08-09 Upper Deck Ben Bishop Young Gun

Goaltenders are an interesting breed and that is probably true regardless of sport. To be willing to have a collection of athletes pound/shoot/fire objects at you as hard as they can in the hopes you will miss often bring out the most interesting of volunteers who are suckers for punishment. Not only are goaltenders subjected to this, they also have to wear wins and losses like badges of honour or scarlet letters. I believe it is because of these job hazards you get lots of players who just don't cut it and disappear and so very few players in this position go on to have lengthy careers.

However, I also believe to some degree what doesn't kill you can only make you stronger and that is why many goaltenders tend to have their best years during the second half of their career or if you are looking at numbers, in their late 20's and early 30's. This brings me to Mr. Ben Bishop.

Ben is a player who had a tough season last year and I believe is poised to have an amazing year this coming season for a number of reasons. First off, he is headed to a club that grossly under-performed last year and has the fire power to be a Cup contender. Secondly, Ben is now 30 years young in age and I believe he has a few 40 win seasons left in the tank and the next couple years could potentially be his finest which is saying lots because he already won 40 games once and finished as a Vezina trophy finalist twice.


08-09 Upper Deck Ben Bishop Young Gun

As far as Young Guns go, this one is pretty lame. The photo is very plain and almost depressing. Ben hasn't had time to paint his mask yet and he almost looks like he finished up the second half of warm ups and is on his way to the bench. Couple that with the fact that this is my least favourite Young Gun design in the past 15 years you get a pretty average card. However, it's in Ben I trust and this time it's the person that makes this card cool and not the design or photo.

What are your thoughts? Are the Stars contenders again thanks to Ben Bishop? Or will he be revealed as a good goalie because of a good system in Tampa and will be exposed as a fraud in Dallas? I know he is a bit unlucky with the timeliness of his past injuries but hopefully those are all behind him and he will have a great 4 years in Texas. Thanks for stopping by!

08-09 Upper Deck Cory Schneider Young Gun

As a person who has been a Devils fan since 1987 I have been pretty lucky to have missed the very early years and most of the time the Devils had Martin Brodeur and some guy backing him up. Don't get me wrong, I love our history and I fondly remember Chris Terreri, Craig Billington, Rollie Melanson and of course Sean Burke. But, with that being said Martin was the man for so many seasons it is still even strange this day to look at our club with all of its players and see someone other than Marty in goal.

The past few seasons have been tough but one area where we still have been very blessed is in goal and I find it strange that internally I don't have this drive to try and grab up everything Cory. His numbers are remarkable and the games he keeps us in each night or even steals are just fabulous for the Devils organization which has lead me to ask myself, why am I not goo-goo for Schneider's cards? I honestly don't know why, but I do have a few of his autographs and game used cards and here is just my third Schneider rookie!

08-09 Upper Deck Cory Schneider Young Gun

The first Schneider rookie I ever got was one I pulled from a pack of OPC. Then about a year or two ago I picked up this auto rookie. I knew eventually I would cross paths with his Young Gun and alas I can say I have one and it's a very nice card when you see it for yourself. I don't think I really had "looked" at one until this one arrived in my collection. Looks like the Canucks were in town to face the Blue Jackets. I love the hovering puck!

So with this card in the collection, I don't want to say I am done with Cory but I don't see myself running out and trading the farm to add any more or saving up for months to try and buy a The Cup rookie. However, should someone offer me one for trade and the deal sounds right I just might. I guess you could call me a causal Schneider collector but I assure you despite that title, I am a big fan of what he has done for the club and hope that he will get us back into the playoffs!