Masks: Edge Ice The Wall

Mask cards are something I'm always on the lookout for when the price is right. I used to be able to find quite a few of them at card shows, but since I haven't been to one all year, I've resorted to looking for deals on eBay and what not. 

Today's post is about a mask themed set that has yet to make an appearance on here: 1995-96 Edge Ice The Wall. I've know of this set for years now, but never attempted to buy it. It is a minor league set from the 90's and it definitely feels like it looking at the design.

There are 12 cards in the set including both IHL and AHL masks from the mid 90's. Most of the goalies included spent significant amounts of time at the NHL level.

As far as the design, they are very similar to the original Pinnacle Mask cards from 1992-93. There is an actual photo of the mask set on a plain black background with the set and company name at the bottom. The one thing that separates these Edge Ice cards is the die-cut shape at the top. Each card is cut specifically to follow the outline of each mask.

Up first and my favorite of the set is card #TW3 featuring Rick Knickle of the Detroit Vipers. I actually went to a bunch of Vipers game as a kid, so this one was cool to see. Not sure if I ever saw Knickle play though. If I did that makes this one even cooler.

My next favorite is purely based on the mask artwork. Card #TW10 features Mike Dunham of the Albany River Rats. I always thought this design was cool as a kid and remember seeing it on several of his Devils cards I have floating around in my collection.

The rest are just in the order that I scanned them. Next is card #TW4 featuring the mask of Troy Gamble from the Houston Aeros. I love the look of that logo on the top of the mask.

Card #TW6 features this great mask from Wendell Young of the Chicago Wolves. The yellow really helps the wolf design stand out on the top. The claw marks on the chin are cool too.

Then we have card #TW2 featuring the mask of Manny Fernandez from the Kalamazoo K-Wings. I really like the combination of the darker green with the gold and black.

Card #TW9 features Les Kutnar's mask from the Hershey Bears. I love the symmetry of this design. The white cage and surrounding area really look good with the light blue.

Up next we have the mask of Jim "The Net Detective" Carey from the Portland Pirates on card #TW7. I always thought he had some neat masks. The playing cards are a nice touch on the chin. The brick wall design looks pretty cool too.

Next is card #TW8 featuring the mask of Dwayne Roloson from the Saint John Flames. The standout feature of this mask is definitely the yellow cage. That's something you don't see very often. Otherwise it is a nice simple look with the black and the flames logos.

Card #TW5 features the mask of Pokey Reddick of the Las Vegas Thunder. This one looks pretty cool with the Thunder logo on either side and the lightning effect.

Eric Fichaud's mask from Worcester IceCats is shown on card #TW11. This mask design is actually from his junior days with the Chicoutimi Sagueneens of the QMJHL.

Up next is card #TW1 featuring the mask of Ray Leblanc from the Chicago Wolves. This one has a real Cujo vibe to it. Definitely one of the better looking masks in this set.

 

 

Last but not least we have card #TW12 featuring former Red Wings goalie Kevin Hodson. This mask is from his time with the Adirondack Red Wings and I'm pretty sure he wore this exact mask in some NHL games. I always liked the look of the black accents.

Of the 12 goalies included in this set, they all eventually played at least one game in the NHL. Below is a summary of their career regular season statistics. They are listed in the same order as the cards on the checklist for this set.

Goalies of EDGE Ice The Wall Set: NHL Regular Season Statistics
Goalie	GP	W	L	T	SO	GAA	SV%
Ray Leblanc	1	1	0	0	0	1.00	0.955
Manny Fernandez	325	143	123	35	15	2.50	0.912
Rick Knickle	14	7	6	0	0	3.74	0.879
Troy Gamble	72	22	29	9	1	3.61	0.875
Pokey Reddick	132	46	58	16	0	3.71	0.873
Wendell Young	187	59	86	12	2	3.94	0.876
Jim Carey	172	76	65	16	16	2.58	0.898
Dwayne Roloson	606	227	257	82	29	2.72	0.908
Les Kuntar	6	2	2	0	0	3.18	0.877
Mike Dunham	394	141	178	44	19	2.74	0.908
Eric Fichaud	95	22	47	10	2	3.14	0.897
Kevin Hodson	71	17	18	10	4	2.76	0.893

Some of these names are definitely more familiar to me than others. Hodson was with the Red Wings when I was just getting into hockey here in Detroit so he is probably the most familiar to me. He would be followed by Dwayne Roloson and Mike Dunham.

The rest of the names I'm aware of mostly from the older 90's cards in my collection. The only name that I wasn't really familiar with at all was Les Kuntar. What's funny about that is he's not even the one with the least games played. That honor goes to Ray Leblanc.

Statistically, the top three here would be Roloson, Dunham and Fernandez. They are the only three of the group with 300+ games played and 100+ wins. Not a bad group.

As far as individual awards, Fernandez and Duham both won the Jennings trophy as backups to Tim Thomas and Martin Brodeur respectively. Carey won the Vezina back in 1996. Reddick (1990) and Hodson (1998) were the only ones to ever win the Stanley Cup.

So that's another cool mask themed insert set I can check off my list. While these are my number one priority, its always nice to be able to add them to my collection. One of these days I'll get them all organized and posted onto a single page of my collection website.