National Hockey Card Day

 This post is a little late and cleans out some of my saved scans. Upper Deck's National Hockey Card Day 2023 took place on April 15. A departure this year was one set for both the Canadian and American markets. That meant a base set of 30 cards and 1 checklist instead of 2 sets of 15 plus the appropriate checklist. Since I don't have any LCS's, (usually pick up a set later at a garage sale etc), I went to my Toys R'Us to pick up the nine card sheets as I've done in the previous years. Looked sort of promising as the manager was wearing a Lightning jersey but saw no signage. I found out at customer service that their shipment was delayed and they would be getting them in "shortly". He said he could take my name and put a set together and call me to pickup when ready. I was in a few hours after store opening and was surprised to be third on the list. Thought there would have been more. A call came on Tuesday that it was ready. I went in Wednesday and they couldn't find my name on any of the sets put aside. Luckily there was still a lot of sheets left and was able to put together a couple of sets. You've probably seen the cards but here are the sheets in all of their glory. (front and back)

The one thing with collecting the sheets, you do get some doubles, which is not a bad thing.

Enjoy.

OH CANADA

 Good day, eh. Greetings from the Great White North. I'm late posting this mailday  but what better day to get caught up.

Jon over at.A Penny sleeve For Your Thoughts recently had some giveaways during his Take my Stuff Tuesday and Free stuff Friday. I was able to grab a few cards fitting my collecting needs. Correspondence was great as Jon informed me he would be sending by PWE and I was fine with that.

A few weeks later I came home to not one, not two but three PWE's all on the same day. He had mentioned he might find some other cards to send with my "winnings". 

Envelope number 1 contained some Monkees cards, baseball (and Blue Jays content), hockey and 2011 ITG Canadiana.  Gotta love Stompin' Tom and The Hockey Song.  

I has a few cards from this set and glad to add these. I guess I should put this on my "set to be completed" list. 

Envelope number 2 contained some Jeter cards and more Canadiana. I wonder why they were classified as Athlete and not Wrestler. Met Dave Thomas ("Coo loo coo coo, coo coo coo coo" ) once at the Gretzky Tournament and got his autograph.

Envelope number 3 had baseball Topps 50th Anniversary and non-sports-Howard the Duck and Desert Storm. Actress, actor and author. America's Sweetheart, Pa Cartwright and this adaptation of one of Leacock's short stories.

What could be more Canadian than Canadiana?

Oot and aboot

 Had these pictures on my phone and finally getting around to share.

Today we visit Paris. This would be Ontario, not France. We bring you some history of Paris native Charles Joseph Sylvanus Apps. (Jan 18 1915-Dec 24 1998). He was a pretty incredible man. He captained the Toronto Maple Leafs and won Stanley Cups. He won a gold medal in the British Empire Games (now Commonwealth Games). He represented Canada at the Olympics. He was a member of the provincial parliament. He's a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Canadas Sports Hall of Fame and the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame. Is it any wonder the arena in Paris is named after him.

Here are some shots of the exterior and interior of the arena. Enjoy.

90/91 Score Young Superstars # 19

# 19 Trevor Linden

Young--20 years old  

Superstar--an exceptional talent, widely recognized and eagerly sought after for their services

Regular season

GP 1382    G 375  A  492   Pts 867   PIM 895

Playoffs

GP 124   G  34   A  65    Pts. 99  PIM  104


Currently president of hockey operations and alternate governor of the Vancouver Canucks.

NHL debut Oct 6 1988.

2 AllStar game appearances 1991 and 1992

NHL All Rookie team 1989 
King Clancy Memorial Trophy 1997
NHL Foundation Player Award 2008

1996 World Cup
1998 Olympic team
1998 World Champonships

Young, yes but no superstar in my opinion.

Young  13/19, superstar 5/19

Oot and aboot

Continuing with this series visiting hockey related places while day travelling through Ontario.

Today we visit Hagersville, Ontario. Hagersville was named to honour brothers Charles and David Hager in 1852. They had bought up most of the land in the area where a small village existed. It's located 94 km (58.4 miles) from Toronto. Population in 2016 was 2815. Just a little background before we get to the reason for this post.

This isn't about Neil Peart, best known as the drummer for Rush, born in Hagersville in 1952.

No, the sign is out for

3 time Olympic Gold Medalist and 4 time World Champion Becky Kellar.

She retired in 2010 and is now a motivational speaker and runs a hockey camp with former teammate Cheryl Pounder.

While there, had to stop at Timmies to get my double double. (my fellow Canadians will understand this) This particular store had the Tim Horton picture in the window by the entrance door. (notice the hockey stick shaped door handles) The colour bars in the bottom right corner is a timeline for the teams he played for. St Michaels Majors, Pittsburgh Hornets, Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres.

Then it was off for a little relaxation.

Until next time, when we visit somewhere oot and aboot. Stay safe.

Oot & aboot

 It's time for another episode of Oot & aboot. As a special bonus, there will also be a history lesson of sorts.

91/92 ProSet # 339

In the early days of hockey, the ice had to be shovelled manually or scraped by a tractor with with a large blade. Some used a wheelbarrow, hoses and squeegees to flood the ice surface. Others made their own contraptions to water the ice. This was a very time consuming process. Frank Zamboni owned a skating rink and the length of time to resurface would cut into their profits.

90/91 Upper Deck # 549

 

With a background in refrigeration and cooling, he set about to build a better mouse trap. His first prototype was a tractor towing a machine which attempted to sweep the ice shavings. Unfortunately, it proved unreliable. He tinkered with this from 1942 to 1947 but could not come up with anything to suit his needs. He then started with a new blueprint, to combine the tractor and trailer into one machine. A few more years of modifying the machine ensued, and in 1949, he had built the Zamboni ice resurfacer which is pretty much what is in use today. It made its NHL debut on March 10 1955 in Montreal.

Here's a view of the Zamboni plant in Brantford. However, there are no guided tours.

 05/06 Upper Deck Toronto Maple Leaf Zamboni with Vesa Toskala card.

This is another one of those hockey related items available here in Brantford.

More SDM repacks

 I was out yesterday at Shoppers Drug Mart getting some "essentials" They also had restocked the card section with more of the assorted repacks. Price has now increased to $1.49 each. I picked up these two packs. I honestly do not remember these 2005-06 Upper Deck Rookie update is an Upper Deck product released to deal with the double rookie class. It adds to several different products ( Artifacts, Black Diamond, SP Game Used etc). It adds as many as 100 rookies to some products as well as provides its own unique set of cards, that includes rookies, memorabilia and autograph cards. It is a must for anyone wishing to finish 05/06 products.  

  .  

This is just a small sampling. I like how the borders are coordinated with the team colours. Also, getting a dual jersey #'d 777/999 was nice. There was also a chance to get Crosby and Ovechkin autographs (slim to none for me). I would pick up more of these if I see them again.