Christmas Pack Update! Another big one!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope your Christmas is full of cheer and hockey cards.
Being a collector, I asked for hockey cards for Christmas. My older brother (check out his blog here: Too Much, I think.) gave me his collection, barring a few of his favourites. He is mainly a goalie card collector, but also a Wayne Gretzky and Calgary Flames person. In fact, he only had a few players of whom he had one card of. I also received a good old dollar store pack and two packs of 2014-15 Upper Deck. Here's a review of Upper Deck:
Left to right, top to bottom:
UD Canvas Alexandre Burrows: Very nice, and being a Canucks fan, a good addition to my collection
Aleksander Barkov: A first season card of the highly-touted prospect. Nice.
Ondrej Palat: A nice second season card with a good picture.
Evander Kane: I love this card just for the picture.
Tyler Seguin: The new Dallas Stars jersey adds a nice look to it. He's doing well in my hockey pool.
Shining Stars Tuukka Rask: I hate to say it, but this is a nice Rask card.
Dougie Hamilton: An all around nice card.
Kevin Bieksa: A very nice one of Bieksa in the Heritage Classic jersey.
Brock Nelson: A good one of the surprising player this season.

DOLLAR STORE PACK REVIEW
Well, it's not the best, of course, but I landed a few good ones like:
91-92 Parkhurst Scott Niedermayer Rookie: Gives me one more Niedermayer rookie.
12-13 Score Dan Hamhuis: Fresh off of the winter games this season.
08-09 ITG Between the Pipes Future Stars Justin Pogge: Hm, just looked him up on NHL.com and I don't know what I was so excited about.
12-13 Upper Deck Johan Franzen: The rarely seen 12-13 Upper Deck series one.

90-91 Star Rookie Curtis Joseph

Okay, now it's time for the motherload of goalies, Flames, and Gretzkys. Maybe a few Canucks and Simon Gagnes thrown in.
CARD REVIEW
Total count:
26 Curtis Josephs
19 Dominik Haseks
7 Felix Potvins
12 Ed Belfours
6 Byron Dafoes
5 Jocelyn Thibaults
4 Jose Theodores
7 Damian Rhodes
2 Brent Johnsons
11 Guy Heberts

98-99 SpX Mike Dunham

5 John Vanbiesbroucks
1 Marty Turco
10 Olaf Kolzigs
7 Mike Dunhams
3 Roberto Luongos
5 Tommy Salos
4 Patrick Lalimes
4 Ron Tugnutts
1 Kari Lehtonen
19 Martin Brodeurs
1 Manny Fernandez, Chris Osgood, Marc Denis, Chris Mason, Patrick Labrecque
12 Roman Tureks
4 Trevor Kidds

99-00 UD Victory Networks Martin Brodeur

4 J.S. Gigueres
2 Fred Brathwaites
5 Mike Vernons
1 Valeri Bure, Al MacInnis, Martin Gelinas, Phil Housley
10 Jarome Iginlas
17 Wayne Gretzkys
14 Chris Prongers
4 Simon Gagnes
7 Vincent Lecavaliers
6 David Legwands
1 Stephen Valiquette, Vladimir Orszagh, Eric Fichaud, Zigmund Palffy, Adam Foote, Rob Blake, Scott Niedermayer, Tobias Enstrom, Kimmo Timmonen, Brent Sopel, Ed Jovanoski, Daniel Tkaczuk, Chris Drury, Henrik Sedin, Jeff O'neil, Paul Kariya, Alexander Edler
2 Marian Gaboriks

98-99 Upper Deck Moments Wayne Gretzky

3 Patrik Elias's
2 Martin Havlats
2 Daniel Sedins
4 Markus Naslunds
2 Todd Bertuzzis
7 Marian Hossas
2 Miikka Kiprusoffs
2 Johan Hedbergs

UD MVP Classics Golden 20/50 Jeff O'Neil

4 Brian Bouchers
2 Robyn Regehrs

99-00 UD Gretzky For the Record #11

02-03 Prism Salt Lake Gold Adam Foote, Rob Blake, Scott Niedermayer

91-92 Upper Deck Dominik Hasek

90-91 Pro Set Rookie Season Ed Belfour

Well that's it for my Christmas card update! Be sure to check back for more updates! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

How did I miss this??? New #1 for Halloween card edition!

           Jamie Lundmark, you are one devious player, and this card shows it. Somehow, yesterday, I missed this card, showing Lundmark releasing his inner evil scientist.

How did I miss it??? Lundmark's basically cackling in my face and I pass over it! I would not like to wake up to that face in the morning. Move over, Rick Nash.

BRUHAHAAAAA!!!

Movember Post: The Top Ten Staches!

         It's that time of year again! Movember! Today I'll be counting down the top ten mustaches the NHL has ever seen, showcasing them in, of course, hockey cards! And I think we all know who's going to be no. 1...

#10 - Paul Hoganson

This is the first-ever hockey card of Hoganson, and it showcases his mustache pretty good. Maybe if the WHA had stayed, we'd see more staches like this. Alas, the WHA is no more.

#9 - Alexei Kasatonov

Okay. He could seriously pass for a musketeer. Replace his stick with a rapier, and you've got Aramis himself.

#8 - Randy Ladouceur

Your typical small handlebar. Man, with Ladouceur, Babych, and Ferraro, the Whalers had a lot of good mustaches.

#7 - John Tonelli

A tough guy for the Kings in the 90's, the mustache just adds to his menace.

#6 - Dave Babych

Sheesh, I would've bought the Whalers myself just for the mustaches.

#5 - Michel Goulet

500 goals: Most of them with a mustache. What does that mean? Mustaches make you skillful.

#4 - Mike Gartner

Here it is again: One of the most consistent scorers in NHL history. He has a mustache.

#3 - Gordie Roberts

Okay, so he wasn't the best player. That awesome mustache probably weighed him down!

#2 - George Parros

Mustaches probably make you a better fighter, too. They probably intimidate opponents as well. And they make you smart! Parros majored in economics.

And of course, #1 - Lanny McDonald

Need I say more?

Happy Movember everyone!

Halloween Post: The Creepy Cards

           Happy Halloween folks! This is a bit late, yes but I was busy during the weekend. In honour of this holiday, I've gathered the top 10 scariest cards in my entire collection. These range from sinister to maniacal, to just plain creepy. Would you have thought Bryan Little could scare you? Neither did I. Until now...MUAHAHA!!!
(Sorry about the black border around everything)

#10 - 95-96 Upper Deck Craig Billington

Gosh, if it wasn't for the Bruins' logo, I could've sworn this was Patrick Roy. Man, if I was a shooter, I would freak out if I saw those eyes staring at me through the mask.

#9 - 10-11 Upper Deck John Tavares

Looking at this card does not make me want to be a referee. If I had to stare into that face all the time, I would look away and pray he doesn't get me. With those tilted eyebrows and that piercing stare, you can see why Tavares scares goalies all over the league.

#8 - 08-09 Upper Deck Ovation Viktor Kozlov

Trust me, it looks way creepier in person. With wavy eyebrows and a smile that seems toothless, Kozlov really gets me here. 

#7 - 90-91 Upper Deck Gino Odjick

He may be a fan favourite in Vancouver, but I don't think he would be if he showed this face all the time. The Islanders player looks like he's trying to escape this creepy guy, but Gino won't let him, hooking him back.

#6 - 91-92 Pro Set HHOF Joe Malone

Honestly, Phantom Joe looks no different in any other picture, so the impression I have of  his being a creepy hockey player waiting in the alleys of Montreal is probably totally wrong. This solitary pose is very haunting, with his deep eyebrows and unblinking stare, and it's the only Malone card I have, so it had to be on this list.

#5 - 11-12 Upper Deck Ryan Getzlaf

Ok, seriously, this body position is just disturbing.

#4 - 10-11 Upper Deck Bryan Little

HE'S COMING FOR ME!!! In this pose Bryan seriously looks like some primordial beast closing in for the kill. He looks perfect next to...

#3 - 90-91 Upper Deck Rod Brind'Amour

Like I said, Little and Brind'Amour are like two peas in a pod. Or maybe two insanely scary charging carnivores in a pack.

#2 - 2013 Upper Deck Team Canada Colby Armstrong

This could be Little or Brind'Amour roaring in triumph after the kill. 

Similarities anyone?

#1 - 08-09 Upper Deck Ovation Rick Nash

This is not a bad scanning job. Rick's eyes actually look like that on the card. Pupil-less and angry. This is likely the work of the photo itself, but it sure looks creepy. Looks like he's swing his stick like he's about to cut someone's head off. How do we know that the end of the stick isn't actually a razor-sharp axe blade?

You've gotta feel for Jonathan Toews. He looks pretty freaked out.

Well that's it for the Halloween edition of A Blog of Hockey Cards! Thanks for reading, and look out for a Movember post!  

Total Collection

      Here it is folks: My entire collection of hockey cards.

Every single hockey card I possess is either in one of the binders you see, on the wall in behind, in one of the two boxes, or just strewn about the image.

So there it is. Mount Sportscard. I have two zippered binders, four non-zippered, two boxes, and 23 cards on a wall. I have one binder and one box of soccer cards, plus one on the wall. And there is also a duotang with 8 quidditch cards. Yes, quidditch cards. Starting from the top of the tower, here are the names of the binders/duotangs/boxes.

Special Soccer Cards

Special Hockey Cards (Box 1)

Special Hockey Cards (Box 2)

Quidditch Cards

Soccer Cards

International and Other Leagues

American Teams 3

American Teams 2

American Teams 1

Canadian Teams

Vancouver Canucks

And here's my Wall of Fame, as I like to call it. Pardon the bad panorama setting. (The three remaining Wall of Fame cards are actually on stands.)

So there you have it. My entire collection.

Pack (kind of) update # 2

     It's time for possibly my biggest pack update yet, and possibly my biggest ever!    
     Yesterday, a close friend of mine gave me his collection of hockey cards, after I let him go through the pages and pick out the few he wanted to keep. The rest of them passed on to me. The many cards mostly featured 91-92 Pro Set, 08-09 Upper Deck Ovation, and 09-10 Upper Deck Victory. Most of the Pro Set cards I already owned, as I previously got a large box of Pro Set duplicates at the same friend's garage sale. However, highlights of the 1400 (give or take 100) cards were many of the 91-92 Pro Set HHOF series, with the sepia pictures. I got Georges Vezina, The Punch Line (Maurice Richard, Elmer Lach, and Toe Blake), Jacques Plante, Terry Sawchuk, Joe Malone, the Kid Line (Charlie Conacher, Busher Jackson, and Joe Primeau), and Gordie Howe. There were also the non-exciting ones of Before the Zamboni: Sweepers and Scrapers, Arena Designs: Separate and Not Equal, and The Modern Arena: Built for Comfort. It also featured Ace Bailey Benefit Game:First All-Star Game and Bill Barilko: The End of the Innocence.

Name of card, left to right, top to bottom:

 Jacques Plante: The Innovator, The Punch Line: Knockout Artists, Georges Vezina: The First Ironman, Joe Malone: The NHL's First Scoring Leader, The Kid Line: Toronto's Terrific Trio, Gordie Howe: "Mr. Hockey", Howie Morenz: The "Stratford Streak", Ace Bailey Benefit Game: The First All-Star Game, Bill Barilko: The End of the Innocence, The Modern Arena: Built for Comfort, Before the Zamboni: Sweepers and Scrapers, and Arena Designs: Separate and Not Equal. 

       The 08-09 Upper Deck Ovation cards featured many first-season cards, most notable of Carey Price and Jonathan Toews, and also Tobias Enstrom and Bryan Little. The RCs from the Ovation had players like Derick Brassard, Shawn Matthias, Kyle Turris and, best of all, Claude Giroux.

                                  RCs                                                    1st seasons

         
           One 09-10 Upper Deck Victory card that caught my eye was a first season Max Pacioretty, but also a first season Blake Wheeler, which I got two of.

           The one and only Pro Set card that interested me was an All-Star Guy Lafleur, from his final season in the NHL. It says on the back that he bowed out with style, but I'm not sure that 12 goals and 16 assists is stylish, and not quite All-Star worthy, even if he is Guy Lafleur.

            One more card that was somewhat of appeal was a 91-92 Upper Deck советские звезды (Soviet Stars) Sergei Federov. This is my second of that card, but I'd thought I would share this find with you.

Ah, binder organizing...

How to organize...by team? By name? By favourite? What a good thing to spend your time doing.

Why I Wish the Abbotsford Heat Stayed

       So now you know. I am from Abbotsford, a city not known for it's hockey obsession. Even though most of the people I know are hockey crazy. That's probably why I know them. So why go to an Abbotsford Heat game if the Canucks are next door? The Abbotsford Heat moved early this summer, and now the excessive amount of money the city spent on the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre will go to waste. What will we use it for? Sure, it's a good concert venue, but is that really something to have the building's fate riding on? (Although when Christian hip-hop artist tobyMac came to town on his Hits Deep Tour, the AESC did have it's largest attendance ever).

 Every so often, the Abbotsford Heat played host to a Legend of Hockey, such as Lanny McDonald, Kirk McLean, Mike Bossy, or Grant Fuhr. Half an hour prior to the game, these legends had an autograph session, where you were allowed to bring one item to be signed.

Unfortunately, I only made it to the Grant Fuhr session, but I gave two cards to my companions, and kept one for me to be signed, therefore getting three cards with a graph. Being the generous sort, I gave one to my friend for his birthday, and I traded another away. I still have the oldest Grant Fuhr that I got signed that day, a 90-91 Upper Deck, now with a nice, clean graph, written in blue sharpie, which goes along with the Oilers colours at that time.
If only people in Abbotsford cared about our local team a bit more. The only time we got good attendance was when the 'Nucks affiliate came. Alas! Woe is the Heat.