08-09 ITG Ultimate Memorabilia 9th Edition Ultimate Auto Mates Silver Brodeur/Luongo /24

More slabbed fun! This time Marty has a friend in this Team Canada themed piece. While this particular combo didn't fare so well at the 2006 Olympics, Marty and Bobby did win at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey and would eventually win a gold medal together at the 2010 Olympics thus making this card a little more cool and relevant.


08-09 ITG Ultimate Memorabilia 9th Edition Ultimate Auto Mates Silver Brodeur/Luongo /24

I love the fact that these two future Hall of Famers are joined together on this one card and this being a Team Canada card makes it a little more enjoyable for me as a fan and a collector since I didn't care too much for Luongo during his Vancouver or earlier years. Recently I respected his move back to Florida and am loving that he has helped turn them into a competitive club. The only draw back to this card in my opinion is it appears ITG used two different kinds of stickers on the autographs and that is a tiny bit distracting.

Here is the backside of the card. I do wish the Ultimate fact and Congratulations switched spots and there was a little more info on the successes they had as teammates but alas the Dr. has spoken!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for the slab tips, I will keep playing around as I have a few more slabs to share!

Ilya Kovalchuk - ITG Superlative Volume 2 Auto

Well, still no end in sight to this LOCK-OUT, so on to wishful thinking. I picked up another Kovy auto for my collection (free of charge) thanks to eBay dollars. The card is from the ITG Superlative Volume 2 release from 2008. I have never bought or seen any of these cards, but in person it is a pretty simple and nice card. The auto is on card and the back is very plain. It may not be the nicest Kovy card in my collection, it does offer a large and well displayed auto and the price was right!

08-09 ITG Superlative Volume 2 Ilya Kovalchuk A-IK Auto

As you can see, this is limited to just 50 copies. Even though it isn't the rarest or nicest Kovy auto in my collection, I do love it the same as the others and I like that the card is a little thicker in stock and really focuses on just the player's penmanship. If the player didn't have much of a signature the card would clearly suck, but for players with nice autographs, the design works for it.

For those who aren't following the KHL as of Nov 6, Alexander Radulov is leading the league in scoring with 31 points followed by Sergei Mozyakin with 29 points and Malkin and Kovy finish out the top 4 with 28 and 26 points respectively. Of the four, Kovy has the highest points per game and highest +/- rating. If Kovy kept this pace in the NHL for a full 80 game season he would have 45 goals and 130 points. 130 points in the NHL would smash the Devils points in a season record (Elias has it with 96), a fella can dream right?

Chris Doyle Auto

Chris Doyle is a household name...if you have lived in PEI from 06-10 or are a close follower of the ECHL. If you said no to either, then you are in the same class as me and have no idea who he is!

Despite having some decent QMJHL numbers and being NHL drafted (Rangers), Chris has yet to see any AHL or NHL action. He is only 22 years old, so it certainly isn't too late for him to make it, so a buck for this card isn't a huge gamble in my opinion.

08/09 ITG Heroes and Prospects

I really like the look of these cards. Huge space for an autograph and a pretty nice layout. I actually like this look better than ITG's auto layouts for the past two seasons. I got this card in a lot with two others which I will share in my next posts!