Dollarama Repack

The First Noel Joel

On a cold winters night.,  I had to make a stop at Dollarama. After seeing the new hockey repack that 

Doug from Sportscards from the Dollar Store opened, I checked to see what they had. Lo and behold, there weren't any of  the 80 card repacks but a 40 card one that included one memorabilia card . 

I'm a sucker for jersey/autographed cards so into the basket it went.

And here they are in all their glory that shone round about them.

Your usual suspects, Score and Parkhurst.

Bowman and ProSet

A mix of newer stuff.

Upper Deck

The Artifacts was the card showing on the front. On the back was the Komarov card from Leafs Centennial set. I did need another one so I picked this pack.

And the star of  the pack

• • 2001-02 SPx #145H Joel Kwiatkowski HM 196/1500 RC

According to my records, this is the first Joel in my collection.

As expected, a bunch of junk wax era cards and a few Leafs for my collection. There went my $4.00 on a fun little rip.

Upstanding Comedy

Lat weekend went to Upstanding Comedy Tour and friends of ours were one of the opening acts for The Fidgets, the headline act on the tour. All the comedians on The Circuit provide clean family entertainment for the whole family. It was a fun time and was thoroughly entertaining.

So, since this is a hockey blog, you may be wondering what this has to do with hockey.

⬇️⬇️

Our friends decided at the last minute to invite Brantford's Lord Mayor

WALLY

Got to hang out with him a bit. He still draws the crowds as he posed for pictures and signed autographs for anyone who asked.

And since the Leafs weren't playing, all was good.

My Wild Hockey Life

Not mine though. I'm talking about that wild and crazy guy Georg Festrunk  Miroslav Frycer.

  

I recently had the opportunity to review Lubos Brabec's book on him.

"My Wild Hockey Life"

I'll have to admit that, even being a Leafs fan, I didn't know a lot about Frycer.  He defected, played for the Nordiques and traded to Toronto. After that, played in Detroit and Edmonton, then fell off  the face of the earth. This is not your usual story but one "wild" life, both on and off the ice. I highly recommend this for Leafs and hockey fans everywhere.

So, in return for my reviewing the book, I received this autographed copy. First time obtaining an autograph by this method and BONUS, it's a Leaf. 

SCORE

Frank(ly), it's Bath(e) time

No, we're not going to talk about my personal hygiene. Another add to my autographed card collection.

80/81 OPC # 389 RC

My buddy waited 4 years for this return. I traded him two ProSet football base cards he wanted for this.. 

I don't think I took a bath on this transaction.

Fight Card

http://dropyourgloves.com/fights/FightCard.aspx?P=215

Oot and aboot--Waterford Edition

No, this isn't about Waterford crystal patterns or china place settings. Today let's visit another small town Ontario homage to one of their native sons. This is another sign that I drive by a lot and finally snapped a pic to share.

12 year vet Nelson Emerson and 2012 Stanley Cup Champ with the Los Angeles Kings in the player development department.

Oot and aboot--June 24 2018

Burford Ontario

I've always been meaning to take a shot of this sign Welcoming you to Burford. The New jersey Devil logo was on their for years. When I finally got around to taking the photo, it had been altered and the Anaheim Ducks logo adorns the sign. Welcome to small town Ontario as I was oot and aboot.

Oot and Aboot

Now another installment in my regular near dormant series. I don't know if this is a Canadian thing or what. Inside Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre, there is the Brantford and Area Sports Hall of  athletes,  buildersRecognition. This recognizes athletic achievements by local residents. Since 1984, the Hall has inducted 87 athletes,  5 builders, 40 individuals and 31 teams. Last night I attended the 2018 induction ceremony.

I had the program signed by the 4 honoured guests last night

along with these 4 x 6 cards. I'll add these to my collection of members of the Hall.

I always love refreshments and light snacks. (served after the ceremony) . I'm guessing some of you readers have something similar. I'd like to see what you have. 

And so ends another segment of Oot and Aboot.

Waiting 'til Next Year

  No I did have to. More like waiting til next week.

 P-Town Tom of Waiting 'til Next Year fame was cleaning out his collection and was sending out cards to you for your team of preference. FREE. He confirmed he would ship to Canada and, of course, picked the Blue Jays. He shipped on Thursday  May 17 and I received a 400 count box on Tuesday May 22. Now we don't have mail delivery on Saturday or Sunday and that Monday was a holiday, Victoria Day. Now that is some service. Here's a smattering of the goodness I received.

The, I think should be obligatory note. I always send one with my packages.

Love me some vintage.

And the shiny, doesn't scan well, can't read names cards.

Oddball for the oddball.

And to end it all, junk wax,  over production era gems.

Added some good stuff to the ever burgeoning Jays collection.

Thanks again Tom for your generosity.

Tis the Season

 I haven't been as prolific a blogger the last few years. I went from daily to monthly to whenever. The last few years has been busy. Besides my full time job, my wife and I run a registered non-profit cat rescue. This has taken up most of my spare time and resources. I still buy a pack here and there to help scratch the itch.(not of the cat scratch fever type). Finally getting around to posting the package I received from Jeff at 2 x 3 Heroes. He found the package he was sending to me from 2016. Sitting back and looking at this card goodness is RELAXING. I get to see stuff that I missed while adding to my collection

Four nice bricks of cards

15/16 Champs--Since I had none of these, all keepers. The almost all white card makes for a nice clean look.

16/17 UD S1. A few Leafs, some stars, hometown boy. Usual great UD photo selection.

And an unexpected bonus. Toronto Maple Leafs Zamboni and card (it's blurry but maybe a good thing as the card is Vesa Toskala. This is going with my other Leaf  stuff on one of the bookcases.

I picked this up around noon and had to wait until after 10 to finally open the package. Worth the wait and was a great time.

National Hockey Card Day 2018

Made my annual pilgrimage to Toys R Us to pick up some card sheets. I was busy yesterday and couldn't make it and was glad there were some still available today. The lady behind the counter was going to give me just one but I asked if I could get enough sheets so I could have all the cards. She must have helped people yesterday as she knew how to get he ones I needed. And now, here they are.

Now another years wait.