A gift from a student - Jack Johnson Auto Puck

Teaching is one thing I love to do and collecting is another. All my students know I love hockey and they see that by all the hockey stuff in my classroom and they see it when I coach our girls hockey team. Sometimes I am surprised by how much they care about my day to day efforts and I occasionally get a token of their appreciation. One student I taught and still teach was able to score a couple autographed pucks from Jack Johnson and they gave one of them to me. 

Even though he was already in Columbus, Jack seems to not mind giving out memorabilia featuring his time with the LA Kings. He sadly missed out on a Cup thanks to a mid-season trade that sent him to Columbus for Jeff Carter but with Columbus appearing to be on an up-swing, he still may get a chance someday to hoist the Cup.

There was a time when I really wanted to get his auto, however since then I was luck enough to get one for free thanks to a contest Casey had on his blog Drop The Gloves! and now I have this one. All three will remain in my collection and each has a nice story to go with them. The Jack Johnson puck currently is displayed in a puck holder on my desk at school and I think that is a great home for it.

Long over due contest thanks to Drop The Gloves!

Here is another post that I have really been meaning to fire off, but alas no time and no life has been in the way.... When the Devils lost in the Cup final, Casey's contest at Drop The Gloves! ensured I wasn't a complete loser as my randomly assigned team was the LA Kings.

Here is my Kings ransom of loot and crown jewels! Thanks Casey.

07-08 SPX Jack Johnson Rookie /999

Remember back to 07-08 when Jack Johnson was the top hold-over rookie? Well his career hasn't quite taken off as some have predicted but he is a pretty good defenseman who missed out on a ring thanks to a trade with the Bluejackets.

10-11 Crown Royale Drew Doughty Auto /100

Here is someone who didn't miss out on his ring. Drew is a going to be a huge part of the 2014 Games if NHL'ers are allowed to participate and I do respect this guy's game.



Both of these guys are very welcome additions to my collection especially Doughty since this is my first auto of his and my Johnson is my first legit auto rookie of his. In addition to these two awesome cards, there were a pile of other rookies of current and former Kings including Jeff Carter, Brayden Schenn etc. So thank you very very much for helping me deal with a loss Casey....it did sting a tiny bit less knowing you were going to take care of me.

Another BAP auto lot

About a year and a half ago, I decided that I needed to increase my autograph collection. At the time it was probably around 20-30 autos. Today I think my collection has increased into the 200 range. Part of the reason are TTM's and the other are Be a Player Lot purchases. I have picked up a several over the last few months and here is one of them.

The lot had 7 cards and my winning bid was $5.51 plus shipping.

The main reason I bought the lot was for shoot-out stud Jack Johnson. I am a pretty big fan of his and I have wanted an auto for some time. When this lot came up, I was hoping I could get it for under 7 bucks and sure enough I did. These are all from the 07-08 BAP set which sorta makes it a rookie auto for the people like me with a "loose" definition of a rookie.

This was prior to the trade that shipped him to hobby hell where all cards tank in value aka Columbus. His auto is an excellent example of great penmanship.

The rest of the autos are pretty cool too!
Here are Chris Phillips (already had one of his), Keith Ballard and Pierre-Marc Bouchard.

The final three are Johan Hedberg (another reason for the lot), Jere Lehtinen and Kris Russell (another rookie auto).

I try and limit my bids to the cost of postage believe it or not. I usually say an auto through the mail will cost me between 1.50 and 2 bucks. If I can land the auto from under 1.50 each with shipping I will do it. Not that I wouldn't enjoy writing them a letter, but my time these days is pretty limited, so if I can spent that time writing someone who's autos are more expensive, then I can accomplish more on a tighter budget.