My scanner really struggles with white-bordered cards sometimes, something that's going to be a recurring problem in this post. Oh well...The guy I picked this cards up didn't have any hockey cards from the '70's like he did in baseball, but he had a handful from the '80s, including this Greg Millen from 1981-82 Topps. This might be one of my favorite set designs from the decade, although I don't think there's a single '80s set I don't like and my favorite probably changes based on whatever one I happen to be looking at. Judging by the technicolor-tone green of the jersey, I'm guessing this is an airbrush special. Have to love that attempt at a whale patch!
Up next is a handful of cards from 1983-84 O-Pee-Chee. This is one of my least favorite designs from the decade, although I still like it.
I've always disliked cards that show a player wearing one jersey but listing him as a player for another -- except, that is, when they include the "Now with..." stamp. For some reason, that makes me like the card.
Now here's an airbrushing disaster. If it were up to me, all of the cards of traded guys would use the "Now with..." stamp.
Older goalie cards are the best. The equipment always looks so much manlier.
Yet another great '80s design, this time from 84-85 Topps. Don't see too many cards with a blurry stick blade right in the middle of the image.
One of the six Sutter brothers. I believe this is Ron's rookie card.
Though I grew up in Toronto, I never became a Leafs fan mostly because the team was a league-wide laughing stock through my entire childhood. One of the few Leafs players I recall liking was Alan Bester, who had some great games on Hockey Night in Canada when I happened to watching. I seem to recall he went through one stretch where he stopped 20 of 21 breakaways. The one guy to score? Steve Yzerman. (It's possible that entire anecdote is a figment of my imagination.) Anyway, I was happy to add his O-Pee-Chee rookie card for 7.5 cents.
Here's the batch of cards I was most excited to add. I'm getting awfully close to hand-collating the 1988-89 Topps set (another design I love, surprise, surprise) and I found several that I needed in this particular dime box.
A great look at the old Quebec Nordiques uniform and a Tom Selleck-quality mustache. This was one of the cards featured on the box for this set.
Wayne Gretzky's wing man.
And a third-year (I think) Chris Chelios card. I believe I am now exactly 10 cards away from finishing this set.
As the title of this post suggested, I also pulled a few '90s hockey cards, including a bunch from '92-93 Fleer Ultra. That's another set I would like to hand collate, although I'm nowhere close right now.
The Vancouver Canuck teams of the early '90s were a fun group to watch. They were led by a couple of young future Hall of Famers in Pavel Bure and Trevor Linden and sported these sleek uniforms.
If you're not going to use the "Now with..." stamp you may as well just airbrush the uniform. This approach is the worst of both worlds.
Jim Paek was the first Korean-born player ever to make the NHL. He only lasted a few years -- but managed to get his name engraved on the Stanley Cup twice, as part of those stacked Pittsburgh Penguin teams.
A Tampa Bay Lightning card from the team's inaugural season.
Finally, a handful of random additions...
One for the Guelph Collection!
I mentioned how much fun those early '90s Canucks teams were. Kirk McLean was their starting goalie, and probably my third favorite player behind Yzerman and Ron Hextall. And he's one of the players I got an autograph from when I was a kid.
Whether it's baseball or hockey, Stadium Club always has interesting photos.
One good shot of a guy tying his skates deserves another, I guess.
Lastly, this was probably my favorite find of the lot, purely for sentimental reasons. I took an art class in junior high where one of the projects we had to do was to bring in a picture of something and paint it. I painted this card, a beautiful overhead faceoff shot taken during the 1991 Stanley Cup finals.
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