Mail Day! Trio of Cards fr: Brett myhockeycardobsession.blogspot.com

Patrick Roy, The Rainbow Connection & Me

At work I kinda feel like Patrick Roy did when this infamous shot was taken of him on the night of December 2, 1995 - just had enough.

Luckily like Roy, I'm deciding to "switch teams" - in non-hockey lingo that would mean I have a job interview later today and with all fingers crossed, I'm hoping that it will go my way.

TTM Success! Glenn Hall

Another custom TTM return, this one is from Hall of Famer Glenn Hall; former Red Wing, Hawk and Blues crease guard.  And of course, Glenn is the goalie in the famous Bobby Orr flying goal photograph.

I read somewhere that Glenn had stopped signing because he was too busy caring for his sick wife - I hope things have gotten better on their end and so hence why I received this back from Mr. Hall. 

2010-11 Pinnacle Want List

I finally got down to business and organized and bindered my collection of Pinnacle 2010-11 cards in numerical order; I also created a want list (included under the cut) so if anyone wanted to make a trade and help me out then be my guest, let me know and use the want list attached as a reference.

If anyone has any of these cards that are listed and would like to make a trade let me know, I'll have something packaged up and ready to mail off to you in no time.

Updated: 15/11/2011

2010-11 Pinnacle Value Packs Rip

By chance I'm getting pretty close to completing the set of Panini 2010-11 Pinnacle release; so I decided on a whim to pick up two of these value packs earlier in the week to help cut down the want list even further.

Out of the 80 cards that I unwrapped I only came up with three that I needed for my collection and another three parallels/inserts - one pack was literally a mirror of the other, exactly the same cards were included in each aside from a parallel.  I couldn't believe it, I wonder how they package these value packs.

Local NHL Stars Get Together

A very nice photograph featured on the front page of the local newspaper the Telegram this weekend.

Newfoundland boys Daniel Cleary, Michael Ryder, Ryane Clowe, Luke Adam, Adam Pardy and Teddy Purcell got together for a photo op on the top of Signal Hill, overlooking the city of St. John's, Newfoundland.

The newspaper purchased seven replica NHL jerseys, each of them professionally numbered and stitched to be signed and auctioned off, with proceeds going towards helping make a wish through the Children’s Wish Foundation.

2011-12 Upper Deck Hockey Artifacts

The second trading card product of the 2011-12 hockey season was released today, Upper Deck Hockey Artifacts.  Fleury is the cover-boy for the product this year, a nice little change from Crosby, Toews or Hall.  Each pack includes 4 cards and advises me to watch out for 'tons of great hits!'

2010-11 Upper Deck Series One Hockey Tin Break

In an attempt to score a Young Guns card of Hall, Subban or Kadri I found myself at the Wal-Mart checkout counter once again with a tin of Upper Deck 2010-11.

2009-10 Upper Deck Champ's Break

Hello all.  I've been working on a few bells and whistles for the blog, if you take a look to your right you'll see an example of an incomplete example of what I'm referring to.  I was getting somewhat tired of the massive amount of text links that hugged the sidebar and figured trying something that might be a little more visibly appealing.

Speaking of visibly appealing, I recently purchased a blaster of 2009-10 Upper Deck Champ's at a local flea market for a discounted price.  I love the look of these cards so much, so much that they rank pretty high up there on a my favorite card designs of all time list.

TTM Success! Johnny Bower

Great success from one of the greatest players to ever stand between the pipes.  Mr. Bower took the time to sign my custom card on both sides in black sharpie.

 
The China Wall is an excellent addition to this signed custom trading card thing that I've been building on, his return makes it six in total.

Taylor Hall 2008-09 In The Game Heroes and Prospects

Finally got the chance to head down to the Sunday Market earlier today to check out what was available card wise; there were only two tables selling cards and other hockey memorabilia.  Although I wasn't sure what I was looking for I didn't leave empty handed.

Taylor Hall / In The Game Heroes and Prospects #58 - I picked this card up from a table for $2.  I've wanted to purchase this on eBay but didn't really want to pay the shipping charges, glad I was able to find it local.

TTM Success! Dion Phaneuf

Well to be honest when I sent this custom away in the mail I didn't really expect to have it returned; but here it is, back in my hands and signed by one of the NHL's top hitters of today.

A few sharpie scratches over his image (my fault for choosing a dark image) from Dion, I can see an 'I' in there - but even so I'm still happy to have this returned even if the signature is a little unidentifiable.

2010-11 Upper Deck Black Diamond Pack Rip 1/3

Wanted to dip into something new today so I went and picked up some of the latest Black Diamond from Upper Deck.  The possibility of pulling something exciting seems endless and worthwhile - Quad Diamonds, jerseys, autos and die-cuts all sound good in my book.

5 cards per pack, as per usual check under the cut to find a rundown of the rip.

TTM Success! Henri "the Pocket-Rocket" Richard

This is my fastest return yet, only 14 days from Henri Richard who was kind enough to sign my custom and send a few other things back along with it.

Henri retired in 1975 and was elected to the Hockey Hall Of Fame in 1979.  In 1998 he was ranked by the Hockey News number 29 on their list of 100 Greatest Hockey Players.

Like I mentioned earlier, Mr. Richard sent a few other items as well; check under the cut to check them out.

Jonathan Toews Knocks Out Kid At Hockey Camp

Toews does his best Matt Cooke impression.

1996-97 Pinnacle Mint Collection

Along with the 92-93 Upper Deck packs I picked up, I also bought the last remaining pack of these 1996-97 Pinnacle Mint Collection from the card store.  For only a $1.50 I thought it was well worth the pickup, again just for the novelty and nostalgic rip value.  Only 30 cards and 30 coins in the set with a chance of pulling silver and gold chase cards and also nickel-silver, gold-plated, fine silver and 24KT gold coins.

1992-93 Upper Deck Hockey Pack Rip 1/3

I dropped back to the newly discovered local card shop recently and picked up a few packs; three being these 1992-93 Upper Deck which were going for 3 for $4.

Decided to grab some for novelty and nostalgic rip value.  15 cards per pack, check out the cut to find a rundown.

Mail Day! Wayne Gretzky O-Pee-Chee Topps Lot

Hey guys, another mail day (my favorite kind of day) to blog about.

I recently won a few more Gretzky Oilers-era cards on eBay to add to my collection.  I guess you can say that I still haven't come off my Gretzky kick that started a over two months ago.

1982-83 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky "In Action" #107 - Picked this card up for $3.25, was disappointed that there was a gum stain (or something) on the left side of the card which the seller didn't bother to mention in the item description or show in the auction picture (click here).

1983-84 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky 1982-83 Goal Leader #22 - This card came in great condition and for only $0.99.  The stats show just how much Gretzky dominated during the 82-83 season; hell the back of the card shows demonstrates just what kind of force the Oilers were as a team at the time.

I also picked up another 1984-85 Topps #51 - Wayne Gretzky card just because I like it so much that I wanted another.

First Female In Virtual Hockey

I saw this article in the Globe and Mail as I was passing the newspaper stand during work earlier today; I thought that it was an interesting read and with the game coming out tomorrow I decided to repost it.

Girl Wins Bid To Play Virtual Self In EA Sports NHL 12 Video Game

"Starting this week, 14-year-old Lexi Peters will be stick handling past men twice her size as she plays in the starting lineup for the Buffalo Sabres. Or the Vancouver Canucks. Or any NHL team the 90-pound left-winger chooses.

Because when video game publisher Electronic Arts releases the latest edition of its popular NHL series on Tuesday, Lexi will be the first female in its virtual hockey roster.

2010-11 Upper Deck Series 1 Double Pack Break

You know I cringe a little when I pick up a pack of cards for anything over $5; which in reality, that's basically what most individual packs go for.

The latest Upper Deck still hangs onto that previously mentioned price tag, but after a disappointing stop at Toys R Us where no cards of interest were to be found - I decided to dig a little deeper into the wallet than I had anticipated and pick up two packs hoping to maybe pull a nice Hall, Subban or Kadri Young Gun.

Pack 1

Taylor Hall / PK Subban / Nazem Kadri Young Guns Checklist #250 - Um... Almost but not not quite what I was hoping for.

Mail Day! Checkoutmycards.com Mix

I picked out a small mix of cards from checkoutmycards.com a little over a month ago and received them today, orange envelope packed and all.  Four cards came to be exact; but I accidently ordered a 96-97 Steve Yzerman/Jim Carey Sudden Death card, a card which I already had coming in the mail.

1993-94 Leaf Hat Trick Artists #1 of 10 - Mario Lemieux Title Card.  I first laid eyes on this card from a blog post over at Shoebox Legends; showcasing the entire set of these Leaf Hat Trick Artists cards.  It was cardboard love from first sight and I just had to have it for myself.  I like everything about this card; my favorite player in an unordinary photo shoot-esque pose, top hat tucked underneath his arm with an array of vintage hats lying on the ice in celebration of a hat trick hanging out there in the background.  You don't see cards like this in every set.

1993-94 Leaf Hat Trick Artists #4 of 10 - Mario Lemieux.  I just had to grab the base card of the Lemieux from the Hat Trick Artists set as well.  A great looking card that I picked up for under a buck; to be honest all the photo shots from this insert lot look great and worth trying to put together.

1984-85 Topps #51 - Wayne Gretzky.  I think I was still on my Gretzky kick at the time and liked the look of this card and really wanted it as part of my collection.  On checkoutmycards I was happily able to purchase it at a very low price.

2010-11 Pinnacle 10 Pack Break

As the latest release from Panini's Pinnacle brand starts to roll out I find myself breaking packs of the 2010-11 release that I picked up maybe a couple months ago.  Ten packs to be exact, that were stored away for some period of time in one of the boxes on my desk.  I decided that it was finally time to tear into them and see what they held; given that I'm sorta near to closing in on the set (minus those Ice Breaker rookies) these ten packs should help in bringing me even closer.

Mail Day! 1974-75 Topps #232 - Guy Lafleur

I picked this card up for something under $3 on the day that I received the Guy Lafleur TTM.  I was on a kick for pre-1980s cards at a cheap price online and came across this one.

Favorite Cards: 1997-98 Upper Deck Collector's Choice StarQuest

As I was flipping through my binders recently I came across my collection of 1997-98 Upper Deck Collector's Choice StarQuest sheets that I saved.  This 90-card, four-tier insert set features color photos of some of the top NHL Superstars printed using the hobby's top technology at the time.  The 45 cards in Tier One were randomly inserted one in every pack; the 20 cards in Tier Two were randomly inserted one in every 21 packs;  the 15 cards of Tier Three were randomly inserted one in every 71 packs; the 10 cards of Tier Four were randomly inserted one in every 145 packs.

I collected 35/45 Tier One cards, 2/20 cards from Tier Two and just 1/15 of the cards from Tier Three.  I never did pull a card from Tier Four.  I still enjoy these cards and like them much more than the StarQuest cards released in the 1998-99 Collector's Choice set and the parallel system used.

After I complete my 96-97 Score Sudden Death Project I think I'll start attempting to put this StarQuest set together.  If any of you guys have any of these for trade that aren't included in the scans, let me know!  I've included scans of all the cards I have in my collection under the cut.

Mail Day! 1996-97 Upper Deck Post Cereal "Grow Like A Pro"

I recently made a $3.00 eBay bid for (and obviously won) a 1996-97 Upper Deck/Post Cereal (Canadian Food Issue) "Grow Like A Pro" 24-Card Set.  The cards feature an NHL player wearing his NHLPA uniform on the front and a childhood photo of the player on the back.  I previously had only owned two of these cards from the set (Lindros & Yashin) from when I collected cards as a kid; I've always liked them, wanted more and enjoyed the inclusion of the childhood photos on the back.

Mail Day! 1996-97 Score Sudden Death Lot

Received another five 96-97 Score Sudden Death cards in the mail to add to my collection; only three more to go until I finally complete the set and fulfill a childhood desire.

Looking through the cards I own and the ones I need from this insert set - Score did a pretty good job at selecting the top players in the league at the time.  Although I did notice the exclusion of Patrick Roy from the set.

2008-09 Upper Deck Legends Masterpieces Triple Pack Break

Had these three packs of 2008-09 Upper Deck Legends Masterpieces lying around, figured I would finally break them and post the results today.  As you can they're clearly marked retail so we might not see any big hits.  But nonetheless, these cards are possibly my favorite product to come out in recent years.

2011-12 Upper Deck Victory Box Break

By now I'm sure you're all familiar with the latest Upper Deck release of Victory.  I guess you can say I'm attempting to collect the complete 200 card base set, not entirely interested in the rookie sub-set although I wouldn't mind picking up the Cody Hodgson card.  Book value these cards may rack in as chump change but I find that the cards are fun and affordable.

The box brings us 11 packs, each pack containing 6 cards.  The rundown of the break is under the cut including all scans.

Henri Richard, Wendel Clark and Johnny Bower Send-offs

Had some time to spare this morning so I put together another four customs to send-off and hopefully have returned and signed as part of my TTM collection.  I've been watching a lot of the Legends of Hockey series lately so I did Henri Richard and Johnny Bower customs.  The Clark card came after watching the 1993 second round playoff series between the Leafs and Blues; and what a series it was.

And if you've noticed there's a fourth card in the photo; Pat Falloon.  For some odd reason, I was on a Falloon kick earlier in the week, reading about his career and what happened to him after the NHL - I even found myself digging out my Pat Falloon hockey cards!  So I decided to create a custom for him to have sent off and hopefully returned signed - but sadly I was unable to find a valid address for the guy.  I even tried sending a Facebook message to his mom (at least I think it was)!  She has yet to get back to me.

The reverse of the cards are underneath the cut.

2010-11 Upper Deck Series One 32 Card Break

Picked up a jumbo pack (32 cards) of 2010-11 Upper Deck Series One on the same day that I bought the Upper Deck blaster I posted a few days ago. Decided to try my hand at recording the pack rip instead of logging the break this time around. Hopefully the effects don't give you a headache.