richie.rocket.cards
Verified Trader,
Merry Christmas, and Happy 2015!
It has been a rather busy fall/winter, with a lot of traveling for work, and agonizing over residency applications, interview prep, exams, etc...all boring stuff which we will not talk about in here
It has been slow building custom cards also as I have been away from home, and thus, away from my preferred local printer.
Still, my travels opened some great opportunities for my hobby interest--we'll get into that in a bit
To start, a few new RCs: as of late, I have become very selective about who I pick up, largely because there are just too many RCs per year, and in fact, waiting a year or two can really help the wallet
Elias Lindholm: I believe this guy has a real bright future, not super fancy, but what a nice wrist shot
Olli Maatta: not sure how the Pens keep doing it, but they seem to be able to spew out young talent year in and out
Filip Forsberg: look no further, Forsberg has already arrived with a fantastic start this year--funny how in July, I picked this up for $9
Mike Comrie! I picked this up for $2 just for pure nostalgia...I recall this was a very sought-after commodity in the early 2000s
Next, onto some new Canucks pick-ups
I'm thankful that Panini has, over their few years producing hockey, injected some new Canuck players into the hobby scene (e.g. Higgins, Tanev, etc). This past year, Upper Deck has been either recycling the same 3-4 players, or just not having any Canucks autos/jerseys in sets at all (see the thin Canucks representation in Black Diamond). Hopefully, with the Canucks' new additions including Miller, Matthias, Vey, Dorsett, Bonino, Sbisa, there will be plenty new Canucks cards in upcoming sets
Thanks Trevor (Fritz) for these two:
Ryan Stanton:
A few cards I acquired for cheap while attending a trade night in Calgary:
Some Jannik Hansen:
Some Alex Burrows:
Some other dudes:
And a very well done Richard Brodeur from Upper Deck:
Some other cool cards:
Bernie Nicholls Flashback Fabrics: been wanting one of these for a long time, largely because those Kings jerseys are awesome!
Pat Fa-la-la-la-la--la-LaFontaine! I feel he needs more NHL cards also
Kirk Muller: one of his few autographs, and in the old NJ uniform!
While in Calgary, I had the pleasure of meeting one of our esteemed members Brett (bamlinden)! He invited me out to a trade night at a local card shop, and while my student budget only allowed me to spend conservatively, it was a great time meeting other collectors, watching group breaks/pack wars, and of course, seeing some of Brett's new Trevor Linden cards! Thanks Brett, hopefully will see you again the next time I come through your city!
I caved while looking through some of that hobby shop's display cases on this:
Fantastic as we all know Shanahan is a tough signer all around, and his hard-signed cards are tought to come by
Next, a rare Andy Moog (love those 80s Oilers jerseys)
Joe Nieuwendyk in a fantastic 90s Flames jersey
Mats Sundin (seems I am being sucked in by these vintage jerseys!_
Cujo in Blues
Finally, here is a card I've been looking for a while now: Martin Brodeur Endorsed Emblems (surely one of my favorite subsets of all time)!
TTM autographs:
Ming-Na Wen from Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, many people forget she was also the voice of Mulan back in the day:
2 from Don Tannahill
2 from Wendell Young:
1 from Shannon Szabados!
1 from Jim Wiley:
1 from Rob McClanahan (even though he didn't technically play an official game for the Canucks):
1 from Chris McAllister:
Canadian soccer superstar Christine Sinclair:
2 from Ryan Johnson:
1 from Team Canada captain Caroline Ouellette!
2 from Dean Malkoc:
2 from Raphael Diaz:
1 from Barry Wilcox (he signed the penny sleeve =( oh well)
2 from Glen Richardson (too bad he signed the backside of both):
1 from Team Canada's Meaghan Mikkelson (who was also on Amazing Race):
2 from Darren Archibald right before Christmas:
2 from John Hughes:
A few returns IP through a friend
2 from Tom Sestito IP:
1 from Chris Higgins also IP:
2 from Mike Keane thanks largely to Tim (TurcoCollector3) for getting these IP! I am only showing one of the two for now as the other has yet to be completed. Thanks Tim!
And the rest:
Sergei Fedorov! I'd been dreaming of adding a high-end Fedorov card to my collection as he was one of my favorite non-Canucks players growing up...but as we all know, he barely signs, and aside from some of his unbelievably difficult-to-find buyback autos, his hard-signed cards are few and far between. So when AJ's SportsWorld announced he was doing a private signing for them, I knew it would be a rare chance to do something out of the ordinary:
Yes of course, wish it was a Red Wings patch, but there were none I could find in the correct size. The actual signing was postponed twice so actually, this card was made nearly two years ago. Glad it is finally complete with the signature!
Lastly, the Cuts! Some players are too difficult to track down TTM, or are known non-signers, have no hockey-related whereabouts, or have passed away. While it would be ideal to have hard-signed autos of everyone, Cut autos are a very nice alternative for this player subset:
Patrik Sundstrom (he may in fact be actively involved with Bjorkloven HC, but I have yet to see an actual success TTM):
Brendan Shanahan (traditionally a tough signer, he may be better these last few years; still, most of his autos, he is pictured in Wings, NYR, or Whalers; he needs more NJ Devils, and Blues stuff:
Jiri Bubla: another hard to find former Canuck (same design as Shanahan; to note, they are both gold-stamped):
Mike Vernon! He barely signs anything, but AJ's managed again to set up a private signing with him. The pad is actually game used, taken from one of ITG BTP sets:
Dave Balon: August 2, 1938 – May 29, 2007
No option but to use a cut auto here. Was very fortunate to find a signed index card of Mr. Balon, and a perfect size for this design also!
A big thanks to HI member Trevor (Fritz) for helping with the patch windows on the Vernon and the Balon (laser cutting), they are way cleaner cuts than I could ever do by hand!
George Gardner: October 8, 1942 – November 6, 2006
One of the goalies in the Canucks' inaugural year!
Pavol Demitra: 29 November 1974 – 7 September 2011
Certainly one of the most tragic hockey-related incidents during my lifetime; I wish I had gotten the opportunity to meet Demitra during his time in Vancouver
Wayne Maki: November 20, 1944 – May 12, 1974
Another tragic hockey incident, where Maki's life was ended much too short secondary to brain malignancy at the tender age of 29. I feel his number 11 should remain honored and retired as it has been (except when a certain Canuck captain demaded it in 1997) since his death in 1974.
Last but not least, a very tough signer stemming back to his playing days: Gary Smith! Stats aside, some may not know that "Suitcase" Smith actually shared the Vezina with Esposito in 72, and finished 5th in balloting for the Hart after a tremendous 74-75 season for the Canucks!
Thanks for the look everyone! Hope the New Year is a good one for collecting, and hockey in general!
It has been a rather busy fall/winter, with a lot of traveling for work, and agonizing over residency applications, interview prep, exams, etc...all boring stuff which we will not talk about in here
It has been slow building custom cards also as I have been away from home, and thus, away from my preferred local printer.
Still, my travels opened some great opportunities for my hobby interest--we'll get into that in a bit
To start, a few new RCs: as of late, I have become very selective about who I pick up, largely because there are just too many RCs per year, and in fact, waiting a year or two can really help the wallet
Elias Lindholm: I believe this guy has a real bright future, not super fancy, but what a nice wrist shot
Olli Maatta: not sure how the Pens keep doing it, but they seem to be able to spew out young talent year in and out
Filip Forsberg: look no further, Forsberg has already arrived with a fantastic start this year--funny how in July, I picked this up for $9
Mike Comrie! I picked this up for $2 just for pure nostalgia...I recall this was a very sought-after commodity in the early 2000s
Next, onto some new Canucks pick-ups
I'm thankful that Panini has, over their few years producing hockey, injected some new Canuck players into the hobby scene (e.g. Higgins, Tanev, etc). This past year, Upper Deck has been either recycling the same 3-4 players, or just not having any Canucks autos/jerseys in sets at all (see the thin Canucks representation in Black Diamond). Hopefully, with the Canucks' new additions including Miller, Matthias, Vey, Dorsett, Bonino, Sbisa, there will be plenty new Canucks cards in upcoming sets
Thanks Trevor (Fritz) for these two:
Ryan Stanton:
A few cards I acquired for cheap while attending a trade night in Calgary:
Some Jannik Hansen:
Some Alex Burrows:
Some other dudes:
And a very well done Richard Brodeur from Upper Deck:
Some other cool cards:
Bernie Nicholls Flashback Fabrics: been wanting one of these for a long time, largely because those Kings jerseys are awesome!
Pat Fa-la-la-la-la--la-LaFontaine! I feel he needs more NHL cards also
Kirk Muller: one of his few autographs, and in the old NJ uniform!
While in Calgary, I had the pleasure of meeting one of our esteemed members Brett (bamlinden)! He invited me out to a trade night at a local card shop, and while my student budget only allowed me to spend conservatively, it was a great time meeting other collectors, watching group breaks/pack wars, and of course, seeing some of Brett's new Trevor Linden cards! Thanks Brett, hopefully will see you again the next time I come through your city!
I caved while looking through some of that hobby shop's display cases on this:
Fantastic as we all know Shanahan is a tough signer all around, and his hard-signed cards are tought to come by
Next, a rare Andy Moog (love those 80s Oilers jerseys)
Joe Nieuwendyk in a fantastic 90s Flames jersey
Mats Sundin (seems I am being sucked in by these vintage jerseys!_
Cujo in Blues
Finally, here is a card I've been looking for a while now: Martin Brodeur Endorsed Emblems (surely one of my favorite subsets of all time)!
TTM autographs:
Ming-Na Wen from Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, many people forget she was also the voice of Mulan back in the day:
2 from Don Tannahill
2 from Wendell Young:
1 from Shannon Szabados!
1 from Jim Wiley:
1 from Rob McClanahan (even though he didn't technically play an official game for the Canucks):
1 from Chris McAllister:
Canadian soccer superstar Christine Sinclair:
2 from Ryan Johnson:
1 from Team Canada captain Caroline Ouellette!
2 from Dean Malkoc:
2 from Raphael Diaz:
1 from Barry Wilcox (he signed the penny sleeve =( oh well)
2 from Glen Richardson (too bad he signed the backside of both):
1 from Team Canada's Meaghan Mikkelson (who was also on Amazing Race):
2 from Darren Archibald right before Christmas:
2 from John Hughes:
A few returns IP through a friend
2 from Tom Sestito IP:
1 from Chris Higgins also IP:
2 from Mike Keane thanks largely to Tim (TurcoCollector3) for getting these IP! I am only showing one of the two for now as the other has yet to be completed. Thanks Tim!
And the rest:
Sergei Fedorov! I'd been dreaming of adding a high-end Fedorov card to my collection as he was one of my favorite non-Canucks players growing up...but as we all know, he barely signs, and aside from some of his unbelievably difficult-to-find buyback autos, his hard-signed cards are few and far between. So when AJ's SportsWorld announced he was doing a private signing for them, I knew it would be a rare chance to do something out of the ordinary:
Yes of course, wish it was a Red Wings patch, but there were none I could find in the correct size. The actual signing was postponed twice so actually, this card was made nearly two years ago. Glad it is finally complete with the signature!
Lastly, the Cuts! Some players are too difficult to track down TTM, or are known non-signers, have no hockey-related whereabouts, or have passed away. While it would be ideal to have hard-signed autos of everyone, Cut autos are a very nice alternative for this player subset:
Patrik Sundstrom (he may in fact be actively involved with Bjorkloven HC, but I have yet to see an actual success TTM):
Brendan Shanahan (traditionally a tough signer, he may be better these last few years; still, most of his autos, he is pictured in Wings, NYR, or Whalers; he needs more NJ Devils, and Blues stuff:
Jiri Bubla: another hard to find former Canuck (same design as Shanahan; to note, they are both gold-stamped):
Mike Vernon! He barely signs anything, but AJ's managed again to set up a private signing with him. The pad is actually game used, taken from one of ITG BTP sets:
Dave Balon: August 2, 1938 – May 29, 2007
No option but to use a cut auto here. Was very fortunate to find a signed index card of Mr. Balon, and a perfect size for this design also!
A big thanks to HI member Trevor (Fritz) for helping with the patch windows on the Vernon and the Balon (laser cutting), they are way cleaner cuts than I could ever do by hand!
George Gardner: October 8, 1942 – November 6, 2006
One of the goalies in the Canucks' inaugural year!
Pavol Demitra: 29 November 1974 – 7 September 2011
Certainly one of the most tragic hockey-related incidents during my lifetime; I wish I had gotten the opportunity to meet Demitra during his time in Vancouver
Wayne Maki: November 20, 1944 – May 12, 1974
Another tragic hockey incident, where Maki's life was ended much too short secondary to brain malignancy at the tender age of 29. I feel his number 11 should remain honored and retired as it has been (except when a certain Canuck captain demaded it in 1997) since his death in 1974.
Last but not least, a very tough signer stemming back to his playing days: Gary Smith! Stats aside, some may not know that "Suitcase" Smith actually shared the Vezina with Esposito in 72, and finished 5th in balloting for the Hart after a tremendous 74-75 season for the Canucks!
Thanks for the look everyone! Hope the New Year is a good one for collecting, and hockey in general!
