Drop The Gloves Contest

Check this out!

Real cool contest design that looks like a lot of fun!

http://www.fightstrap.com/2010/12/time-for-a-good-ol-fashioned-contest/comment-page-1/#comment-788

10-11 Score Hockey

I bought 3 boxes of 10-11 Score back in the beginning of Nov. I know this is pretty slow getting to post but life has just been a little to busy so rather than review the product and be like the 75th person to do so, I am just going to share the results.

I really enjoyed opening this product because of the nostalgia and the feel. This set really was designed to be a yearbook of the 09-10 NHL season. There are highlight cards and player cards and even the inserts commemorate different points in the season. In all I really liked this product and the price and quality are excellent and though this will never be an investment set, it was fun to open and I was lucky enough to get a hit in each box.

Here are the front and back sides of the cards. Pretty clean mixing up something old with something new.

By using the glossy inserts to help complete my set I managed to get 419 of 500 base cards and 49 of the 50 of the SP'ed rookies. So I am pleased that Panini did a great job "shuffling the deck" so to speak.

The hit from box number one was difficult to find because it was a "french back" base card and I only found it after looking at the cards a second time.

If I remember my grade 10 french well enough, the translation is "Don't forget to collect Score Cards". Seems like they could have used a little more creativity in their quote. But apparently these are pretty rare falling about 1 per case.

The hit from box two was this little gem. Of the 50 sp'ed rc's this is one of the better ones. Jared Cowen is a monster and could have the potential to be a poor man's Chara or who knows he might replicate what Tyler Myers has managed to do in Buffalo (that is a little optimistic). But really, a nice hit and not bad for a 28.99 a box. However, I was looking forward to a redemption rc in each box instead, but Panini did replace that with something decent.

The last of my three boxes had one of the SSP rookie cards. Rumours suggest that there are only about 4-5 in each case so I was pleased to get one in my last box. Cam Fowler is off to a great start this season and this is card number 551 in the set. Panini has 9 SSP rc's in the set and I am not sure at the moment if I will bother tracking the other 8 down. Maybe next summer when the market is flooded with different rc's of these guys I might see if any deals can be had!

In all, not bad for $100 with taxes included. I am close to finishing 1-550, I hope to get my missing ones posted along with some other sets I am working on if anyone wants to make some trades. It will be interesting to see what Panini does with this product next season. One thing for sure, I do hope they decide NOT to recreate the 91-92 Score set.

Bill Guerin Retires

Well my favourite player from my childhood has decided that he is done playing professional hockey as has retired as a Pittsburgh Penguin. The retirement ceremony can be see here.

Bill Guerin had an excellent career, the former 5th overall pick of the Devils in 1989 scored 40+ goals twice and had a career high 85 points in 2000-01. His final totals were 429 goals and 856 points in 1263 games and 13 times finished with 20+ goals. In addition to those stats, he also won two Stanley Cups.

The one games I will always remember of Billy was game 4 of the 95 Finals when he scored 3 points to secure the first cup in Devils franchise history.

Bill was an excellent power forward who skated well and had a shot that rivaled some of the best in his prime. As I mentioned in a previous post, Bill was my first and only TTM. As you can see below, he used blue sharpie on his 92-93 Parkhurst RC. The other auto was signed with a black sharpie and was one I has bought a few years later from a sports store in the mall back in 98. I believe I paid 5 bucks and in my opinion it was money well spent. Both autos have his name and number 12. He would switch to #13 after he was traded for Jason Arnott and would keep that number for the rest of his career.

In addition, I also bought a game used lot off ebay a year or so ago and managed to get three g-u cards for 0.99 plus shipping. The blue swatch was from his brief time with the Blues and the other two are different greens both from his days with the Stars.

The Shooting Stars swatch is the nicest of the three in my opinion partly because the play on words and it is the largest of the three swatches.

I am sad to see that he has decided to call it a career, but he did leave relatively on top of his game. His final season he still managed to score 21 goals with the Penguins and though they didn't win the Cup that year and he likely will never make the Hall of Fame, he still left the game with two rings and many other accomplishments such as Olympic Silver Medalist, and World Cup of Hockey Champion.

TTM's

Well I have decided that I am going to give a few of these a try and see if I have any success. I have only ever tried once and it was back in 1994. I send a fan letter to Bill Guerin while he was with NJ and within two months I received my signed card back. At the time I didn't have any US stamps (as they are hard to come by back then because there was no online shopping) so I mailed a US dollar along with it for return postage. I was quite happy to receive the card back and unfortunately there was no written response other than the card but I was just as happy to have the card regardless.

I mailed my first one out on Sunday and it was sent to Stephane Richer. I sent him a fan letter along with three cards. I had a difficult time trying to settle on two, so I sent three hoping for the best. One was his RC and the other two were his 90-91 Score card and his 91-92 Parkhurst (he is in a Devils jersey by then). I will keep you posted on my successes and failures.

I will save the photo of the Guerin auto for my next post as it seems Billy has decided to call it a career today.

Need Help...

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have had a little trouble with my custom cards because of the trouble I have had trying to match the fonts. If anyone out there knows what font I can use to match up with the 90-91 UD it would be greatly appreciated so I could finish the card I have below. Most of you could see that it is a hybrid between the Score RC and the UD first round draft pick subset.

Thanks again - Dave

Fun with Photoshop

Definitely something I would love to do if I had more time is make my own cards. I used a template for the 88-89 OPC set and I found this nice photo of Crosby online and blammo, he is now a retro card! I always find the hardest part about making your own cards is getting the right font. If you are going to copy a style already in existance you have to make the fonts match in my opinion which can always be tough. I missed the boat a little bit with this card, but I like it anyway.

Some day I would like to try and design my own card from scratch like some of you other bloggers out there...but that I think is something for another day.

Failed Prospects - Angelo Esposito

Flashback to 2005. Sydney Crosby has moved onto the NHL and the QMJHL is looking for its next big name. Angelo Esposito, a 16 year phenom steps in and scores 98 points in just 57 games including 39 goals. Surely this kid is going to be a superstar. Angelo really couldn't do anything wrong during the regular season, he had Radulov on his wing playing for the Remparts. Radulov put up 21 goals and 55 points in 23 playoff games, but come playoff time Angelo found trouble maintaining that same production. Maybe he was burnt-out from too much hockey that season? After all, including international action he was pushing 100 games and Esposito was only 16 years old.

The following season, Radulov departed and Esposito's number dropped as well, he managed a modest 79 points in 60 games as a 17 year old. Remparts didn't last long in the playoffs, but Espo almost matched his previous season playoff total playing in just 5 games. Then comes the draft and in 2007 he is picked 20th overall by the Penguins, clearly this is a steal for a prospect who was once considered a better prospect than Patrick Kane.

However, as an 18 year old his numbers dropped again. He finished third on the Remparts team in scoring behind players Felix Petit and Kelsey Tessier. Esposito scored 69 points in 56 games that season. Esposito's last successful season came the following year in 08-09 with the Montreal Juniors when he started with 24 goals and 42 points in 35 games. However, a knee injury and subsequent surgery ended that season and it seems that he really has never been the same since.

Over the last two seasons, Esposito has put up 5 points; 1 goal and 4 assists in 24 games. In fact, this season with the Chicago Wolves, he has 1 goal in 11 games. Angelo will turn 22 this February so, it is difficult to say his career is over. However, he definitely has fallen from grace especially considering he was an early favourite to be the number 1 pick in the 2007 draft. I am not sure if he was as great of a player as he was fortunate to have been playing with a talented team at a young age, but, Esposito clearly had enough potential to be selected in the first round and his NHL future really looks to be in doubt. Esposito was apart of the trade that brought Hossa from Atlanta to Pittsburgh and as of today he is still in the Atlanta system which is the good news. If he is ever going to crack the NHL it will likely be with a young and inexperienced team desperate for scorers. The bad news for Angelo is since turning pro, his production has been far from desirable and the AHL may be the highest level of hockey he will ever play. There was a time when I was trying hard to see him as a junior player because I wanted to say I saw him as a 16 year old tearing up the junior leagues much like people still speak of Crosby, Lemieux, Gretzky or even Lafontaine. However, it appears that Angelo may have peaked at 16 and the fall from grace has continued from that point on.

I guess it goes to show that drafting NHL talent is a difficult process and there is no such thing as a "sure thing". While it isn't over for Angelo, it is a long way from the prediction many people had for Esposito.

Here is a photo I found of a Heroes and Prospects card from ITG of Angelo Esposito. You can buy this card on ebay for less than $10.00. I wish him all the luck in the future and I hope he can make it to the NHL someday, but I have a feeling he will likely have a similar fate experienced by Kory Kocur another successful junior player who couldn't turn a first round pick into a single NHL game.

Prospects with Potential - Matt Taormina

Something I really wanted to do with this blog was to find time to "prospect" the prospects. I like most hockey fans, I have an interest in the young kids and like to make predictions on how their careers will turn out. I have had some hits and some misses. Finally, I will put into print, what I think and possibly make a huge ass of myself in the process. I am not going to always choose the obvious choices like Crosby (I think most knew he would do fine), but at the same time I am not too delusional to think that Jordan Smotherman is going to be a HOF player.

Matt Taormina is the first player I am going to go out on a limb on and I think for good reason. This kid was never drafted and very much reminds me of another undrafted diminutive defenseman with a knack for putting up points.....Brian Rafalski. Matt signed with the Devils last season and then proceeded to tear it up for the Lowell Devils finishing third in team scoring with 50 points. He moves the puck well and though he isn't the strongest defensively he for the most part isn't a liability either. Currently he is a minus 2 on a team that really is playing bad hockey and apart from a minor injury it doesn't appear that he will be leaving the NHL anytime soon. He is smart with the puck and passes it well on the PP. I believe when the Devils get their offensive issues worked out, he may put up about 30 points this season. I think he has much too learn much like Brian did in Europe but give him 2-3 years in the NHL and Matt will easily be a 40-50 point d-man in the NHL and for a kid who was never drafted that is quite an accomplishment.

Here is his 10-11 UD Young Gun RC. Currently I do not have any of his cards, but I am always looking, so if you have one to trade let me know and we can try and work out a deal. I see big things for Matt and maybe he could end up as good as Rafalski and should he miss that mark, the very least he will be a quality #3 or 4 defenseman for years to come.

Parkhurst Project Cards 2 and 3

What do George Sullivan and Benny Woit have in common? Well they were both played in NHL All-Star games. They both have RC's in the 1951-52 Parkhurst set and they both were purchased by me for $13.00 including shipping from Ebay.

Let's start with Benny. He was born in Fort William which joined Port Arthur in 1971 to make Thunder Bay which is where I was born. Benny won 3 Stanley Cups over 7 seasons all with the Red Wings. Benny was an original Dustin Byfuglien in that he was a winger and defenseman. He was a pretty big player for his era standing 5' 11" and weighigng 195 lbs. He only managed 7 career goals and 33 points in 334 games but with 3 cups he was successful in the NHL. After a failed stint with the Blackhawks, he played in the minors for a number of years including a team called the "Jersey Devils". How can I not like him! Hometown boy and mention of the Devils (no affiliation though).

The card itself is #58 in the set and has a couple light creases with some rounded corners. The colouring is excellent.


George "Red" Sullivan was a centre who played in Boston, Chicago and New York (Rangers). Sullivan was a left handed shooter and was 5' 11" just like Benny and was 155lbs or 40 lbs less than Benny. Offensively Sullivan was a little more prolific than Woit in the scoring department with 107 career NHL goals and 346 points in 557 games. One of his best seasons was with the Hawks when he put up 61 points in 70 games and lead the 54-55 Hawks in scoring. Red would top that amount with 63 points and was second in Ranger scoring in 58-59. Red never managed to win a Cup and was most famous for being nearly killed by Doug Harvey. A priest was apparently brought in to read him his last rites and somehow managed to pull through. He would stay in hockey and was the first coach in Penguins history and found himself coaching in 74-75 for the Washington Capitals (worst coaching position ever) and was 2-17 with the Caps in that season.

The card like Woit has been weathered! There are some light creases and the corners are rounded as well. The colouring is excellent on this card as well. In all I didn't spend much for these cards and they do get me closer to completion.

Progress:

Card #27 and 58 and 2+3 of 105 for my set.

Percent Completion:

2.86%

Cost of Cards:

$13.00

Total Cost of the Set to Date:

$20.95

1910-11 Imperial Tobacco Reprint Set

100 years ago, the first hockey set was created. ITG is doing a tribute set to honour the 100 year anniversary of the C56 by creating their Ultimate 10 to look like the original Imperial Tobacco cards. The cards were designed much like other tobacco cards of the time to help protect the cigarettes from being damaged. PSA offers a really neat article on the origins of the C56 set here. I am a fan of vintage cards which is part of the reason why I am working on my own Parkhurst project. After reading the PSA article online and seeing an article in the Aug/Sept Beckett I thought about looking for a reprint set of the C56 series. Sure enough, I was able to find a decent set that was done by the Lancaster Company. I am not too sure about the details of this reprint job, but I was able to purchase the set for $4.95 plus $2.50 shipping on Ebay. Other people are selling it for a bit more but the dealer who sent me this set mailed it pretty quick and the quality is decent. I looks like the cards where hand cut much like the original set was so a couple cards are off-centered. The ink of the back is brown much like the original set so all in all they did a pretty good job maintaining the feel and authenticity of the old cards.

Two of the biggest names from the set were Art Ross and Newsy Lalonde.

Art was famous for his donation of the trophy for the leading scorer and Lalonde was one of the first superstars of Ice Hockey. As you can see from the back of the card it is listed as a reprint. The fronts of the C56 are in colour and with the exception of a few are portrait shots.

My favourite card in the 36 card set is Fred "Cyclone" Taylor.

In this photo Fred looks rather menacing and during this time frame he was one of the most paid athletes in sports and the highest paid player in hockey. He made $5250 for a two month season.

Taylor, Ross and Lalonde along with many others from this set would make it into the HHOF. Each card in the original set is considered to be a RC of each player and for some reason both Jack Marshall and Art Ross end up with two cards a piece in the set. Someday it would be nice to buy a card or two from this set, but for now I will have to settle for the reprint version.