, SO GET OFF OF MY BACK!...Just kidding.

Here are the 2 memorabilia cards as promised by the box:

2006-07 SP Game Used Edition:
#AF-SU - Steve Sullivan: Authentic Fabrics Jersey

2005-06 SP Game Used Edition:
#AF-ZC - Zdeno Chara: Authentic Fabrics Single Jersey

Final Thoughts: 2 pretty good players to get jersey cards of in a slapped together box of hockey cards. In fact Chara just won the Norris Trophy for best defenseman of the year breaking Nicklas Lidstrom's 6 season in a row streak, so he's got that going for him. It's also nice to have them be in a little ziplock bag to keep them nice and fresh.

So that's it, finally the box is done. Now on to the next venture.

The 2nd To Last Posts...

2009-06-12T20:05:00.004-05:00

For this box of cards.

1997-98 Upper Deck Collector's Choice:

#51 - Ethan Moreau

#43 - Jonas Hoglund

#44 - Tony Amonte

#153 - Eric Fichaud

#SQ20 - Brian Leetch: StarQuest Insert

Final Thoughts: The mid-90's were a blackhole of a time for me and hockey. By this time I had started high school and with everything going on I kind of stopped following hockey, so there a lot of players that I can not for the life of me remember, like Eric Fichaud for example. Someone who I never forget about though is Brian Leetch, who as I've stated in an earlier post, is one of the greatest defenseman ever.

2006-07 Upper Deck MVP:

#274 - Nikolai Antropov

#297 - Chris Clark

#176 - PatrikElias

#83 - Gilbert Brule

#30 - Daniel Briere

#120 - Jussi Markkanen

#57 - Cory Stillman

#327 - Carsen Germyn: Rookie

Final Thoughts: No one too exciting, but if you are a fan of collecting cards and not just inserts these packs offer you 8 cards instead of 3, 4 or 5 per pack.

2007-08 Fleer Ultra:

#9 - Brendan Morrison

#157 - Martin Havlat

#53 - Joni Pitkanen: Gold Medallion

#128 - Dominik Hasek

#156 - Brent Seabrook

Final Thoughts: Havlat and Seabrook had a great season this year, with Chicago making it to the playoffs for the first time in 7 years. It's just too bad that they couldn't make to the finals, but they still didawfully well and hopefully this magic will carry over to next year.

I Need To...

2009-06-12T18:22:00.006-05:00

Finish up this box of cards, it's been almost 3 weeks since I've bought this box, wow. Let's start to finish it already.

2007-08 Fleer Ultra:

#37 - Sidney Crosby

#117 - Ales Hemsky

#RED263 - Rookie Redemption

#168 - Mikka Kiprusoff

#20 - Martin St. Louis

Final Thoughts: Another Rookie Redemption, I've really lucked out there. Crosby's cards are always nice to get and on a related note, hopefully he and the rest of the Penguins can pull off a victory tonight against the Detroit Red Wings. Good Luck Pens.

1997-98 Upper Deck Collector's Choice:

#218 - Tony Granato

#211 - Dale Hunter

#189 - Paul Coffey

#47 - Jeff Hackett

#309 - Nick Boynton: National Heroes

Final Thoughts:

2007-08 - Upper Deck MVP:

#244 - Brian Campbell

#172 - Darcy Tucker

#224 - Martin Straka

#14 - Nikolai Khabibulin

#266 - Milan Michalek

#264 - Patrick Marleau

#54 - Cristobal Huet

#HC2 - Sidney Crosby: Hart Candidates

Final Thoughts: A pretty good selection of decent players and a Crosby insert, not too shabby.

3 More Packs of Hockey Trading Cards

2009-06-04T17:24:00.005-05:00

This is taking a lot longer than expected to open all of these packs, but I just have to power through it (ah shucks hunh?), so with that said here are 3 more packs.

2007-08 Fleer Ultra:

#101 - Pierre-Marc Bouchard

#135 - Jussi Jokinen

#164 - Erik Cole: Gold Medallion

#SK7 - Joe Thornton: Scoring Kings

#2 - Alexander Semin

Final Thoughts: A nice selection of good players. It's nice to pull a Scoring Kings Joe Thornton in a set of cards that doesn't offer a lot of inserts in the packs, from what I've experienced so far.

2007-08 O-Pee-Chee:

#417 - Manny Legace

#357 - Jeff Carter

#107 - Tuomo Ruutu

#475 - Henrik Sedin

#531 - Marc Methot: Marquee Rookies

#140 - Fredrik Norrena

Final Thoughts: Jeff Carter was fantastic this year with the Flyers and so was Sedin in Vancouver's series'. Also I don't think that there are enough vowels in Tuomo Ruutu's name for God's sake.

1997-98 Upper Deck Collectors Choice:

#185 - Vaclav Prospal

#265 - Dave Roberts

#3 - Dmitri Mironov

#256 - Alexander Mogilny

#SQ13 - Vyacheslav Kozlov: Starquest

Final Thoughts: I haven't seen a Alexander Mogilny card in a long while, pictured here in a Canucks jersey. Mogilny played on a line in the Soviet Union with Sergei Federov at center, Mogilny at right wing and Pavel Bure at left wing. Holy Crap! that is one heck of a line. Mogilny was drafted 89th overall in 1988 by the Buffalo Sabres. He chose the the number 89 in recognition of the his draft number and the year that he defected to the US from the USSR. Mogilny was a pretty solid player throughout his career also playing with the Vancouver Canucks , New Jersey Devils, where he won a Stanley Cup Championship in 2000, Toronto Maple Leafs and finishing his career with the Albany River Rats of theAHL in 2006, but hasn't been back due to injuries.

Another 3 Wal-Mart Box Packs

2009-06-01T23:58:00.006-05:00

Here are the next 3 packs from that box.

2007-08 O-Pee-Chee:

#81 - Craig Conroy

#196 - Patrick Thoresen

#488 - Boyd Gordon

#23 - Johan Hedberg

#IA13 - Mats Sundin: In Action

#410 - Mike Grier

Final Thoughts: Nice Mats Sundin In Action card, but that is about it.

2008-09 O-Pee-Chee:

#100 - Matt Carle

#468 - Glen Wesley

#77 - Nik Antropov

#267 - Brent Sopel

#243 - Ilya Bryzgalov

#445 - Andrew Cogliano: 1979-80 Retro Parallel

Final Thoughts: Antropov and Wesley are the best players in this pack, but that is not saying too much though.

2007-08 Upper Deck Victory:

#191 - Rob Blake

#187 - Ladislav Nagy

#160 - Dwayne Roloson

#146 - Daymond Langkow

#96 - Eric Fehr

#241 - Drew Fata: Rookie

Final Thoughts: Blake and Roloson are the shining stars of this pack, but it is still a very dark night.

More Wal-Mart "Goodness". Another 2 Packs

2009-05-31T19:04:00.006-05:00

2 more packs of the "Hockey Trading Cards".

2005-06 Parkhurst

#161 - Jason Arnott

#87 - Justin Williams

#13 - Francois Beauchemin

#44 - Travis Green

#219 - Lubomir Visnovsky

#15 - Ruslan Salei

Final Thoughts: Not a very good looking bunch of cards, not just the player selection, but the actual cards themselves. The sides being the main team color is fine, that I don't mind, but the logo placed a hundred times in the background is pretty ugly, in my opinion.

2006-07 Fleer Ultra

#45 - Martin Havlat

#165 - Steve Bernier

#189 - Roberto Luongo

#5 - Teemu Selanne

#162 - Patrick Marleau

#52 - Marek Svatos

#171 - Lee Stempniak: Gold Medallion

#231 - Rookie Redemption

Final Thoughts: Since I've started writing this blog, I have opened countless numbers of packs of 2007-08 Fleer Ultra and it never fails whether it be 06-07 or 08-09 I've come to think that 07-08 are the weaker cards. Now here is a good pack of players; Havlat, Selanne, Luongo ...this is what I'm talking about. Also I finally got an insert Rookie Redemption, the bad news though is that I can't even send it in for the player card, because it's expired, which is kind of unfair seeing as it's in a new box of cards, but whatever, it's not like it's a redemption for Malkin or anything...or is it? It's not, but still that's not the point.

Wal-Mart Hockey Box 2 Packs

2009-05-28T21:39:00.004-05:00

The other day I showed you the box of hockey cards that I got from Wal-Mart and today I decided to dig in. Here are the first 2 packs that I opened.

1997-98 Upper Deck Collectors Choice:

#238 - Rob Zamuner

#25 - Brian Holzinger

#80 - Chris Osgood

#151 - Robert Reichel

#295 - Karen Nystrom: National Heroes

Final Thoughts: Hmmm...? Not a great start to this box. It's nice to see women's hockey being represented in a NHL set of cards.

2008-09 O-Pee-Chee:

#304 - Radek Martinek

#51 - Scott Parker

#261 - Alexander Frolov

#58 - Evgeni Nabokov

#308 - Chris Thorburn

#520 - Mike Mole: Marquee Rookies

Final Thoughts: The only standout player in this pack in my opinion is Nabokov. Nabokov had an outstanding season with the San Jose Sharks playing in 62 games, winning 41, losing 12 and sending the Sharks to the playoffs as the number 1 team in the entire league. Many people thought that the Sharks were going to win the whole thing this year, but luck was not on their side as they lost in the opening round losing to the Anaheim Ducks 4 games to 2. There is always next season though.

Between The Pipes: Day 12

2009-05-27T14:06:00.003-05:00

The last day of opening this box of 2007-08 Between the Pipes is here and I must say that I really enjoyed opening this box. It contained a lot of great players from the past and even a GoalieGraph card, which is more than I could ever ask for. Let's finish off this box and get on to the next project.

Pack 23:
#48 - Semen Varlamov: Future Stars

#73 - Ryan Miller: Stars of the Game

#13 - Dustin Tokarski: Future Stars

#38 - Maxime Daigneault: Future Stars

#63 - Dominik Hasek: Stars of the Game

Final Thoughts: Ryan Miller played in 76 games last season with the Buffalo Sabres, breaking a team record for the most games played. Passing up ex-Sabre Dominik Hasek. He also just signed a 5 year contract extension that will keep him with the Sabres through the 2013-14 season.

Pack 24:
#74 - Terry Sawchuk: Greats of the Game

#100 - Ed Mio: The Rival League

#27 - Josh Unice: Future Stars

#52 - Thomas McCollum: Future Stars

#77 - Felix Potvin: Greats of the Game

Final Thoughts: Terry Sawchuk and Felix Potvin, definetley 2 different generations of goalies that's for sure. Ed Mio is pictured in an Indianapolis Racers jersey. The Racers are the team that Wayne Gretzky played for in the WHA. The Edmonton Oilers acquired both Gretzky and Mio along with forward Peter Driscoll for $700,000 in 1978. A pretty good deal if you ask me.

Final Final Thoughts: Buying just 1 box I ended up collecting the entire 100 card base set, with 17 doubles, 2 Flashback inserts and 1 GoalieGraphs card. Not a bad deal for a box of cards that cost me under $20.

R.I.P. Peter Zezel 1965-2009

2009-05-26T20:27:00.005-05:00

Some sad news today, former NHL center Peter Zezel died today at the age of 44, of a rare blood disease that he has been dealing with for the last 10 years or so. He was taken off of life support after going into a coma last week after a brain hemorrhage.

Zezel played for 15 seasons in the NHL. He was selected 41st overall in the 1983 draft by the Philadelphia Flyers. He was a very good offensive player putting up some of the Flyer's best numbers through the 80's before he was dealt to the St. Louis Blues, where he still continued to excel. Zezel went on to play with 5 more teams after his time with the Blues before retiring in 1999 to be with his ailing niece.

Since 1998 Zezel has operated the Peter Zezel Hockey and Sports Camps in Etobicoke, Ontario. The camp helps improve the hockey and soccer skills of young players ages 5 - 14 years.

Peter Zezel also made a cameo (shirtless) in the 1986 Rob Lowe hockey movie Youngblood. Starring along side Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves and fellow NHL'er Steve Thomas.

Peter Zezel seemed like a very upstanding guy, who did a lot to help kids and the like and he will be sadly missed.

Between The Pipes: Day 11

2009-05-26T19:47:00.003-05:00

Only 2 days left of Between the Pipes.

Pack 21:
#12 - Devan Dubnyk: Future Stars

#37 - Matt Keetley: Future Stars

#62 - Dan Cloutier: Stars of the Game

#14 - Erik Ersberg: Future Stars

#39 - Michal Neuvirth: Future Stars

Final Thoughts: Ersberg and Cloutier are both with the L.A. Kings, even though Cloutier is a Star of the Game, Ersberg played in 28 games this season winning 8 and losing 11, where as NHL.com doesn't list any stats for this season, so I don't know.

Pack 22:
#85 - Rogie Vachon: Greats of the Game

#22 - Jonas Hiller: Future Stars

#47 - Scott Munroe: Future Stars

#43 - Peter Delmas: Future Stars

#68 - Marty Turco: Stars of the Game

Final Thoughts: Vachon was a great player, there is no doubt about that. Jonas Hiller is no slouch either taking the Anaheim Ducks to the Stanley Cup Playoffs with an overall record of 30 wins and 21 losses for the season and post-season combined.

Wal-Mart Hockey Box

2009-05-26T11:19:00.007-05:00

Yesterday I stopped at Wal-Mart for a few things and decided to once again look at their cards. They normally never have any hockey boxes at all, but yesterday must have been my lucky day. On the shelf was a generic box of "Hockey Trading Cards". The box said it contained 16 packs plus 2 memorabilia cards guaranteed in each box. My curiosity got the better of me and I decided to buy it at the $19.99 price, which is normal for a blaster box, but blasters usually contain anywhere from 5-12 packs, well this one already contains 16, but you don't know what brands or years, but judging by the box there is at least 1 pack of 2008-09 O-Pee-Chee and 1 pack of 2005-06 Parkhurst.

I opened the box and found all of the packs and the 2 memorabilia cards, but getting the 2 packs out of the windows of the box was ridiculous. I had to rip apart the entire box. Someone who is not paying attention could have easily just thrown the whole box away and the 2 packs.

Here is what the box contained;

4 packs of 1997-98 Upper Deck Collectors Choice

1 pack of 2005-06 Parkhurst

1 pack of 2006-07 Fleer Ultra

3 packs of 2007-08 Fleer Ultra (of course)

2 packs of 2007-08 O-Pee-Chee

2 packs of 2008-09 O-Pee-Chee

1 pack of 2007-08 Upper Deck Victory

1 pack of 2006-07 Upper Deck MVP

1 pack of 2007-08 Upper Deck MVP

2 memorabilia cards that I'll talk about later.

Since I don't want to give up all of the goods right away, over the next few days I'll be opening these packs and hopefully something good will come of this generic package of hockey cards from Wal-Mart. So check back during the week for updates.

Also if you love hockey history, like most of us do, then please check out Joe Pelletier's blog-site Greatest Hockey Legends.com . It is a fantastic site for stories and facts for just about every NHL team and star player to ever play the game. If you get some time definitely check it out, because it's worth it.

Happy Memorial Day

2009-05-25T21:47:00.005-05:00

Each year on Memorial Day my dad and I go to a few cemeteries and put some "flowers"(they are usually plastic ones) on the graves of family members that I've never met, but each year I feel a little closer to these people, even though I will never meet them. It's also a day to thank the countless number of service men and women throughout history and are still in service today, who gave their lives fighting for us and other people all over the world.

A lot of people usually celebrate this day as an unofficial start to summer, with lots of barbecuing and outdoor activities like golf, parades and the like. One sport that usually starts around this time of year is softball. I love playing softball and I'm playing this year, which is great. With softball though and the end of the hockey season nearing I start to get into baseball a bit.

I've never been a huge baseball fan and over the past years I may have dogged it a little more than it deserves and I apologize for that, but I can't help but getting into it at least a little bit, whether I buy a baseball game for Xbox 360, which I did or buying some baseball cards, which I also did.

I know it may be sacrilege to post about baseball cards on Cardboard Hockey, but this could, in my opinion fall under the ETC category. So with that I bought a blaster box of 2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes.

2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes: Here are the highlights of the box

#147 - Tony Gwynn

#98 - Robin Yount

#122 - Reggie Jackson

#162 - Stan Musial: Black Parallel

#16 - Cal Ripken Jr.: Black Parallel

#113 - Derek Jeter: Black Parallel

#193 - Nolan Ryan/Greg Maddux/Randy Johnson: Black Parallel

#192 - Joe Mauer/Hanley Ramirez/Troy Tulowitzki\

#199 - Ken Griffy Jr./Roberto Clemente/Vladimir Guerrero/Joe DiMaggio

#97 - Ryan Braun: Red Parallel # 019/249

This post may have not made much sense, which I apologize for, but I'm just typing random thoughts and sometimes this is what you get.

Anyway Happy Memorial Day and Happy Summer.

Between The Pipes: Day 10

2009-05-25T21:09:00.003-05:00

I believe that I have a real case of the Mondays.

Pack 19:
#8 - Corey Crawford: Future Stars

#33 - Kyle Gajewski: Future Stars

#29 - Justin Pogge: Future Stars

#54 - Tomas Popperle: Future Stars

#79 - Grant Fuhr: Greats of the Game

Final Thoughts: Well most of these cards have already been pulled, so nothing new here. Justin Pogge played in 7 games this season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, winning 1 and losing 4.

Pack 20:
#35 - Linden Rowat: Future Stars

#60 - Tyson Sexsmith: Future Stars

#56 - Torrie Jung: Future Stars

#81 - John Davidson: Greats of the Game

#18 - Jeff Glass: Future Stars

Final Thoughts: John Davidson shown wearing a nice looking red, white and blue New York Rangers mask. Davidson was drafted in the first round by the St. Louis Blues in 1973. He is most well known for leading the New York Rangers to the Stanley Cup Finals on an injured left knee in 1979. Apparently Davidson unintentionally inspired the 1978 Foreigner hit song and album "Double Vision". A few of the band members were watching a Stanley Cup playoff game between the New York Rangers and the Buffalo Sabres, when an unknown Sabres player took a hard shot that hit Davidson's mask. As he was recovering from the shot, the 2 announcers said the Davidson was suffering from "Double Vision"

Between The Pipes: Day 9

2009-05-24T16:28:00.003-05:00

Ahhh...lazy Sunday.

Pack 17:
#69 - Pascal Leclaire: Stars of the Game

#94 - Bernie Parent: The Rival League

#8 - Corey Crawford: Future Stars

#4 - Antoine LaFleur: Future Stars

#29 - Justin Pogge: Future Stars

Final Thoughts: It's nice to see the great Bernie Parent in a Philadelphia Blazers uniform. Other than that, no one too great.

Pack 18:
#71 - Ray Emery: Stars of the Game

#96 - Ernie Wakely: The Rival League

#10 - Curtis McElhinney: Future Stars

#6 - Brian Elliot: Future Stars

#31 - Kevin Desfosses: Future Stars

Final Thoughts: Wakely played 8 seasons in the WHA from 1972-79, ending his career in the WHA. Before playing in the WHA he took the St. Louis Blues to the Stanley Cup Finals against the Boston Bruins in 1970, where the Blues were swept in 4 games. He is pictured here playing for the San Diego Mariners, but he also played for the Winnipeg Jets, the Cincinnati Stingers, the Birmingham Bulls and the HoustonAeros.

Between The Pipes: Day 8

2009-05-23T23:38:00.003-05:00

With this entry I'm all caught up, it's about time hunh?

Pack 15:
#21 - John Murray: Future Stars

#46 - Ryan Munce: Future Stars

#42 - Pekka Rinne: Future Stars

#67 - Martin Brodeur: Stars of the Game

#92 - Gilles Gratton: The Rival League

Final Thoughts: Brodeur is arguably the greatest goalie ever to play the game and it's always nice to get his card. Gilles Gratton nicknamed "Gratoony the Looney", because of his odd on and off ice behavior. Gratton wore absolutely, hands down the coolest goalie mask ever, unfortunately he is not wearing it in this WHA card, but here is a picture of it [Tiger Mask]. Opposing players swore that they could hear Gratton growling at them from behind his mask and in one incident he even hissed like a cat during a fight. Gratton also told people that he was reincarnated and had once been a solider in the Spanish Inquisition. He would refuse to play during games when the moon was in the wrong part of the sky. Quite a character if you ask me.

Pack 16:
#70 - Peter Budaj: Stars of the Game

#95 - Les Binkley: The Rival League

#91 - Joe Daley: The Rival League

#5 - Braden Holtby: Future Stars

#30 - Karri Ramo: Future Stars

Final Thoughts: It was bound to happen, getting an entire pack of cards that I already have, oh well there is always tomorrow.

Between The Pipes: Day 7

2009-05-23T21:46:00.006-05:00

Still playing catch-up.

Pack 13:
#98 - John Garrett: The Rival League
#25 - Jordan Sigalet: Future Stars

#50 - Taylor Dakers: Future Stars

#2 - Adam Dennis: Future Stars

#88 - Ed GiAcomin: Greats of the Game

Final Thoughts: John Garrett pictured in a sweet Minnesota Fighting Saints jersey, was involved in a very odd scenario during the 1983 All-Star game. Garrett then with the Vancouver Canucks, was replacing Richard Brodeur as the Canucks only representative after Brodeur was injured a few days before the game. Garrett was voted as the MVP of the game, but after Wayne Gretzky scored 4 goals in the last 4 minutes of the game the votes were re-cast and Gretzky obviously won the title. Since the 2002-03 season Garrett has become the color(spelled 'colour' in Canada) commentator for Canuck's games on Sportsnet Pacific and Flame"s games on Sportsnet West, along with some sparse work for Hockey Night in Canada.

Pack 14:
#84 - Patrick Roy: Greats of the Game
#17 - Jeff Deslauriers: Future Stars

#59 - Tyler Weiman: Future Stars

#FB-08 - Roberto Luongo: Flashbacks

#80 - Gump Worsley: Greats of the Game

Final Thoughts: It's nice to get a Gump Worsley card, where he is clearly wearing a Minnesota North Stars uniform. I also haven't said this before, but I've thought it many times; Roberto Luongo has the biggest eyes that I've ever seen behind a goalie mask. He kind of looks like a Lemur.

Between The Pipes: Day 6

2009-05-23T21:06:00.003-05:00

It's been a few days I know and the packs just keep stacking up, but I've been so busy with crap that I haven't had a chance to write. Sorry to anyone who actually checks this blog for daily updates, I feel that I've let you down, but I'll make it up to you, I promise. Now let's play some catch-up.

Pack 11:
#83 - Mike Palmateer: Greats of the Game

#20 - Jimmy Howard: Future Stars

#45 - Robert Mayer: Future Stars

#41 - Ondrej Pavelec: Future Stars

#66 - Tim Thomas: Stars of the Game

Final Thoughts: Jimmy Howard played 1 games this season for the Red Wings, but what do you except when you are a back-up to Chris Osgood. Pavelec had a slightly better season than Howard, with the Atlanta Thrashers, but not by much. That is why they are "Future Stars" though.

Pack 12:
#61 - Cam Ward: Stars of the Game

#86 - Ron Hextall: Greats of the Game

#23 - Jonathan Bernier: Future Stars

#51 - Thomas Greiss: Future Stars

#76 - Billy Smith: Greats of the Game

Final Thoughts: Seeing a Ron Hextall card always makes me smile, as he is one of my favorite goalies ever. His tough-guy image often overshadowed his actual talent as a goalie, but I will talk more in depth about him and his antics in a later post. Cam Ward has been a pretty solid player for the Hurricanes this year especially in the playoffs. "Battlin'" Billy Smith won 4 Stanley Cup Championships with the New York Islanders. Nicknamed "Battlin Billy" because of his fiery temper and unabashed use of his stick and/or blocker on opposing players that crowded his crease. Not even his own teammates were safe from his anger, Smith charged after teammate Mike Bossy after Bossy shot a puck at Smith that he objected to, but was tackled by other teammates before he could reach Bossy. Good stuff.

Between The Pipes: Day 5

2009-05-20T13:03:00.002-05:00

I might have to get another box of these cards, because they are pretty sweet, but for now let's just try and keep up with the 2 pack a day opening.

Pack 9:
#33 - Kyle Gajewski: Future Stars

#58 - Tuukka Rask: Future Stars

#54 - Tomas Popperle: Future Stars

#79 - Grant Fuhr: Greats of the Game

#16 - Jaroslav Halak: Future Stars

Final Thoughts: I believe that I have pulled all of these Future Stars before so...it's always nice to pull a Grant Fuhr though. The magic appears in the 10th pack and here it is.

Pack 10:
#26 - Josh Tordjman: Future Stars

#1 - Adam Courchaine: Future Stars

#11 - Daren Machesney: Future Stars

#36 - Marek Schwarz: Future Stars

#A-RB - Richard Brodeur: Authentic GoalieGraphs

Final Thoughts: O...M...G...! I've finally done it. I've finally pulled an autograph card from a pack that is not guaranteed to have an autograph card in it, I couldn't believe it. It made my whole day a little nicer, not to mention that It's not a no-name player either, it's "King" Richard Brodeur! I can now die happy, but let's not talk about dieing right now.

Between The Pipes: Day 4

2009-05-19T19:03:00.003-05:00

6 packs down 18 more to go.

Pack 7:
#95 - Les Binkley: The Rival League

#9 - Cory Schneider: Future Stars

#34 - Leland Irving: Future Stars

#30 - Karri Ramo: Future Stars

#55 - Tomi Karhunen: Future Stars

Final Thoughts: Les Binkley sporting a sweet mask and a Toronto Toros jersey of the WHA. I'm not familiar with anyone else in this pack, but only time will tell how these guys will pan out in the pros.

Pack 8:
#45 - Robert Mayer: Future Stars

#70 - Peter Budja: Stars of the Game

#66 - Tim Thomas: Stars of the Game

#91 - Joe Daley: The Rival League

#5 - Braden Holtby: Future Stars

Final Thoughts: Budja and Thomas are familiar faces, but the rest are not. Joe Daley was the Buffalo Sabres first choice in the 1970 intra-League Draft. He was also one of the last goalies to not wear a mask, even though he did wear one while playing for the Winnipeg Jets in the WHA. Joe Daley now owns and operates a successful trading card store in Manitoba aptly named Joe Daley Sports Cards.

Between The Pipes: Day 3

2009-05-18T21:43:00.003-05:00

I've been very busy lately with softball and volleyball starting, so I've been kind of slow on posting, but I'll try and step it up. Here is day 3.

Pack 5:
#72 - Roberto Luongo: Stars of the Game

#97 - Michel Dion: The Rival League

#93 - Richard Brodeur: The Rival League

#7 - Cary Price: Future Stars

#32 - Kevin Poulin: Future Stars

Final Thoughts: It's nice to see a Quebec Nordiques jersey from the WHA days, man I miss that team. Cary Price, we all know that this guy is going nowhere in the NHL...just kidding.

Pack 6:
#58 - Tuukka Rask: Future Stars

#83 - Mike Palmateer: Greats of the Game

#20 - Jimmy Howard: Future Stars

#16 - Jaroslav Halak: Future Stars

#41 - Ondrej Pavelec: Future Stars

Final Thoughts: It's weird to open a pack where I'm not familiar with anyone in it, even Mike Palmateer.

Between The Pipes: Day 2

2009-05-16T22:48:00.003-05:00

Let's get on with day 2, shall we?

Pack 3:
#49 - Steve Mason: Future Stars

#74 - Tomas Vokoun: Stars of the Game

#3 - Al Montoya: Future Stars

#28 - Justin Peters: Future Stars

#53 - Tobias Stephan

Final Thoughts: Well we obviously know that Steve Mason is going nowhere...just kidding. Al Montoya played 5 games for the Phoenix Coyotes this season winning 3 of them and losing 1, what happened to the other game? Was he pulled? Who knows.

Pack 4:
#99 - Mike Liut: The Rival League

#57 - Trevor Cann: Future Stars

#82 - Johnny Bower: Greats of the Game

#78 - Glenn Hall: Greats of the Game

#15 - Hannu Toivonen: Future Stars

Final Thoughts: It's nice to see Mike Liut in a Cincinnati Stingers uniform. I wish that the WHA was still around. Johnny Bower and Glenn Hall really are greats of the game that's all that I have to say about that.

Day 2 was a pretty productive day in my opinion, tomorrow is day 3, hopefully it will contain some more great players.

Between The Pipes: Day 1

2009-05-14T22:46:00.003-05:00

I've been curious about In The Game's Between the Pipes series of cards for awhile and being a huge goalie fan I knew it was just a matter of time before I bought a box of cards, where all of the players are goalies

I found a box of 2007-08 Between The Pipes at a very good price on eBay and decided to purchase it. It's very unique, in my opinion to have a set of just goalie cards. In The Game has the rights to the AHL, CHL and the PHPA, but not the NHL, although they do feature NHL players, but only show them from the shoulders up usually.

2007-08 In The Game: Between The Pipes Pack 1:
#19 - Jeremy Smith: Future Stars

#44 - Riku Helenius: Future Stars

#40 - Mike Murphy: Future Stars

#65 - Kari Lehtonen: Stars of the Game

#90 - Gerry Cheevers: The Rival League

Final Thoughts: Jeremy Smith, Riku Helenius and Mike Murphy as to knowledge are not in the NHL quite yet, Kari Lehtonen is though. Lehtonen is the Atlanta Thrashers number one goaltender and a Star of the Game. The Gerry Cheevers card is a very cool one. Shown in his trademark goalie stich mask in a Cleveland Crusaders jersey. This card falls under the Rival League catagory, the rival league here in question is the World Hockey Association aka the WHA. The WHA was the most sucessful league to challange the the supremacy of the NHL. Overall a very cool pack of cards. I think that I'm going to like these a lot.

Pack 2:
#87 - Tom Barrasso: Greats of the Game

#24 - Jordan Parise: Future Stars

#FB-04 - Patrick Roy: Flashbacks

#64 - Jean-Sebastian Giguere: Stars of the Game

#89 - Tony Esposito: Greats of the Game

Final Thoughts: Tom Barrasso and Tony Esposito are definetly Greats of the Game, but the stand out card in this pack is the Flaskbacks card of Patrick Roy. I guess that the Flashbacks insert series are only available in Arena packs of Between The Pipes, which is what this box is. I'm not quite sure where the Arena packs are sold, I assume hockey arenas, but I wouldn't know because I don't have any arenas that sell cards where I live. It must be a Canadian thing?

Very cool cards and I'm excited to open some more, but I will try and hold myself to just 2 packs a day so that I can post them and not have it be too overwhelming for you and me alike.

A Legendary Time

2009-05-14T21:26:00.003-05:00

In the mail today I received a box of 2008-09 Legends Masterpieces Hockey Retail and an Arena Box of 2007-08 Between The Pipes. I bought the Legends box so that my dad and I could open them together, because he and I love old-time hockey and this is the best set of cards for getting classic players.

We opened all 24 packs looking for a Canvas Clippings Jersey Card, because my dad really wanted a jersey card. He thinks that they are very neat, as do I, but it wasn't looking to hot. With about 5 packs left we finally pulled a nice Canvas Clippings.

#CC-DH - Dale Hawerchuk: Canvas Clippings

This card totally made his day and I'm so glad that we spent that time together. I look forward to hopefully doing more of this with my dad over time and I hope that he enjoys it as much as I do.

Target Stop/Cardboard Hockey Envelope

2009-05-08T14:20:00.007-05:00

I got paid yesterday, so the obvious thing to do was to spend it on hockey cards. I keep seeing these cardboard envelopes from theFairField Company, which feature an autograph/game used card and 4 packs of cards in each envelope for $12.99. Every time that I've seen these though they are out of hockey and only have baseball or football, of course.

Last night though I finally saw a bunch of Hockey envelopes on the shelf, so I picked one up just to see what was in it. Now if you've read this blog before you may have noticed that I really want to pull an autograph card and on this particular package, it offers one autograph card, so I decided to cheat and instead of spending hundreds of dollars trying to pull an autograph, I decided to go for the sure thing for only $12.99. First though let's see what is in the packs first. On a side note though these envelopes are a Son-of-a B to open!

2006-07 Upper Deck MVP:
#169 - Martin Erat

#4 - Teemu Selanne

#107 - Robert Lang

#41 - Mikka Kiprusoff

#263 - Ruslan Fedotenko

#102 - Tomas Holmstrom

#225 - Curtis Joseph

#310 - Marc-Edward Vlasic: Rookie

Final Thoughts: Some good players, but nothing to special. I really like the MVP series of cards. The part that I enjoy the most is that each card is "signed" by the player in silver, it looks very nice.

2007-08 Upper Deck MVP:
#43 - Tim Thomas

#7 - Milan Hejduk

#298 - Roberto Luongo: Checklist

#209 - Erik Christensen

#272 - Mike Madano

#90 - Curtis Joseph

#237 - Kris Draper

#314 - Jeff Schultz: Rookie

Final Thoughts: Again some good players, but nothing to special. I like that there is almost no difference between 2006 and 2007 MVP cards.

2007-08 Upper Deck Series 1:
#5 - Henrik Zetterberg

#81 - Joe Pavelski

#21 - Fredrik Norrena

#2 - Dan Cleary

#106 - John Madden

Final Thoughts: Some very nice photography on these cards, especially the Norrena card.

2007-08 Fleer Hot Prospects:
#77 - Pavel Datsyuk

#89 - Sergei Federov

#98 - Vesa Toskala

#37 - Jaromir Jagr

Final Thoughts: As I've said before, I would expect more out of a pack that only includes 4 cards.

And now for the autograph card.....

2007-08 Upper Deck SP Game Used:
RE-LE - Loui Eriksson: Rookie Exclusive Autograph #092/100

An interesting envelope to say the least. I finally "pulled" an autograph and got some pretty good players, so overall it was a nice package to open, for less than a blaster box and I did end updoubling what I paid for it, so that is always good. I might have to get another one later tonight or tomorrow, we'll see if I have any money left first.

ETC: Blades of Steel

2009-05-05T17:34:00.006-05:00

I'm sure that everyone at one time owned a Nintendo Entertainment System, or at least played one. The NES had a lot of great sports games such as; Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, John Elway's Quarterback, Bases Loaded and of course Ice Hockey. People were clamoring though for a more realistic hockey game, one with pro teams and fighting. In December of 1988 the fans got their wish with:

Blades of Steel

Blades of Steel was the first hockey game released that had fast paced hockey action and fighting. There were 8 teams included,

New York = Blue & Red [I always assumed that they were the Rangers]

Chicago = Red & Grey [Close to Blackhawks colors

Los Angeles = Yellow & Indigo [Similar to the L.A. Kings of the 70's and early 80's]

Montreal = Amber & Coral Red [Canadiens colors are red, blue and white, so not really close]

Toronto = Teal & Sky Blue [Close to the Maple Leafs]

Edmonton = Bright Green & Yellow [Not even close to the Oilers actual colors of blue and orange]

Vancouver = Burnt Orange & Forest Green [Canucks colors at this time were black, orange and yellow, so you be the judge]

Minnesota = Purple & White [The North Stars were yellow and green at this time, these colors are more like the Minnesota Vikings football team]

You could play three difficulties; Junior, College or Pro levels and either Exhibition or Tournament games. Each period is 20:20, but it is a quick 20:00, the clock is sped up. During the intermissions there is a mini-game that is "broadcast" over the arena's monitors which is like Life Force, another Konami game where you play as a spaceship that blows up whatever is in it's path. It was a neat little extra.

Overall this game was great for hockey fans and just kids alike. It is now available to buy in the Nintendo Wii Store, so if you have a Wii and want a blast from the past check out Blades of Steel.

Viva La France!

2009-05-04T20:19:00.006-05:00

Getting sick of the French references?

1990-91 Upper Deck Pack 3:

#125 - Bob Beers: Star Rookie

#168 - Mike Ramsey

#357 - Scott Scissons: Number 1 Draft

#274 - Darren Turcotte

#331 - Randy Carlyle

#7 - Doug Crossman

#162 - Guy Lafleur

#119 - Tom Laidlaw

#57 - Rod Langway

#337 - Bob Essensa: All Rookie Team

#221 - Steve Thomas

#54 - Wayne Gretzky

Final Thoughts: Scott Scissons was drafted 1st round(6th overall) by the New York Islanders in the 1990 draft. Scissons is considered a bust, as the same year NHL future stars such as Martin Brodeur, Keith Tkachuk, Jaromir Jagr, Owen Nolan, Peter Nedved, Keith Primeau and Mark Ricci. Scissons played in 3 games with the Islanders over the course of 4 years as he was sent down to the minors for most of his playing career. In 1995 he suffered a shoulder injury that force him to retire early from the WHL.

I really liked the back of Randy Carlyle's card. It looks like he is slamming an Islander player down to the ice while not wearing a helmet, he was one of the last few to not wear one. I can't imagine anyone not wearing a helmet today, but I respect those older players that did. Guy Lafleur in his last season as a Quebec Nordiqe is an awesome card. It's nice to see those old teams represented here with those sweet jerseys, like the Nordiques and the Winnipeg Jets, which brings me to Bob Essensa.

Essensa's was a star player with the Michigan Spartans hockey team and played above average with the Winnipeg Jets, until the 1993-94 season when the Jets posted the 2nd worst record in the league. Bob was traded to Detroit where he became a back-up to rookie goalie Chris Osgood and then when the Red Wings acquired Mike Vernon, Essesna was again pushed back to 3rd string then sent to the minors where he played for 2 years before being traded to Edmonton where he played back-up to Curtis Joseph. This happened for a few years with Essesna playing for 3 more teams after the Oilers before retiring in 2002. He now is the goaltending coach of the Boston Bruins, a job which he has held since 2003.

Wayne Gretzky's pose on this card is just awesome and is one of my favorite cards of this set so far.

Tomorrow I think that I will not talk about cards, but about ETC. So check in tomorrow to see what the ETC will be.

What The F Card of the Day: May 1, 2009

2009-05-01T17:46:00.006-05:00

1990-91 7th Inning Sketch QMJHL Hockey
#117 - QMJHL Action

You might think that by looks of it, it doesn't look all that F'd, with the exception of the terrible lighting and the lack of Action, even though it is clearly stated on the side. Technically the card should be standing vertically so that you can read the card caption at the bottom, but then the "Action" would be sideways, so why didn't they put the caption on the bottom horizontally? Because I guess that would make too much sense.

The real What The F comes when you turn the card around and look at the picture on the back.

There is a guy? wearing what appears to be a white hat with earmuffs with a hockey jersey tucked into his pants of course, because it is 1990. He? is straddling the glass and blowing a trumpet into the faces of these poor hockey moms, dads and a few kids. The mustachioed men do not seem trilled by this but the kids and some of the ladies do and are even clapping for what I can only hope is a really good Louis Armstrong impression.

Why would you put this picture on a card? Good job 7th Inning Sketch and What The F.

Basball Card Giveaway Results

2009-05-01T13:46:00.007-05:00

Congratulations to Elie, Brad and Will! You all won one unopened pack of 1992 Leaf Set: Series 1 Baseball Cards each. It turns out that I did have one more pack, so whew! Will you just made it The question was:

Q: Which player holds the record for the most career runs by a switch hitter and what is the number of runs?

A: Pete Rose with 2,165 runs

All that I need now from the winners are your addresses and I will send out your packs as early as Monday.

If you didn't win or get a chance to answer, don't fret because I will be giving out more packs of cards throughout the month, so check back often and enjoy the rest of my entries. Thanks for playing.

Baseball Card Giveaway!?

2009-04-30T20:47:00.006-05:00

If you read my post from Wednesday you may have read that I ended up buying some packs of cards that were not hockey!? Now don't get alarmed. I know that the few people that read my blog are not necessarily just hockey fans, I am, but that is just me. So I bought a few packs of baseball cards because they were dirt cheap and I figured that I would bribe you all to keep checking out my blog.

I will not give away all of the packs at once, but I will give away 2 packs now. One pack to the first 2 people to answer this baseball trivia question, but first here is what you are playing for.

One pack of 1992 Leaf Set Baseball: Series 1. Each pack contains 15 cards, but I'm not sure which rookies you can pull, sorry folks.

Q: Which player holds the record for the most career runs by a switch hitter and what is the number of runs?

Good Luck to everyone.

Parlez-vous Francais?

2009-04-30T19:51:00.004-05:00

Day 2 of the French Edition of 1990-91 Upper Deck, hoping to pull some of the great rookies that came into the league that year like; Mike Madano, Felix Potvin, Alexander Mogilny... etc.

1990-91 Upper Deck
Pack 2:
#281 - Paul Cavallini

#338 - Claude Loiselle

#14 - Kevin Stevens

#169 - Craig MacTavish

#126 - Brian Bellows

#61 - Dave Christian

#228 - Dave Chyzowski

#344 - Adam Graves

#64 - Ray Bourque

#81 - Mark LaForest

#364 - Dave Reid

#118 - Patrick Flatley

#161 - John MacLean

Final Thoughts: I just like that Kevin Stevens looks like he is working hard for that puck, he almost looks like he is going for the hip check against that L.A. King in the background. You never see a player without a helmet on the ice anymore and MacTavish was the last player in the league to not wear one. I'm not familiar with Mark LaForest, but on this card he either is calling for icing or waiving to someone in the stands? Other people have wrote about this particular Ray Bourque card mainly because it's a neat shot of him hoping the boards ready to take a shift.

Back in the Saddle Again

2009-04-29T20:57:00.004-05:00

It's been about a week since I last posted something, because I've been very busy at the hospital for the last week tending to some important family emergency issues. Now that I don't have to be at the hospital anymore I went to a local card shop one town over and bought some unopened packs of hockey cards out of his "liquidation" box. 12 packs for $5 so I bought $15 worth of packs, but not all hockey, but I'll talk about that in a future post.

I bought, I think 15 packs of 1990-91 Upper Deck Hockey packs along with others , which again I will get to in a future post. In the past I usually link up every card in the pack, but with these older packs, they contain 12 - 15 cards as opposed to packs nowadays which contain anywhere from 2 - 8 cards per pack. What I'm trying to say here is that it is very time consuming and I don't think that you, the readers of this blog even click on all of them anyway, so I will post the best/most interesting cards from these packs, but I will name all of the cards in the pack though.

So here we go.

1990-91 Upper Deck Hockey
Pack1:
#138 - Pele Eklund

#181 - Michel Petit

#334 - Adam Graves

#221 - Steve Thomas

#318 - Pierre Turgeon: Buffalo Sabres Checklist

#94 - Thomas Steen

#149 - Calle Johansson

#106 - Shawn Chambers

#41 - Dave Andreychuk

#208 - Rick Meagher: Le Trophee Frank J. Selke

#324 - Adam Burt

#34 - Bernie Nicholls

Steve Yzerman?: Hockey Superstars Hologram Sticker

Final Thoughts: I didn't mention earlier, but these are the French version of the 1990-91 Upper Deck set, so a lot of the info on the back of these cards are hard to read, unless you are of the French persuasion. The reason I posted the Shawn Chambers card is because it features two teams that don't exist anymore. Yes I know that they just moved, but it's not the same at all. It's nice to see those 2 jerseys on the same card. I like the painting of Pierre Turgeon, I think that it is neat looking and probably paved the way for future Upper Deck products like the Legendary Masterpieces set. Last but not least, is Adam Graves sweet John Waters moustache that he sported during the Oilers run for the cup in 1990.

Hockey Hair of the Day: April 22, 2009

2009-04-22T21:57:00.007-05:00

1991-92 Score
#274 - Stephan Lebeau

On a sad note to all of you Montreal Canadiens fans, they were eliminated this evening, but fret not for I bring you a former Canadien in all of his "Hockey Hair" glory. Notice the subtle drape on the left side of his head, now that means "party in the back". Stephan Lebeau was a pretty solid player throughout his career with the Canadiens, helping them to a Stanly Cup Championship in 1993, it might just be the last time that you'll see them with the cup again.

I hope that this has made you, the fans feel better, I know that it has for me.

Hockey Hair of the Day: April 20, 2009

2009-04-20T23:27:00.004-05:00

1991-92 Score
#30 - Bill Ranford

Bill Ranford was drafted in the 3rd round, 52nd overall by the Boston Bruins. In 1987 Ranford was traded to the Edmonton Oilers as a back-up for Grant Fuhr, where the Oilers won the cup in 1988. In 1990 under constant comparisons to injured goaltender Grant Fuhr, he emerged as a first-rate goalie leading the team to the Stanley Cup and winning the Conn Smythe Trophy for being the MVP of the playoffs. During the mid 90's Ranford made his rounds being traded back to Boston, than to the Washington Capitals, the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Detroit Red Wings and then back to Edmonton for one last season in 1999.

Another neat fact about Bill Ranford is that he acted in the on ice scenes as goaltender Jim Craig in Disney's Miracle, a movie about the 1980 "Miracle of Ice" men's Olympic Ice Hockey team, who beat the USSR and won the gold medal...as if you didn't know what it was about.

Masterpiece Theater Rerun: Part 2

2009-04-19T17:46:00.007-05:00

Here are the other 4 packs of 2008-09 Upper Deck Legends Masterpieces

Pack 5:
#23 - Mike Bossy

#65 - Manon Rheaume

#87 - Mark Messier

#70 - Rogie Vachon

Final Thoughts: I just talked about the Mike Bossy card yesterday so on to Manon Rheaume.

Manon Rheaume was the first ever women to play in the NHL in 1992-93. She played 2 pre-season games as goaltender for the Tampa Bay Lightning. It is claimed later that Lightning GM Phil Esposito said that having Rheaume play was a publicity stunt to raise awareness for the teams expansion into the NHL. Rheaume was also a gold and silver medalist with Team Canada's Women's hockey team.

Mark Messier, here with the New York Rangers scored the winning goal in game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals on 5/25/1994 vs the Vancouver Canucks. The Rangers won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 54 years. Messier was later inducted in the the Hall of Fame in 2007.

Rogie Vachon of the Los Angles Kings, painted here in the classic old Kings colors, which I think were a lot cooler than the Silver and Black, but that is just me. Vachon's number 30 was the first jersey retired by the Kings on 2/14/1985.

Pack 6:
#38 - Wayne Gretzky

#60 - Rod Langway

#14 - Ray Bourque

#69 - Gilbert Perreault

Final Thoughts: Same Gretzky card as yesterday also.

Rod Langway became the first player in Washington Capitals franchise history to win the Norris Trophy, which is given to the leagues top defenseman for the 1982-83 season and then the next season.

On 12/3/1987 The Boston Bruins wanted to retire ex player Phil Esposito's #7 jersey, problem was Ray Bourque had been wearing #7 since he was drafted by Boston in 1979. In a gesture that united two eras of the Bruins, during the retirement ceremony Bourque skated out to center ice and took off his #7 jersey revealing his new number #77 so that Esposito's jersey could be properly retired.

Gillbert Perreault was the Buffalo Sabres first overall draft pick in 1970, by first I mean the first player in team history. Fittingly on 10/10/1970 he scored the teams first ever goal in a season that saw him win the Calder Trophy for the most proficient player of the year.

Pack 7:
#25 - Lanny McDonald

#49 - Brian Leetch

#64 - Rick MacLeish

#86 - Mario Lemieux

Final Thoughts: Lanny McDonald realized his life long dream of winning the Stanley Cup on 5/29/1989 after which he retired with 500 goals and became the first player in Calgary Flames history to have his number retired. Not to mention that he had one of the best moustaches in NHL history, if not history in general.

Brian Leetch of the New York Rangers became the first ever American born player in NHL history to win the Conn Smythe Trophy, becoming the playoff MVP in 1994 scoring 34 points and helping the Rangers to their first Stanley Cup Championship in 54 years.

Rick "The Hawk" MacLeish made Philadelphia Flyers history by becoming the first player from an expansion team to score 50 goals in the 1972-73 season.

I've already talked about this particular Mario Lemieux card also.

Pack 8:
#9 - Richard Brodeur

#31 - Tony Esposito

#61 - Bobby Clarke

#53 - Guy Lafleur

Final Thoughts: "King" Richard carried the Vancouver Canucks to the Campbell Conference title in 1982, winning 11 post-season games with a 2.70 GAA.

Tony Esposito recorded a league best 15 shutouts in 1969-70 with the Chicago Blackhawks and also winning both the Vezina and Calder Trophies.

The Bobby Clarke card was also talked about in a past entry.

Guy Lafleur topped all players in the NHL for the second consecutive year with 132 points in 1977-78, helping the Montreal Canadiens to 59 wins and a Stanley Cup Championship, where he scored 10 goals.

Masterpiece Theater Rerun: Part 1

2009-04-18T20:19:00.016-05:00

I've talked about the 2008-09 Upper Deck Legends Masterpieces, before and I'm going to talk about them again because I bought a blaster box the other day and decided to open it this weekend.

Here is the box rundown. 2008-09 Upper Deck Legends Masterpieces. 8 packs per box, 4 cards per pack. These cards if you remember are all artist paintings of past players and events that occurred in the NHL over the last 100 years or so.

I decided to open 4 packs today and 4 tomorrow. Let's see who are in today's packs.

Pack 1:
#66 - Marty McSorley

#12 - Mario Lemieux

#68 - Dale Hawerchuk

#24 - Pat LaFontaine

Final Thoughts: McSorley was Gretzky's right hand punk in Edmonton than in LA, where he is pictured here during game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals vs the Montreal Canadiens on 6/2/1993. McSorley was involved in an illegal stick controversy that quite possibly cost the Kings the game that night.

Super Mario is painted here from 12/27/2000, which I was his return to the Penguins after retiring in 1997. On a side note I cannot stand the Penguins jerseys at this time, not that you all care, but I thought that I would vent.

Dale Hawerchuk netted his 500th goal on 1/31/1996 while playing with the St. Louis Blues and is captured here in another terrible jersey from the late 90's.

Pat LaFontaine netted the game winning goal in the 4th overtime of the Stanley Cup semifinals against the Washington Capitals in 1987. The game started on April 18 and ended on April 19 at about 2 am eastern time. This game is sometimes referred to as the "Easter Epic", because it ended on Easter Morning, or the " Eastern Epic", because it was played during the Eastern Conference semifinal.

Pack 2:
#38 - Wayne Gretzky

#47 - Grant Fuhr

#44 - Scotty Bowman

#23 - Mike Bossy: Brown Border Variation

Final Thoughts: We all know Gretzky's story...blah, blah, blah...he's the "Great One". The best to play the game... He is shown here holding the Stanley Cup as a member of the EdmontonOilers who won the Stanley Cup each year for 4 years starting in 1984-1988.

Here is Gretzky's Oiler teammate Grant Fuhr, who in 1988 set an NHL record by playing 75 games in a season, which is a feat that not many have done since.

Scotty Bowman who was a past NHL player coached the Detroit Red Wings to their first Stanley Cup Championship in 42 seasons on 6/7/1997.

Mike Bossy who helped the New York Islanders to win 4 consecutive Stanley Cups is painted here after scoring his 50th goal in 50 games on 1/24/1981. He ended the 1980-81 regular season with 68 total goals.

Pack 3:
#28 - Bobby Hull & Mr. Hockey

#13 - Lester Patrick

#40 - Rick Vaive

#21 - Patrick Roy

Final Thoughts: By far the most awesome card in the set, so far. This card shows "The Golden Jet" Bobby Hull and "Mr. Hockey" Gordie Howe in a pretty sweet brotherly handshake most likely before a game, or maybe this didn't happen at all!? The card shows Hull in his Winnipeg Jets jersey, which is from before the team was in the NHL, them along with Howe's Houston Aeros were both teams in the World Hockey Association (WHA). The date on the card lists this painting as as being from 4/11/1980, but the Jets were already in the NHL by 1980, they came into the league in 1979 and the Aeros folded in 1978. If you go by the date, this event never happened, but I suppose that this could have been from an earlier game, but I think that the main reason that the date is on there is because on the back it also mentions that both Hull and Howe ended their careers playing with the Hartford Whalers in 1980, so if you go by that, than it makes sense, but why not show them in their Whalers jerseys? Who knows? But it is still awesome nonetheless.

Lester Patrick who's card doesn't have a date is painted here as what looks like to be an old man. Now I'm no expert or anything, but wouldn't you want to paint him in his prime? Patrick introduced the playoff system and the penalty shot into the NHL. He also had a division named after him and a trophy both of which are now defunct.

Rick Vaive, who I was not familiar with until this pack is painted here in 1982 when he became the first player in the Toronto Maple Leafs history to reach the 50 goal plateau and ending the season with 54 total.

Patrick Roy painted here in his Montreal Canadiens during his rookie season. On 5/21/1986 "Saint Patrick" being barely 20 years old led the Canadiens to the Stanley Cup. Roy became the youngest player ever to win the Conn Smythe Trophy for the playoffs most valuable player.

Pack 4:
#7 - Patrick Roy

#85 - Mr. Hockey

#33 - Bobby Orr

#16 - Theoren Fleury

Final Thoughts: Patrick Roy again, but pictured here on 12/26/2001 with the Colorado Avalanche, but I've already talked about this card and the next one in my past "Masterpiece Theatre" entry so I will skip these 2.

Bobby Orr in a Team Canada jersey in 1976 playing for the Canada Cup. He tied for the tournament lead in scoring with 9 points, scoring 2 goals and assisting 7 others. He was tied with 2 other people, Denis Potvin also of Team Canada and Viktor Zhluktov of the USSR. Orr was named the Canada Cup Tournament's MVP even though Zhluktov had the same amount of points and in 2 fewer games, ah the Cold War.

Theo Fleury shown sliding across the ice after scoring the game winning goal of game 6 vs the Oilers on 4/24/1991. I wish that they would have painted him during what has been infamously called the "Punch-up in Piestany", where a guaranteed gold medal winner, Team Canada was involved in a bench clearing brawl against the Soviet Union in the 1987 World Junior Hockey Championships, which Fleury was involved in. Definitely check out the video and read up on it if you've never heard about it.

Collector's Choice: Day 4

2009-04-17T22:26:00.010-05:00

Well the Flyers lost again tonight 3-2 in overtime to the Penguins, so I'm not in the greatest of all moods right now, but hopefully when the series moves to Philadelphia for the next games they can win on home ice.

Pack 11:
#163 - Ryan Kesler

#109 - Martin St. Louis

#142 - Patrick O'Sulivan

#40 - Darcy Tucker

#55 - Erik Cole: Choice Reserve

#278 - Nik Antropov/Vesa Toskala/Tomas Kaberle: Toronto Maple Leafs 3 Star Selections

Final Thoughts: I'm pulling these 3 Star Selections cards like crazy, at this rate by the time I'm done with this box I'll hopefully have pulled every teams card.

Pack 12:
#135 - Nikolai Khabibulin

#9 - Alexander Steen

#42 - David Clarkson

#196 - Vincent LeCavalier

#210 - Robbie Earl: Choice Rookies

#266 - Saku Koivu/Carey Price/Alex Kovalev: Montreal Canadiens Choice Reserve 3 Star Selections

Final Thoughts: Wow! Another 3 Star Selections! Some good packs here. Keep up the good work Khabibulin.

Pack 13:
#75 - Jason Spezza

#67 - Ilya Kovalchuk

#92 - Keith Tkachuk

#32 - Dan Boyle

#161 - Rod Brind'Amour: Choice Reserve

#288 - Eric Staal: Chippy's Choice [See What Chippy Says]

Final Thoughts: Tkachuk needs to lead the Blues in the playoffs. He definitely has the experience, but can he follow through?

Congratulations to Sal over at Puck Junk.com who answered yesterdays trivia question to win the pack of 2008-09 Fleer Ultra. The question was:

Q: Which goaltender holds the record for the longest undefeated streak for one season? How many games did the streak last and in what season?

A: Gerry Cheevers of the Boston Bruins during the 1971-72 season held an undefeated streak of 32 games.

I hope to do more card giveaways in the future, so check back often for your chance to win some cool hockey cards.

Card Giveaway!!

2009-04-16T22:30:00.004-05:00

Today I bought a pack of 2008-09 Fleer Ultra and ended up getting doubles of every card in the pack, so I'd like to give the pack away to one of the readers of my blog, but it's not going to be as easy as just making a quick comment saying that I would like these cards, you are going to have to do a little work to win these cards.

First tough a little about the pack up for grabs. There are 6 cards. The pack was open by me, but immediately put into plastic sleeves so they are near mint/mint from the pack. Each pack contains a Gold Medallion Parallel, plus this pack had 2 hits in it, I'm not going to tell you what they are, because then it won't be a surprise, but they are definitely cool.

Now what you have to do. The first person to answer this NHL Trivia Question will win these cards.

Q: Which goaltender holds the record for the longest undefeated streak for one season? How many games did the streak last and in what season?

There is your question, hopefully it won't be difficult to find the answer. Good luck to everyone.

Hockey Hair of the Day: April 16, 2009

2009-04-16T21:30:00.006-05:00

Hockey players have always been associated with a thing appropriately titled "Hockey Hair". "Hockey Hair" is what is affectionately known to most people as the Mullet. You know business in the front(short), party in the back(long). The early 90's were a magical time for hockey and "Hockey Hair" and I thought that I would go through some of my old cards and bring to you, the reader the best "Hockey Hair" that the early 90's has to offer. You'll notice that most of the cards that I will be showing over time are from the 1991-92 Score set of hockey cards.

Now without further ado... I present you with the Mullet of the Day for April 16, 2009

1991-92 Score:
#98 - Jaromir Jager

Jager was pretty much King of the Mullet in the early 90's. Seen here in his second year card with the Pittsburgh Penguins, his mullet would last pretty much until he played for the Washington Capitals in the early 2000's. He definitely wore it proud.

Collector's Choice: Day 3

2009-04-16T15:59:00.010-05:00

Welcome to day 3 of Collector's Choice. I hope that you have been enjoying these entries?

Today I opened 4 packs and pulled some pretty cool cards, let me show you.

Pack 7:
#123 - Mike Richards

#198 - Wojtek Wolski

#156 - Ray Whitney

#186 - Todd White: Choice Reserve

#272 - Mike Richards/Martin Biron/Jeff Carter: Philadelphia Flyers 3 Star Selections

UMS28 - Ryan Miller: Stick-Ums Insert

Final Thoughts: Stick-Ums of Ryan Miller, awesome. You might feel the urge to take them off the card and stick them on your trapper-keeper, but you must resist. 3 Star Selections cards are by far my favorite of this set and this one is a great one, even though theFlyers lost Game 1 last night against the Penguins, but they'll come back.

Pack 8:
#119 - Mike Comrie

#99 - Marek Zidlicky

#182 - Teemu Selanne

#176 - Shea Weber

#235 - Kevin Porter: Choice Rookies

#284 - Daniel Carcillo: Choice Reserve Chippy's Choice [See What Chippy Says]

Final Thoughts: Who the hell is Chippy? and why is choosing these players and for what?

Pack 9:
#155 - Radim Vrbata

#108 - Martin Havlat

#160 - Roberto Luongo

#70 - Jarome Iginla: Choice Reserve

#212 - Jonathan Ericsson: Choice Rookies

UMS7 - Henrik Zetterberg: Stick-Ums Insert

Final Thoughts: Sweet another Stick-Ums this time of Zetterberg, I think that I'm going to put this one in my locker...just kidding.

Pack10:
#41 - David Booth

#23 - Carey Price

#74 - Jason Pominville

#38 - Daniel Sedin

#297 - Sidney Crosby: Chippy's Choice [See What Chippy Says]

#254 - Thomas Vanek/Ryan Miller/Derek Roy: Choice Reserve Buffalo Sabres 3 Star Selections

Final Thoughts: Another Sedin card...Holy Crap! Thank God, because I haven't pulled one in then minutes. And another sweet 3 Star Selections of the Buffalo Sabres, pretty nice. Plus a in this pack Chippy chooses Crosby, read about what he has to say about him, if you want.

Overall some pretty nice pulls. I'm going to be announcing a small card giveaway here, probably later tonight or tomorrow, so check back for a chance to win some cool cards.

Collector's Choice: Day 2 Cont.

2009-04-15T17:11:00.008-05:00

To pass the time at work today I opened 3 more packs of Collector's Choice and here is what they contained.

Pack 4:
#59 - George Parros

#39 - Danny Heatley

#168 - Saku Koivu

#68 - J.P. Dumont

#17 - Aaron Voros: Choice Reserve

#225 - Brain Lee: Choice Rookies

Final Thoughts: George Parros is doing his best Johnny Depp in "Pirates of the Caribbean" impression, so he's got that going for him. Heatly and Koivu are great players so it's nice getting them. Brian Lee is a fellow Minnesotan and rookie for the Ottawa Senators. He has been playing pretty mediocre, but who knows how the next few years will go for him.

Pack 5:
#61 - Chuck Kobasew

#1 - Ales Hemsky

#64 - Henrik Sedin

#44 - Daymond Langkow: Choice Reserve

#227 - Vladimir Mihalik: Choice Rookies

CQ-59 - Wade Redden: CupQuest 2nd Round Insert

Final Thoughts: cards, because it seems that about 80% of the packs that I open contain either Henrik or Dan. Another I feel that Upper Deck thinks that I'm collection Henrik and Daniel Sedin. The CupQuest inserts are awesome, although I've never heard of Wade Redden it seems that he was a big part of the Ottawa Senators offense in the playoffs from 1996-2008 every year except 99-00 and 04-05 even though he is pictured here in a New York Rangers jersey.

Pack 7:
#29 - Colby Armstrong

#177 - Sidney Crosby

#188 - Tomas Kaberle

#48 - Drew Stafford

#105 - Martin Erat: Choice Reserve

#271 - Dany Heatly/Martin Gerber/Jason Spezza: 3 Star Selections Ottawa Senators

Final Thoughts: Colby Armstrong although a good player, looks like he is 12 years old on this card. Crosby's are always a welcome sight. Another 3 Star Selections card = very nice.

Work seems goes a lot quicker when there are hockey cards involved. The playoffs are starting right now, so until later GO FLYERS!

The Local Card Shop Stop

2009-04-15T14:01:00.011-05:00

Today I stopped by a card shop that is near my apartment named Central Sports. I stopped in to buy some card storage boxes, but ended up buying 2 packs of 2008-09 Fleer Ultra hobby packs. Isn't that how it goes though? The owner of the store is a very nice guy who opened the box of Fleer Ultra because he wasn't selling the box and sold the packs to me at a discounted price, which I can't complain about. So if you are in West Duluth and you have a hankering' for some sports cards or other sports memorabilia, than check out Central Sports located at 519 N. Central Ave Duluth MN, 55807. He also has a website located at http://www.centralsportsmn.com./

Each pack of Fleer Ultra have 8 cards per-pack and contain at least 1 Gold Medallion per-pack. In my opinion this years set of Fleer Ultra are a lot better than last years. The action pictures are better, the design is a little better and the Gold Medallion cards look nicer.

Since these are hobby packs, there is a better chance of pulling insert cards out of each pack than in the retail version. So let's see if we hit pay dirt.

Pack 1:
#69 - Daniel Briere

#132 - Pascal Leclaire

#189 - Manny Legace

#182 - Daniel Carcillo

#150 - Valtteri Filppula

#72 - Jeff Carter

#149 - Tomas Holmstrom: Gold Medallion Variation

#202 - Mark Fistric: Ultra Rookie Gold Medallion Variation

Final Thoughts: The first 3 cards in this pack are all horizontal action shots and as we all know the horizontal shots are by far the most awesome. Legace was sent back down to the minors half way through this season, but that doesn't make his card any less awesome.

Pack 2:
#73 - Mike Richards

#117 - Patrick Kane

#155 - Dustin Penner

#135 - Jared Bell

#184 - Jonathan Cheechoo

#106 - Chris Pronger

#195 - Daniel Sedin: Gold Medallion Variation

#Red13 - Rookie Redemption

Final Thoughts: Mike Richards and Patrick Kane be putting up some good numbers in the playoffs I hope. NICE! A Rookie Redemption card. I don't know who it is, but in a few weeks I will. A pretty sweet hit. Overall I doubled the money that I paid for the packs so that is good.

Collector's Choice: Day 2

2009-04-14T22:16:00.007-05:00

Today is an exciting day...It's the first games of the 1st round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs! I can't wait, it's going to be awesome. Let's see if there are any players in this pack who will be playing tonight.

Pack 3:
#13 - Bill Guerin

#77 - Jean-Sebastian Giguere

#60 - Gilbert Brule

#78 - Jeff Carter: Choice Reserve

#267 - J.P. Dumont/Dan Ellis/Jason Arnott: 3 Star Selections Nashville Predators

#CQ-11 - Jason Arnott: CupQuest 1st Round Insert

Final Thoughts: New York Islander Bill Guerin just reminded me that it was anounced today that the Islanders won the No.1 draft pick this year in the Scotiabank/NHL Draft Lottery[story] and are probably going to choose either John Tavares or Victor Hedman, we won't know for a few months though which of the two will be the No.1 selection. Giguere is also expected to sit during the Ducks first game against the Sharks tomorrow, as Jonas Hiller played better during the regular season.[story] Jeff Carter should add to the Flyers game tonight against the Penguins, I predict that this series will be one of the most exciting in years, hopefully.

The Dumont/Ellis/Arnott 3 Star Selections card is very cool. I assume that they made one for each team and hopefully I will pull all of the teams 3 Stars. The Arnott CupQuest card is also pretty nice and to my knowledge the only official set that is an insert in this set. The CupQuests are different colors for each round card 1st Round = Blue, 2nd Round = Red, Semi-Finals aka 3rd Round = Grey, Finals aka 4th Round = Gold. Some pretty sweet cards in this pack.

I'll probably open another pack tonight during the playoff games, because I'll be in that mood, if you know what I mean...and I think that you do.

Collector's Choice: Day 1 1/2

2009-04-14T15:13:00.008-05:00

I opened a pack at midnight last night just to curb my appetite for cards, so opening a pack today makes it like 1/2 a day, therefore Day 1 1/2.

Pack 2:
#171 - Scott Niedermayer

#51 - Dustin Penner

#138 - Pascal LeClaire

#6 - Alexander Frolov

#222 - Ryan Jones: Choice Reserve/Choice Rookie

#282 - Brenden Morrow: Chippy's Choice (What Chippy Says)

Final Thoughts: Not a stunning pack, but an awesome picture on LeClaire's card. There are still 34 packs left so no loss. There is always tomorrow.

The Choice of Collectors: Grand Opening

2009-04-14T00:11:00.007-05:00

Yesterday(Monday) I received my hobby box of 2008-09 Upper Deck Collector's Choice hockey cards and I can't wait to rip into them. Here is a rundown of the the cards.

2008-09 Upper Deck Collector's Choice:
36 packs per box, 6 cards per pack

PRODUCT BREAKDOWN:

" Rookie Cards"
* Choice Rookies - inserted 1:2

" Cool Subsets"
* Three Star Selections - inserted 3:10
* Chippy's Choice - inserted 1:5

" Parallel Cards" (combining to drop 1 per pack)
* Choice Reserve - Silver Regular card
* Choice Reserve - Silver Rookie & Subset
* Prime Choice Reserve - Gold Regular card
* Prime Choice Reserve - Gold Rookie & Subset

" CupQuest" - A Set Within a Set! (combining to fall 1:6)
* First Round - inserted 1:10
* Second Round - inserted 1:14
* Semi-Finals - inserted 1:16
* Finals - inserted 1:32

" Stickers"
* Stick-Ums - inserted 1:18

" Regular Cards" * 200 Regular Cards

There are no jersey cards, no autographs, no patches and no rookie redemption's in this box, just straight base/subsets. Now with all of that said let's tear into the first pack and see how it begins.

Pack 1:
#133 - Niklas Backstrom

#93 - Kristian Huselius

#50 - Dustin Brown

#140 - Martin Brodeur

#204 - Zach Bogosian: Choice Rookie

#286 - Dustin Brown: Chippy's Choice/Prime Choice Reserve (What Chippy Says)

Final Thoughts: A pretty good start. It's nice to see Backstrom in front being as I'm a Wild fan. Zach Bogosian had a pretty typical rookie season for the Atlanta Thrashers, I'm sure that he will get better as he progresses through the years. Dustin Brown is such a good player that I got him twice in the same pack. Just kidding, but he did post some pretty good numbers for the LA Kings last year and this year. I'm not quite sure who Chipy is but he certainly knows a lot about these players. I think that he is trying to start some All-Star Team or something.

A pretty good start if you ask me. Hopefully there is some more treasures in this box.

It's Playoff Time Again!

2009-04-13T17:29:00.014-05:00

Ah that spring smell is in the air, the snow is finally melting and the temperature is finally above 20 degrees Fahrenheit. With spring comes the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. A great time of year. Here is how the first round of the playoffs look and I will pick who I think/want to win and if anyone is still reading this blog feel free to leave your comments about how you feel the playoffs will go and who you want to win.

Since the Minnesota Wild didn't make it into the playoffs I need a team to root for and this year I'm going to root for the Chicago Blackhawks in the West and the Philadelphia Flyers in the East. Now Let's get picking.

Western Conference:
Round 1:

San Jose Sharks (1)

Vs.

Anaheim Ducks (8)

My Pick: Sharks over Ducks in 5 games.

Detroit Red Wings (2)

Vs.

Columbus Blue Jackets (7)

My Pick: Red Wings over Blue Jackets in 4 games.

Vancouver Canucks (3)

Vs.

St. Louis Blues (6)

My Pick: *Upset* Blues over Canucks in 6 games.

Chicago Blackhawks (4)

Vs.

Calgary Flames (5)

My Pick: Black Hawks over the Flames in 7 games.

Eastern Conference:
Round 1:

Boston Bruins (1)

Vs.

Montreal Canadiens (8)

My Pick: Bruins over Canadiens in 5 games.

Washington Capitals (2)

Vs.

New York Rangers (7)

My Pick: Capitals over Rangers in 4 games.

New Jersey Devils (3)

Vs.

Carolina Hurricanes (6)

My Pick: Devils over Hurricanes in 5 games.

Pittsburgh Penguins (4)

Vs.

Philadelphia Flyers (5)

My Pick: Flyers over Penguins in 7 games.

These are my choices for the 1st round of playoffs, if you agree, disagree or just have something to say leave a comment an we'll discuss.

No Time For Cards Dr. Jones

2009-04-13T12:22:00.014-05:00

I've been watching people open boxes of 2008-09 Upper Deck Hockey Artifacts on You Tube and they have been pulling some awesome cards. Triple jerseys, autograph patches, rookie redemptions...etc. Although they have been breaking hobby boxes the only box that I can get a hold of are retail blaster boxes from Target, which is the same thing right? Wrong. Hobby boxes usually contain one good hit per pack, meaning that you have a chance to pull one of the cards mentioned earlier out of each pack rather than playing the odds with retail, but oh well, I'll take my chances.

The blaster box has 8 packs with 5 cards per pack. Let's see if we can pull some jersey cards like the packs say. Yeah right.

Pack 1:
#16 - Patrick Marleau

#84 - Jarome Iginla

#48 - Alex Tanguay

#7 - Mats Sundin

#68 - Mike Modano

Final Thoughts: No inserts at all, but great players and great looking base cards.

Pack 2:
#76 - Ryan Smith

#28 - Simon Gagne

#96 - Kari Lehtonen

#97 - Teemu Selanne

#94 - Marc Savard

Final Thoughts: Hmmmmm....

Pack 3:
#34 - Marian Hossa

#93 - Phil Kessel

#63 - Mr. Hockey aka Gordie Howe

#83 - Mikka Kiprusoff

#108 - Peter Stastny: Legends #838/999

#131 - Jari Kurri: Legends #373/999

Final Thoughts: Here we go! 2 Legends cards both numbered to 999. Paul Stastny's dad Peter in his sweet Nordiques(now the Colorado Avalanche) jersey. Peter Stastny was the first player in NHL history to compile over 100 points his rookie season. It's nice to also get Edmonton Oiler great Jari Kurri, who proved that even without Wayne Gretzky, the Oilers can still win a Stanley Cup. Again as with the Legendary Masterpieces cards Gordie Howe is named Mr. Hockey on the card front. I know it's his nickname, but the Gretzky cards don't say "The Great One" on the front. Did Gordie copyright his name?

Pack 4:
#41 - Zach Parise

#95 - Ilva Kovalchuk

#79 - Patrick Sharp

#19 - Peter Stastny

#59 - Sam Gagner

Final Thoughts: A different Peter Stastny card, but still awesome. Some younger players too like Gagner and Sharp, look for Sharp to post some good numbers in the playoffs.

Pack 5:
#85 - Henrik Zetterberg

#77 - Patrick Kane

#30 - Jason Spezza

#12 - Paul Kariya

#174 - Marian Gaborik: Stars #31/75

Final Thoughts: Wow! only 75 Gaborik cards were made and I pulled one of them, awesome! I'm a Wild fan, being form Minnesota and all, so this was a welcome sight, even though Gaborik will probably not be with the team after this summer, but he is a great player.

Pack 6:
#1 - Alexander Ovechkin

#85 - Dion Phaneuf

#14 - Brad Boyes

#53 - Anze Kopitan

#43 - Jason Arnott

Final Thoughts: It's always nice getting an Ovechkin card and it's nice to see a St. Louis Blues player in this pack. St. Louis was kind of the underrated team this year, no one thought that they would make the playoffs with all the injuries and putting their goalie on wavers, but the surprised everyone.

Pack 7:
#44 - J.P. Dumont

#45 - Patrick Roy

#74 - Joe Sakic

#20 - Mario Lemieux

#90 - Gilbert Perreault

Final Thoughts: An All-Star pack, with the exception of Dumont and maybe Sakic the rest of these players in this pack do not even play anymore. Gilbert Perreault was the first ever player drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in their inaugural season in 1970. Perreault was also part of an All-Star line of Sabres forwards nicknamed the "French Connection", who continue to hold a lot of the teams scoring records.

Pack 8:
#38 - Rick DiPietro

#69 - Brad Richards

#71 - Rick Nash

#87 - Thomas Vanek

#4 - Roberto Luongo

Final Thoughts: Good, but not a great pack to end on.

Well I didn't pull any Jersey Cards like the pack tells me to find, but I did get some great Legends and a sweet Stars card, so overall it wasn't too terrible, but sometime this summer I'm going to purchase a hobby box of Artifacts and then we'll see the fireworks fly.

Today I also received my hobby box of 2008-09 Upper Deck Collectors Choice. Starting tomorrow I'll start tearing into them and we will all see what comes out.

All Hands On Upper Deck(s)

2009-04-11T18:31:00.010-05:00

Today I'm opening the 3 packs of 2006-07 Upper Deck Series 1 that I purchased yesterday, along with the 06-07 Bee Hive packs. The Bee Hive packs really didn't contain any big pulls, but I hope today is different.

The Upper Deck packs contain 8 cards and could possibly contain jersey, autograph or Young Guns Rookie inserts. Now let's get a-rippin'.

Pack 1:
#51 - Andrew Brunette

#144 - Mike Knuble

#160 - Ryan Malone

#106 - Mathieu Dandenault

#136 - Ray Emery

#197 - Chris Clark

#43 - Radim Vrbata

#163 - Milan Michalek

Final Thoughts: I watched Brunette get an assist tonight in the Wild's 6 -3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets to end the Wild's regular season. Not a fantastic pack by any means, but great photography on the horizontal cards.

Pack 2:
#100 - Saku Koivu

#92 - George Parros

#10 - Slava Kozlov

#150 - Keith Ballard

#63 - Jussi Jokinen

#33 - Kristian Huselius

#65 - Jere Lehtinen

#23 - Chris Drury

Final Thoughts: What The Hell is Jussi Jokinen doing!? Is he yawning, celebrating after a goal or starting some crap with the other team? A few good players Koivu, Lehtinen and Drury, but no inserts or rookies? This is staring to be a bust.

Pack 3:
#132 - Ryan Hollweg

#54 - Joe Sakic

#72 - Jason Williams

#145 - Joni Pitkanen

#15 - Brad Boyes

#111 - Kimmo Timonen

#129 - Petr Prucha

#207 - Paul Stastny: Young Guns Rookie

Final Thoughts: Oh man here we go! Paul Stastny rookie! Awesome! Stastny is a pretty good player and pretty much the only good player left on the Avalanche, seeing as Joe Sakic might be retiring after this year. Unfortunately Stastny was hurt after 45 games with a broken foot after blocking a slap shot against the Wild. There is always next year and with the Avalanche not making the playoffs, he has the entire summer to re cooperate.

The Stastny rookie was pretty much the only thing that saved these last 2 days of pack openings. The Bee Hive packs were a bust for inserts and the first to Series 1 packs were also pretty sad, but that is the chance that you take when buying retail packs individually, maybe one day I'll save up for a Hobby Box of something so that there will be some guaranteed hits, because I really want to pull an autograph card, I don't care who it is, but I want the experience of pulling it out a freshly ripped pack.