Mail Day #14: Taking the Trade Route

I have been spending too much money on cards lately so I figured I could cut down a lot of that spending by trading. The three cards I picked up all came through trade.

A nice short printed Pacific card for my McLean PC. It's been a while since I added a McLean card to my PC, so it's nice to pick one up!

I love any Hasek card picture in the old school Sabres uniform. Anyone remember his ridiculous 93-94 season? Did he ever dominate! It's too bad Topps doesn't produce hockey cards anymore. The Finest series was always such a popular set. This version is the refractor parallel.

I really like the Pinnacle Inside product and it's a shame it never lasted longer then one year. I'm really happy to pick up the best card in the "stoppers" insert set of Patrick Roy.

Thanks for the people who traded with me. It's greatly appreciated.

TTM Mail Day #12: Red Kelly

Red Kelly has always been a GREAT signer through the mail. I have gotten him countless times for my collection on many different items. I will be sending off the picture to Bower next for him to sign it.

I eventually plan to get the "legends" cards framed as I have plenty of them from other players and they would make for a really nice piece on my wall.

This is a custom card I made that I plan to have Bower sign as well. I hope to make other Original Six signature cards, at least one dual signature for the other five teams.

TTM Mail Day #11: Claude Loiselle

Claude Loiselle was a grinding forward in the 80's and 90's. He is now currently the assistant GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs. I sent him a nice letter about the Leafs and his career. He actually took the time to write me a short letter back, which was very nice of him! I also sent about 6 or 7 cards and gave him permission to keep any he liked (which he did).

I like this success because it reminds me of how simple and straight forward collecting was in the early 90's . I really like the design of all the base cards he signed, I'm not sure why but I just really like the 92-93 Topps design!

Thank You Manitoba Moose!

I wasn't having the greatest day and my Girlfriend stopped by my work after she finished her shift. She works at the airport and she mentioned that she checked in a sports team from Winnipeg. She checked the whole team in for their flight, despite the fact that they weren't in the group line. The man who checked the players in was so appreciative that he gave my girlfriend a bag of merchandise because she had saved the team time!

At this point I couldn't figure out who the team was and I figured it was some low level sports team. When I went to her car and saw the bag, I knew right away that it was the Manitoba Moose of the AHL! I opened the bag to find a nice men's flex fit hat, toque and t-shirt. The bag also contained a woman's hat and two ladies t-shirts! The items came to a grand total of $125 + tax and we got them for FREE.

It was a nice surprise that brightened a rough day. I've never heard of a sports team doing this before and it was really nice gesture. I think I will be following the Moose more closely these days!

TTM Mail Day #10: Ron Tugnutt

This mail day was a little different for me! I had made some customs of Ron Tugnutt and I wanted to get them signed so I sent them off! All marks on the pictures are from my scanner bed.

I made two variations of a mask card. These were tough to do because I had to crop the mask from the original photo and clean out the bar area of the mask.

This card is my favourite by far! I will be sending out some of these to other goalies to have signed: mainly retired players, some junior players and lower level current goalies.

A nice 8 X 10! My Wal-Mart wouldn't print it out with the white border on the top and bottom. I think it looks nice anyways and you won't see it when I frame it.

For my heritage set! I did not know Tugnutt had a card in the set until someone sent it to me in a large trade for some goalie cards.

I'm not sure if people actually use the addresses I post, so I'll only post the addy I sent to if it's asked for!

The Tale of Two Goalies

I've remained quiet recently in regards to my opinion on the choice Evgeni Nabokov made with the New York Islanders. I did make one comment on the message board in response to the following quote that Nabokov made:

"It's nothing against the Islanders and their organization. It's nothing to do with that. It's just that I'm at the point in my career where I want to help a team win in the playoffs. I don't see how I could help the Islanders or what I could do for them. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me and I hope they understand that."

- Evgeni Nabokov

My thoughts on this comment initially were that I knew some goalie, some where in the minor leagues or Europe thought that they CAN help the Islanders and would appreciate any opportunity.

With all the focus on the Nabokov situation the Islanders found a goalie they thought might be able to help: Al Montoya. They traded a sixth round pick to the Coyotes organization for Montoya who is a former sixth overall draft pick.

He came to the organization with just four NHL games on his resume and the label of first round bust. On Saturday night he back stopped the surging Isles to a 3-0 shutout win over the Kings. This prompted me to go through a few articles written recently about Montoya.

While Nabokov wanted nothing to do with the Islanders and expressed his disappointment by being picked up by them, Montoya felt the opposite way:

"To tell you the truth, I was excited," Montoya said. "This is unbelievable. This is an opportunity that I've been waiting for however many years I've been pro … six years? I've had a couple of injuries that set me back a couple of years, but at the same time, I'm excited. I knew I'd get a chance here."

It's frustrating how hockey has changed so much over time into a business. I think about how the players in the 50's and 60's didn't make much money and needed jobs in the summer to support their families. Players played because they loved to play.

I think about my own personal life and how playing hockey is not a big part of it anymore. It's not because I don't love it, I just have other priorities in my life such as a career and a future in mind. I can't forget to mention that I had to stop playing ALL SPORTS for over a year to let my left knee/foot heal. Is the passion gone? No, I would gladly take a jersey and a spot on even the worst team if it meant getting back on the ice again.

It pains me to think of all the people out their who dream of playing in the NHL and will never even come close. I think about all the young kids who look up to NHL players and copy there actions. To think of what Nabokov said in regards to hockey and playing for the Islanders disgusts me.

I really like to see a player find success in the NHL after being buried in the minors for so long. I'm rooting for Montoya and I hope he can find the success in the NHL. I'll leave you with my favourite quote from the article I read:

"This is a good situation for me. I'm going to take full advantage of this and I thank this organization for giving me that chance. I'm still young. I still feel good and I'm still learning to this day. It's time to run with it."

- Al Montoya

Mail Day #13: The Class of 1990

When I saw this card on the ITG website, I knew that one day I would have to own it. I also figured landing this baby would be tough because only 50 copies exist and their are plenty of Potvin/Brodeur collectors out there!

I wasn't sure when I bought the card if the Potvin was purple/white for the kings or blue/white for the Leafs. Either way I was happy with the card but I knew that I would be happiest with a Leafs piece. Sure enough, it is a Leafs piece!

A lot of nice Brathwaite cards have been turning up on the bay lately. As much as I'd like to own them all, it's shipping costs that are killing me. It's very tough on the wallet when you have to buy one card at a time from a seller and pay $3 or $4 for shipping. This is a nice lower numbered Brathwaite card that I know I won't see again for a long time