The Ultimate Hockey Card Set - Card #53

I can't believe it's been nearly two weeks since my last post.  Things have been a little hectic around here lately, but despite the lack of posting I've still been reading all of the other great sports card blogs out there, and have picked up plenty of new cardboard recently as well.  I'll try to get back into the swing of things here with another selection for The Ultimate Hockey Card Set.  Today we'll choose card #53 for the franken-set.  First, let's take a look at a few card #53s from my collection that did not make the cut...
 

I've mentioned quite a few times before that I have a soft spot for '89-90 Topps/O-Pee-Chee.  It was the very first set that I collected as a kid, in fact I still have my original white 3-ring binder with all the cards sorted out by team.  Unfortunately for Guy here, there were just too many better #53s in my monster boxes.  Besides, I just selected the Sakic rookie from '89-90 Topps in my last Ultimate Hockey Card Set post.

Card #53 in the inaugural Upper Deck flagship set belongs to Dale Hawerchuk.  This card got some consideration for a number of reasons.  First of all, I definitely want to include a '90-91 Upper Deck card at some point because it was a pretty ground-breaking set at the time.  Secondly, I would like to cover as many teams as possible in the set and I haven't yet chosen a Winnipeg Jet.  Finally, Dale Hawerchuk is a Hall-of-Famer and is probably worthy of inclusion in the set as well.  Despite all of these facts though, this card just comes up short.

I have quite a few #53s that feature teams of the past, like this 1981-82 Topps Whalers team leaders card...

...or this 1977-78 O-Pee-Chee WHA card featuring Dennis Sobchuk of the Cincinnati Stingers.  Man those old WHA logos are great.

I really enjoyed hand-collating the 2008-09 Upper Deck Masterpieces set a few years ago, and it's got a pretty strong #53 on the checklist in the form of Guy Lafleur.  Guy is certainly worthy of inclusion, but I'm confident I can find a better Lafleur card than this in my collection.

This shiny Sergei Fedorov is card #53 in the 2001-02 Topps Chrome set.  I'm a big Fedorov guy but today is not his day...

Now we get down to the final three.  Capturing the bronze is this Ron Francis base card from Upper Deck The Cup.  Certainly one of my thickest cards, but not as nice as the two cards that beat it out.  Besides, I already selected Francis' O-Pee-Chee rookie for this set.

The runner-up is Wayne Gretzky's base card from the 1987-88 Topps set.  I've got the O-Pee-Chee version as well, and it's certainly a nice looking card.  I'm sure at least one or two more Gretzky's will be selected for this set eventually, but today Wayne has been beaten out by a card that's just plain better than this one.  Here's your winner, card #53 in The Ultimate Hockey Card Set:

1986-87 Topps - #53 - Patrick Roy (RC)

This card was one of the top additions to my collection over the past winter.  Patrick Roy's rookie is one of those cards that I've always coveted, even more so in the past couple of years since I decided to focus heavily on completing the run of Topps hockey sets from '79-80 through '89-90.  When I had a little extra tax money in my pocket a few months ago, and found this one at a price I was satisfied with, I finally pulled the trigger.

Roy was one of the best (arguably the best) goalies to ever put on pads, and the rookie card of the Hall-of-Famer and Stanley Cup champion is one of the more instantly recognizable hockey cards out there.  I can't think of another card #53 that could supplant this one, can you?

The Ultimate Hockey Card Set, now at 15 cards and counting, can be seen here...