"Old Time Hockey"

Matthew Barnaby
2005-06 Parkhurst #108

2005-06 Parkhurst
Total Cards: 700

Have but a lone card from this mammoth set...

Retro card designs look even better when they feature a member of an Original Six team.

Most of the Hawks in this set appear to be wearing white, but the red jersey looks awesome against the team-colored border.

Matthew Barnaby
2005-06 Parkhurst #108
(card back)

Sometimes they try too hard to make a set look retro, but I feel this card strikes a nice balance between old and new, making for a very enjoyable card.

Certainly wouldn't mind acquiring a few more cards from this set.

Keep Your Head Up!

Aaron Ward
2003-04 In The Game Action #170

2003-04 In The Game Action
Total Cards: 674

Boom! Love the big hit! Plus the facial expressions of both players.

Most of the cards I have from this set are nowhere near this exciting... But this one managed to grab my attention, as Aaron Ward of the Hurricanes crushes a member of the Flyers.

Aaron Ward
2003-04 In The Game Action #170
(card back)

Back of the card design is fine, with the necessary vitals - without being too complex or cluttered (although a closeup inset of this particular photo looks a bit odd, but that's about it).

Also noticed "Hurricanes-14" in small print at the top. One might assume it refers to a player's jersey number, but it actually lets you know that Ward's card is the 14th among Carolina Hurricanes cards within the set.

Kinda neat for reference sake (or for those who collect team sets). Have actually never seen this done before - And it doesn't distract from the actual card number.

Small Victory

Jason Arnott
2005-06 Upper Deck Victory #65

2005-06 Upper Deck Victory
Total Cards: 300

Not acquiring as much towards my collection these days, so I've been sorting a few of my misc piles.

Was surprised to see Jason Arnott wearing jersey 44. I'll always think of him as number 25, scoring the Stanley Cup winning goal for New Jersey. (Has also worn 7 and 19, with Edmonton and Nashville respectively)
















Had collected very few cards in the years immediately following the lockout, so my 2005-06 cards (from all sets) could probably fill no more than two binder sheets.

Sergei Gonchar
2005-06 Upper Deck Victory #240

Looking at these, I wasn't sure if the Gonchar card was a parallel card from the main Upper Deck Victory set, or a regular Upper Deck insert, because the Arnott card has a white border...

Turns out, both are base cards from the main Upper Deck Victory set... But for some reason, they elected to have a grey border for cards in Series 2 (201-300)

Sergei Gonchar
2005-06 Upper Deck Victory #240
(card back)

Just seemed a tad odd, especially because Series 2 is clearly labelled on the back, while Series 1 doesn't specify.

They also cropped the top-inside border at 45 degree angles on the Series 2 cards.

To Peel or not to Peel? (1996-97 Select Certified)

Ron Hextall
1996-97 Select Certified #63

1996-97 Select Certified
Total Cards: 120

One of the brands to be released with a clear layer of plastic covering the card front was Select Certified.

As far as I know, this fad was only around for a few years during the mid-late 1990s. Really not sure if many people adhered to the instructions to "Remove Protective Film".

Ruslan Salei RC
1996-97 Select Certified #109          

Never had any of these cards back in the day, but couldn't pass on the deal, especially since the "Remove Protective Film" was still intact.

Glad the original owner of the card resisted the temptation (and instructions) to remove the layer. It's now safely tucked into a toploader, where the protective film will never be removed.

Have since acquired several cards with film. Was that clear plastic honestly to protect the cards? Or was it just a clever marketing gimmick? Either way, it's a fun reminder of a simpler time.

Jaroslav Halak (2013-14 Upper Deck Trilogy)

Jaroslav Halak
2013-14 Upper Deck Trilogy #88

2013-14 Upper Deck Trilogy
Total Cards: 200

Only four cards from the Upper Deck Trilogy brand in my collection, spanning 3 different sets...

Somehow, every single one of them is a goalie card.

Chris Osgood Rookie (1993-94 Donruss)

Chris Osgood RC
1993-94 Donruss #424

Probably one of the best surprises I've found, as far as dollar store re-packs are concerned.

Did not have this Chris Osgood card from 1993-94 Donruss, although it now has a permanent home in my rookie card collection (along with other Osgood RCs from 1993-94 Upper Deck & Parkhurst).

Not only has Ozzie managed to score an NHL goal, but he's 13th in all-time goalie wins. Considering how many netminders have played the game during the past few decades, it's rather impressive.
(A whopping 401 wins, 216 losses, 95 ties)

Chris Osgood RC
1993-94 Donruss #424(card back)

I read somewhere that Chris Osgood collected all kinds of things from teammates during his career... Talked about going through it all once he's retired. Not sure if he collects cards (as many players did), but I bet he's acquired a pile of interesting stuff.

Goalie Card Backs (1992-93 Upper Deck)

Andrei Trefilov
1992-93 Upper Deck #345

While I may have at least one copy of every numbered card from 1992-93 Upper Deck, looking through my "completed"  set binder, I discovered a handful of cards with the UD logo and text hologram (as opposed to the more desirable UD logo hologram).

For the sake of consistency, checked my duplicates box for "replacement" cards to swap into my binder, in hopes of building a uniform set. Found everything I needed except for two cards. Considering that 1992-93 Upper Deck is one of my favorite sets, I actually look forward to completing it - again.

During the process, I also came to enjoy a couple snasphots of goaltenders representing their countries, both of them future NHL

First one is of Russian netminder Andrei Trefilov. Love the aerial shot of this stick save on the doorstep, goalie sprawled out to make it happen.

Tommy Soderstrom
1992-93 Upper Deck #377

Simply terriffic shot of a glove save. Even more impressive considering that this photo of Sweden's Tommy Soderstrom was taken during a non-NHL international tournament.

Goalie Card Backs (1990-91 Upper Deck)

In the early 1990s, Upper Deck cards were worth their weight in gold...Now I have enough extras to fill a shoe box.

Finally began organizing my duplicates.What seemed like an endless chore was actually rather entertaining, thanks to the awesome photos on the backs of the cards. (The reverse-side images often contain more action than the front)

Vincent Riendeau
1990-91 Upper Deck #152

Always liked these two photographs of relatively small goaltenders making themselves look big...

Vincent Riendeau seems to fumble the puck... Hard to say for sure whether the puck ended up in the net, but it's still a great snapshot.

Chris Tererri
1990-91 Upper Deck #183

Can't even see the puck in this one. The shot could have even missed the net. Still though, you can see that Chris Tererri is committed to covering as much net as possible.

Number 38

Cristobal Huet
2008-09 Upper Deck MVP #70

Happened to notice that goaltender Cristobal Huet wore number 38 for a couple seasons. Hadn't seen many netminders actually don this number, even though it's within the traditional range (27-41).

Huet wore number 35 with LA, 39 with Montreal, and 38 with Washington and Chicago. Cristobal Huet then switched to number 39, which had previously been occupied by Nikolai Khabiboulin. (Incidentally, Khabiboulin wore 35 for most of his career - But the Hawks had retired Tony Esposito's number 35).

Unlike many NHL goaltenders, Huet finished his career with a winning record (129 wins, 90 losses, 32 ties).

Played only 13 regular season games for the Caps, with very impressive stat: 11 wins, 2 losses.

Three Twenty-Five

Peter Sidorkiewicz
1991-92 Upper Deck #325
(card back)

Getting hockey cards in bulk quantity is always a good bargain. The downside is that the duplicates keep piling up...

While sorting some of my extras, I once again got to appreciate some of the awesome snapshots on the back of early Upper Deck cards.

Absolutely love this action snapshot of Peter Sidorkiewicz making a glove save, with players battling in the background.

First Rounders (1995-96 Leaf Limited)

Chad Kilger RC
1995-96 Leaf Limited #34

The Mighty Ducks had some high expectations for Chad Kilger, being a first round draft pick from 1995 (4th overall).

Chad Kilger RC
1995-96 Leaf Limited #34
(card back)

Anaheim ended up trading Chad Kilger to Winnipeg in a deal that involved another first round draft pick - Teemu Selanne (selected 10th overall in 1988).

Oleg Tverdovsky
1995-96 Leaf Limited #46

Here's Oleg Tverdovsky, yet another first round draft pick, (2nd overall in 1994).

Just so happens that Chad Kilger and Oleg Tverdovsky each played 714 and 713 career games, respectively.

Leaf Limited (by Donruss)

Oleg Tverdovsky
1994-95 Leaf Limited #24

Recently acquired some cards from Leaf Limited.
Seems there were 3 releases of this premium trading card brand by Donruss:

Leaf Limited
1994-95: 120 cards
1995-96: 120 cards
1996-97: 90 cards

Oleg Tverdovsky
1994-95 Leaf Limited #24
(card back)

Oleg Tverdovsky, drafted 1st round (2nd overall), 1994 NHL Entry Draft.

"The Russian Skyrocket". Maybe that nickname never really took off... Either way, the comment on the back of the card likens this offensive defenceman to Bobby Orr and Pavel Bure...

Valeri Karpov RC
1994-95 Leaf Limited #51

Really enjoy the overall card design of this set, printed on slightly thicker cardstock. Some of the appeal is lost when scanned, but still a very clean, classy set.

The placement of the card number is the only thing that loses points, although the legibility of the player name could also be improved.

Duck Hunting...

Tomas Sandstrom
1997-98 Pinnacle #180

Picked up a random mixed box of early Anaheim Mighty Ducks cards.

Had only collected a few cards during the mid-late 1990s, so I was looking forward to enjoying cards from sets that I'd never seen firsthand. Ninteties nostalgia at its' finest.

On a disappointing note, there wasn't a single Selanne or Kariya to be found in the entire lot... Even the goalie cards had been removed.

Jarri Kurri
1996-97 Donruss Elite #85

Was surprised to see Jari Kurri in a Ducks uniform. Apparently, he played a full 82 game season for Anahiem during 1996-97. The shine from this Donruss Elite set makes the card look much better in hand than scanned.

Tomas Sandstrom
1998-99 Topps #12

Another Finnish-born winger wearing number 17. Tomas Sandstrom played two seasons for the Mighty Ducks in 1997-98 & 1998-99.

Tomas Sandstrom
1998-99 Topps #12(card back)

The only thing I dislike about the 1998-99 Topps set is the font they chose for the card number... Couldn't tell if this was card number 12 or 72.

To make it even worse, the card number is printed on a team-colored circle... A yellow/orange circle for a team like the Penguins is fine... But putting black ink on dark green for the Mighty Ducks?

2017-18 Upper Deck

My favorite cards from 2017-18 Upper Deck happen to be horizontal...

John Gibson
2017-18 Upper Deck #252

Ducks netminder John Gibson, captured in motion over 3 shots. This photography style is reminiscent of something seen in 1992-93 Upper Deck.

Robin Lehner
2017-18 Upper Deck #273

Dig the skeleton on Robin Lehner's mask. (Although I have not been able to find another snapshot of this exact same mask)

Bryan Rust
2017-18 Upper Deck #395

Even with a team full of superstars, secondary scoring is essential.

2017-18 UD Portraits

Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson
2017-18 UD Portraits #P-109

All other releases of UD Portraits I've seen have been in color...

2017-18 UD Portraits
(Slated odds: UD Portraits Rookies 1:12)

Can't say that I'm a huge fan of the black & white. They were just trying something experimental, I guess.

Could have at least added a classy black & white team logo to the front of the card.

Move over, Oliver Ekman-Larsson...
Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson probably owns the longest name of any player in the league.

Ninety-Nine...

Wayne Gretzky CL
1998-99 Upper Deck MVP #218

In what would be Wayne Gretzky's final year in the NHL, Upper Deck MVP featured the Great One on all 3 checklists of the 1998-99 MVP set. (All three photos show him in a blue New York Rangers uniform)

Happened to notice Petr Nedved in the background in this shot.
At the time, Gretzky (number 99) and Nedved (number 93) had the highest uniform numbers ever worth by the New York Rangers.

Both had also worn the highest numbers ever issued by the St. Louis Blues.

(Gretzky played 18 games for the Blues in 1995-96, while Nedved played 19 games for the Blues in 1993-94)

One Czech for Another...

Dominik Hasek
2003-04 Upper Deck #AS-10

No professional hockey to watch, no recreation league hockey to play...

Getting my daily hockey fix by arranging trades, hoping to finish a few sets.

Back in 2003-04, I built the base Upper Deck set, receiving an All-Star Class card in every pack of Series II. This left me with all but two of the All-Star Class inserts... Naturally, I wanted to eventually complete the set.

Happened upon a Jaromir Jagr collector, and was able to trade away one of my Jagr duplicates for the Hasek card I needed...

This brings me to within a single card of finishing the 30 card subset.

Upper Deck O-Pee-Chee

Brendan Lemieux RC
2017-18 Upper Deck
(O-Pee-Chee Update #644)

2017-18 Upper Deck (O-Pee-Chee Update)
Total Cards: 50
(card numbers 601-650)

Still feels kinda weird to pull an O-Pee-Chee card from a pack of Upper Deck...
With odds being 1:10, found one inside a redux blaster box of 2017-18 UD Series II at Wal Mart.

Listed as an Insert Set within 2017-18 Upper Deck, I wasn't overly familiar with the concept of an "Update Set". Seems the regular 2017-18 O-Pee-Chee set has 600 cards,  with this set containing 50 cards: 10 recently traded veterans in their new team colors, plus 40 rookies.

Glad that my first Brendan Lemieux card is a Rookie Card... Although being the son of the infamous Claude Lemieux certainly doesn't improve his likeability.

Know The Enemy...

Roman Oksiuta
1996-97 Skybox Impact #3

One more LA Kings goalie cameo. Had to do some research to identify the netminder who makes an appearance on this card...

Byron Dafoe
1995-96 SP #70

I believe it's Byron Dafoe, who wore number 31 & 34 while playing for the Kings. Just wish I had one of his actual cards that shows him wearing pads with stars on them.

Jere Lehtinen
1996-97 Upper Deck #398

Byron Dafoe also makes a cameo appearance on this 1996-97 Upper Deck card. In this cool snapshot, the goaltender and opposing player each make a frantic attempt to get a handle on a loose puck.

Byron Dafoe
2002-03 O-Pee-Chee #45

On my search, I also stumbled upon this card of Byron Dafoe with Boston. It's actually a pretty good looking card. Note the stars on his blocker.

Pair of Parallels...

Todd Krygier
1995-96 Upper Deck #9
(Electric Ice parallel)

Nearly a quarter century since these were released, but I finally got my first 1995-96 Upper Deck Electric Ice parallel.

Highly coveted back in the day, yet probably considered junk wax by today's standards. Still, a welcome addition to my collection.

Might not be an amazing card, but it's amusing nonetheless. Todd Krygier pleads his case to the official, while the opposing player in the background seems to enjoy the situation with an evil smirk. (If I remember correctly, Krygier could be a bit of a dick)

Steve Ruccin
1995-96 Upper Deck #SE92

Also came across a few "Special Edition" insert cards from 1995-96 Upper Deck.

Still in the early days of insert cards, before they became unnecessarily creative when naming subsets.

More nostalgia with the 1990s uniforms, in a photo featuring two players wearing jersey number 20.

(Steve Ruccin of the Mighty Ducks, and Adam Creighton of the St. Louis Blues)

Steve Ruccin
1995-96 Upper Deck #SE92
(card back)

Photo from the back, again featuring Anaheim against St. Louis...

Teams are wearing opposite colored uniforms than on the front, so the front snapshot would have likely been taken in Anaheim, and the back photo in St. Louis, when it was customary for the home team to wear white.

There are 180 cards in the "Special Edition" subset (and 4 of them in my current collection).

Diamonds are Forever...

Steve Ruccin
1996-97 Upper Deck Black Diamond #20

1996-97 Upper Deck Black Diamond
Total Cards: 180

Found a couple cards from the very first release of Upper Deck Black Diamond. The brand has survived rather steadily, with new set released just about every year.

Overall, I like this set design. Just shiny & cool enough without going overboard.

Player name could be a bit easier to read, but I tend to let it slide when familiar with the players of the era. Still, I'd prefer to see the dude's name in place of the team name, and vice versa.

Steve Ruccin
1996-97 Upper Deck Black Diamond #20(card back)

Always enjoy seeing a player's jersey number match the card number. (Although legible, the card number could stand to be a few font sizes larger)

Several players in this set have the same card number as their jersey number. Just to name a few:

#1 Turek
#2 Fetisov
#7 Leschyshyn
#33 Draper
#35 Richter
#41 Thibault

Metal / Metal Universe (a Fleer/Skybox Company)

Peter Bondra
1995-96 Metal #156

1995-96 Metal
Total Cards: 200

Metal was a short-lived brand during the insanely competitive hockey card brand wars of the mid 1990s... (I believe 95-96 & 96-97 were the only releases of Metal)

While the cards may hold little monetary value, the nostalgia is priceless.

Dare I say that Upper Deck copied the concept of dark shiny cards with their "Black Diamond" set?

Steve Rucchin
1996-97 Metal Universe #5

1996-97 Metal Universe
Total Cards: 200

Still mesmerized by all the pretty colors... Actually helps distract from the eyesore that is the infamous "Wild Wing" third jersey worn by the Anaheim Mighty Ducks.

Select (a Pinnacle Brand)

Stephan Lebeau
1994-95 Select #65

1994-95 Select
Total Cards: 200

Another card from a lockout-shortened season... A premium card set released by Pinnacle.

Saw the marketing for the Select brand in Beckett magazines during 1994-95, but had yet to actually hold one of these in my hands. It's the only card from this set in my collection at the moment.

Stephan Lebeau
1994-95 Select #65
(card back)

Stats are neat & tidy, card number is legible. Always enjoy an alternate snapshot on the back of the card - In this case it's a full sized photo.

Counting the inset photo on the front, there are three different photos on the card... A practice that's almost become extinct today.

Five-Goal Game for Mika Zibanejad

Mika Zibanejad
2019-20 Upper Deck MVP #82

Getting a hat-trick is awesome - But netting five goals in a game is pretty freakin' exceptional.

Swedish-born center Mika Zibanejad of the New York Rangers managed to score five goals against the Washington Capitals on March 3, 2020.

Not only did he score five goals, but the types of goals scored is what I found most impressive...

Tipped a shot from the point, wired a one-timer from the wing, took a pass from behind the net and buried it from the doorstep for the hat trick - But he wasn't done yet.

A teammate fired wide of the net and Zibanejad was there to get the puck off the end boards and score his fourth. He then went on to score the game-winning goal on a breakaway in overtime, putting it top corner. Surely one of the most memorable nights of his career.

Mika Zibanejad
2017-28 Upper Deck #373

It's pretty special, and a player scoring 5 goals in a single game has only happened 4 times this millennium...

The last player to score 5 goals in one game was Patrick Laine on November 24, 2018. Prior to that, were Johan Franzen in 2011, and Marian Gaborik in 2007.









Sergei Federov & Mario Lemieux each had 5-goal games in 1996, Lemieux being the last North-American born player to accomplish the feat.

Gretzky and Lemieux each have four five-goal games in their respective careers.