09-10 SPx Brad Marchand Auto Rookie /799

With the win yesterday, Team Canada is on to the finals and if you told me this time last year Brad Marchand would be on the team I would have had two thoughts. Really? and Good for him! After this past season and the World Championships I would have been disappointed if he had been left off the roster because as much as I'd love to see the best pure offensive players Team Canada has to offer, we still need to work both ends of the ice and kill penalties. So far this tournament Brad Marchand has been excellent and completely deserving of his spot on the team and on the line with Bergereon and Crosby.

09-10 SPx Brad Marchand Auto Rookie /799

09-10 was the last season before Upper Deck would have a joint license with Panini so if you're an Upper Deck fan, there were plenty of options for Marchand rookies. I already had a couple before getting this one, most notably was my Young Gun. I used to have a Marchand auto as well but I traded that away for some HOF autos so I was hopeful that I would eventually land another and this was the one that came my way as a replacement.

Brad definitely has one of the more interesting autos out there with his number 63 the only legible aspect on this particular auto. Other times you can see Brad but his last name in my experience is more difficult to decipher.

As far as Marchand goes, I have been a fan of him to some degree since his junior days. I remember seeing him play for the Mooseheads and I would see him do things on the ice no other players would (with the puck) and of course he is still known for doing this other players wouldn't (without the puck). Seeing him have this success is nice being a Nova Scotian and I wish him the best of luck for the rest of this tournament and the rest of his career. He's truly a player in the mould of Claude Lemieux or Esa Tikkanen and when it comes to building a winning team, sometimes you need one or two of these guys. Thanks for stopping by!

09-10 SPX Winning Combos Modano and Ciccarelli - This is what Game Used should look like

When it comes to game used cards I have seen some pretty great ones and some pretty sad ones. However, on the surface some might classify this card as being pretty sad, but I see a gem!

09-10 SPX Winning Combos Modano and Ciccarelli

What do I love about this card? Lets start with the swatches. Sure plain white swatches could be a drag, but I like the white/cream combo big time. Dino was a North Star during the 80's and this swatch makes me believe that it was from a uniform during that time period. Meanwhile, Modano had only 2 games of overlap with Dino and that was as a call-up in the 88-89 playoffs which means I have no problem with his swatch being white as he was a more recent member of the team.

Now lets move on to the photography. Both feature excellent North Stars photos which just adds to the coolness of this because Mike only spent 4 seasons with the North Stars and is best remembered as a Dallas Star where they relocated to in 1993. So both of these photos are the players very early in their careers and both feature the slick North Stars away jerseys but have some white on them as well which again can help the owner of the card believe that the photo and swatch go together.

The last thing I like about this card is the player choices. Sure these two weren't exactly line-mates having only played 2 games together but when you think Minnesota North Stars, I have three players that come to my mind. Modano, Ciccarelli and Broten. So here are two of the more iconic North Stars together and both are HOF'ers, Mike having scored 541 career goals and Dino having scored 608 career goals.

So there you have it, a card that could easily find its way into a dollar bin somewhere has a fan out there who thinks that UD got it right this time and made a great piece of art. Unlike that frankencard that I have of Dino Ciccarelli where he is pictured in a North Stars uniform and there is an ugly red swatch on the card, in my opinion that is how game used cards shouldn't be made!