A Short Stint on the Want List

In yesterday's post I covered the Whalers from the 1996-97 Collector's Choice set. I remarked at the time that I was missing a single Whaler card from the base set, card #343 of Jeff O'Neill. While rummaging through a random box of assorted baseball and hockey this evening, guess what I stumbled across:

Crossing a card off the want list without having to do a single thing to acquire it is a pretty nice feeling! This is a prime example of why my major goal for my vacation from work next week is to work on organizing my collection. I've come a long way in the past year, but I'm still not there yet. As I stated yesterday, this is a pretty cheesy card, I'm not really feeling the "Captain Tomorrow" theme. Reading the back, I think Upper Deck thought a little too highly of O'Neill at the time:


That's not all though, right next to O'Neill in the very same box I found a 96-97 Collector's Choice insert that I needed for my team set as well:

#UD26 - Brendan Shanahan - MVP Insert

Nothing spectacular about this design, although I think the photo does a pretty good job of portraying how Shanahan felt about having to play in Hartford. This is the regular version of the MVP insert, but there is a Gold version as well. That one I do not have, so it's now on the want list. I guess that's the way Want Lists work, every time I scratch one card off I end up adding another!


More Whale on the way soon!

Ladies and Gentlemen...Your Hartford Whalers!!!

The 2011-12 NHL season is just around the corner, and I'm giddy with anticipation. In case you couldn't tell by my recent posts, I've been on a bit of a hockey kick lately and baseball has sort of gone on the back burner. With pre-season hockey already underway, I thought I would dedicate these few weeks leading up to the regular season to my favorite hockey team of all-time, the Hartford Whalers! I'll be showcasing some of my favorite Whalers cards of old, as well as a few new gems I've added to the collection recently. To go along with that, I've got a new blog banner, new favicon, and have even set the Whalers theme song, Brass Bonanza, to play when you visit the blog. Yup, there's going to be a whole lot of Whale posted here in the near future. Captain Canuck, you may want to "unfollow" me now!

We'll kick things off with some 1996-97 Upper Deck Collector's Choice. These came from a huge lot of Whaler cards that I won on eBay a while ago. The 96-97 Collector's Choice base set is sorted out by team, and the Whalers are represented on cards 112-121. Here are all 10 in order:

#112 - Brendan Shanahan

The Whalers acquired Shanahan for Chris Pronger before the 1995-96 season. He was named Captain, but was unhappy about having to play in Hartford. He scored 44 goals and registered better than a point-per-game that year, but nonetheless made enough noise in the off-season that he was stripped of the C and was dealt from the team just 2 games into the 96-97 season. As for Pronger, well we all know what he went on to do (and is still doing to this day). Just another of Hartford's famed awful trades.

#113 - Geoff Sanderson

Sanderson was arguably the second-best offensive talent on the team at the time, behind Shanahan.

#114 - Andrei Nikolishin

I have to say that for a cheap set released 15 years ago these cards aren't half-bad. The photography is good, and I think the backs are the best part.

In addition to the height, weight and other essentials up top, we actually get another large photo on the back. It's not the same recycled photo from the front either, which is a nice touch that many modern sets can't claim. I think the Chippy's Quiz trivia questions are a decent addition to the cards as well.

#115 - Andrew Cassels

Cassels was a pretty solid player who ended up logging 16 seasons in the league. He played for quite a few different teams, but I always think of him as a Whaler. He was drafted by and began his career with the Montreal Canadiens, but was dealt to Hartford after a couple of seasons for a second round pick (which the Canadiens used on Valeri Bure). For once a half-way decent trade!

#116 - Nelson Emerson

Nelson played for both the original Winnipeg Jets, and the Atlanta Thrashers, who are now the new Winnipeg Jets. I wonder how many guys can claim that?

#117 - Jason Muzzatti

For obvious reasons, Jason Muzzatti is my favorite Whalers card from this set. That mask is fantastic!

#118 - Marek Malik

At 6'5"/6'6", the Whalers had their own Zdeno Chara back in the day. The only problem was he couldn't play all that well, and wasn't too physical either considering his size. He did sport a Class-A mullet though, just look at that thing:

#119 - Sean Burke

Burke donned the Whalers sweater for more career games than any other goaltender, which is pretty sad given that he was only with the team for 5 seasons. At 6'4" he wasn't a whole lot shorter than Malik!

#120 - Jeff Brown

Brown came to Hartford mid-way through the 1995-96 season. Despite playing just 48 games for Hartford that year, he would lead all defensemen on the team in both assists and points. He would play just a single game for Hartford in 1996-97 due to back surgery, and then the franchise moved to Carolina.

#121 - Jeff O'Neill

Hartford's first-round pick in the 1994 entry draft. He would really blossom later in his career with the Hurricanes.

Those are the only 10 Whalers "base" cards, however there were a couple of other appearances by Hartford players in the set. They had a card in the 3 Star Selection subset:


Not a whole lot to say about these inserts, basically just three random stars chosen from each team. The back talks about how Shanahan can lead Hartford to the playoffs, but as I said earlier he played just two more games for the franchise after this card was released.


There is one more Whaler card in the base set, card #343. This one features Jeff O'Neill and is from the "Captain Tomorrow" subset. It's pretty cheesy, and unfortunately I do not have it to show here. I've added it to my Want List on the odd chance anyone out there has it.

As far as inserts go, the only one I have is this Brendan Shanahan Stick-Ums:


That's about it for the 96-97 Collector's Choice Whalers. I'll have some more posts up by the end of the week.

Upper Deck 2011 Stanley Cup Champions

After the conclusion of the 2010-11 NHL season, Upper Deck released a small set paying tribute to the Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins. For the price of a blaster you get a 30 card set plus an over-sized "celebration card". I picked up mine at the local hobby shop but I've seen them all over the place including retail outlets.


The box itself is kind of cheesy, it's composed of the same cheap, thin cardboard as a blaster or hobby box. I would've gladly paid an extra $10 to get something more sturdy or durable. My box ended up in the trash about 5 minutes after I opened it. Right on top is the over-sized "celebration card":

This card is roughly the size of a developed photo from one of those panoramic throw-away cameras. It's somewhat of a pain to store, but I think it was a nice inclusion. In the frame on the right side is a list of players included in the set. The photo is great, it's a bit hard to tell but click the image to see a larger scan.

The back has a great shot of Tim Thomas hoisting the cup, a very brief paragraph on the Bruins Cup win, and a small chart containing the final scores from each of the 7 Cup final games. Here are all 30 cards for your viewing pleasure:

I have to say that I am a fan of the design. You've got a full-bleed photo, with a transparent bottom border. The Stanley Cup Champions logo is great, and I think the transparent yellow behind it is certainly appropriate. Player name and position make sense, but do we need the team name listed given that the subject of every card in the set is a Boston Bruin? All in all though I like this simple, clean design. No foil on the Upper Deck logo like in the flagship set, but I actually kind of like this for a change.

The set contains a mix of vertical and horizontal cards (or is that portrait and landscape?). On the horizontal cards the banner on the bottom actually tapers off before it reaches the edge of the card. You can see it beginning to do this on the vertical cards, but it actually reaches the right edge on those since the bottoms are shorter.

There are some pretty nice photos used in the set. I was afraid that with the set being released within such a short time-frame of the Bruins winning the Cup they may have rushed things a bit and used more tightly cropped pre-game warm-up photos. I should've known better though, if there's one thing Upper Deck does right it's the photography. This shot of captain Zdeno Chara is amongst my favorites. Look at that wingspan!

Another of my favorites, the Bruins' new $5 Million man. Glad the B's have locked him up for the next two seasons at a pretty reasonable rate. A fantastic photo, with the crowd sporting Philadelphia orange.


One thing I also like about this set is that it appears most of the photos used were taken during the 2010-11 playoffs.

Another David Krejci card, this brings me to 42 and counting. Let's take a look at the backs:

We start off well at the top of the back, not only do we get a photo but it's not the same recycled photo from the front. I like the color scheme and design, good clean look. Moving down, we have stats for the 2010-11 campaign, as well as career NHL totals. One gripe I have is that a good deal of room is used for a short paragraph and a Boston Bruins logo. I can't help but think this area could've been put to better use. I don't know, maybe 2010-11 PLAYOFF STATS! Anyway, not a terrible back...

I recognized this goal right away, it's from the Bruins' Game 2 victory against Tampa Bay back on May 17th. You can see it here. Always cool when you can pinpoint a moment featured on a card.



What a way to end a Hall-of-Fame career!

Another good thing about the set is that it's the first chance for Bruins fans to pick up cards of the team's 2010-11 trade acquisitions in a Bruins sweater.

For me, it was also a chance to pick up my first Tyler Seguin card. I didn't bust much 2010-11 product, what can I say.


Had the Bruins not won it all, I think they would have been scrutinized much more for the Kaberle trade. At least he's Carolina's problem now.





Shawn Thornton may be my favorite card in the set. I'm a sucker for goal-cam photos.

The Sheriff appeared in just 3 playoff games, but gets a card nonetheless.

Glad to see that Marc was included in the set, and was also happy to learn a few days ago that his name will indeed be etched on the Cup. I don't think he'll ever lace up skates again, and I truly hope that Crosby's career has not begun to head in the same direction...

Here's one for Card Boarded's mid-follow-through-broken-stick collection!

23 games in the regular season, none in the playoffs. Good enough for a card though!

The last guy in the set is Tuukka Rask. Completely understandable that he rode the pine. It's rough when your goal-tending partner has one of the greatest statistical seasons ever. The final 5 cards in the set are Season Highlights cards:

Basically the same design as the player cards, but with a black Season Highlights border on the left edge of the card. The backs recycle the photo from the front and give a brief write-up on the event that's depicted. The first card symbolizes the Bruins win over the Canadiens in 7.


Next we have the sweep of the Philadelphia Flyers.


This is the one card I'm just not so sure about. I mean it's certainly interesting that Chara finally logged a hat trick after all these years, but it happened back in January, long before the playoffs even began.


One card is dedicated to Thomas' amazing season.


We close things out with a card paying tribute to Seguin's two-goal, two-assist game against Tampa Bay.


Well, that's a wrap. Even though I would've appreciated playoff stats on the back, and a better quality box, I think this is an essential set for any Boston Bruins fan. It's great to capture the B's 2010-11 roster in time, and I do like the look of the cards. Anyone else pick one of these up?