Goaltending Gallimaufry: Forgotten LCS Pickups

Gallimaufry [gal-uh-maw-free] - A hodgepodge; jumble; confused medley.

For my fellow bloggers out there, have you ever picked up a card or cards, brought them home, then completely forgot to scan and show them off? Well, I did just that with some of the stuff I was able to grab the last time I went to the LCS. Click here for more on that post.

As the title of the post suggests, I've got some more cards for my growing Goaltending Gallimaufry project, which is slowly closing in on the century mark. The first was this Curtis Joseph from 2005-06 BAP. It's got a great shot of Cujo and his black pads from 03-04.

Next we have one from the premier goalie set, Between the Pipes, this time from the 2002-03 edition. It features Craig Anderson of the Chicago Blackhawks with some awfully mismatched blue and yellow equipment. Not sure what it's form though, anyone know?

That's it for now, although I do have another one of these posts in the works after the value pack box I've been slowly posting here. The only thing I will say about it is that I never expected it to come from the pack that it actually did.

Goaltending Gallimaufry Count: 78

Red Wings: LCS Pickups + A Few Extras

Lately I've been finding myself wanting to put a little more effort into my general Red Wings collection, so when I had a chance to stop by one of my local card shops yesterday, I made sure I did what I could to get some nice stuff for the PC. That meant flipping through the dime, quarter, and dollar boxes, all of which provided me with something to show.

Let's start with the dime box, which was pretty much filled with Red Wings, although most of them were from the early 90's. I ended up grabbing five new cards for a nice fifty cents. The first was this Mikael Samuelsson from 06-07 Upper Deck. The picture is what stuck out to me on this one. That's not a photo you see every day on a card.

The second was this Keith Primeau from 1995-96 Upper Deck. I thought it was an interesting picture, probably taken immediately after the Wings clinched the Western Conference during the 95 playoffs. If I remember correctly, they beat the Hawks in that series.

Then there was this Ty Conklin from 09-10 OPC. Nothing special here, but for $0.10 it was a nice looking card of another Red Wings goaltender, so it was kind of hard to pass up.

Here's another Conklin, this time from 09-10 Ultra. Definitely a better looking card than the OPC if you ask me. Ultra has some really nice designs, but the set never gets much love it seems. One thing I always liked about Conks was his mask featuring the octopus on the front.

Lastly is a checklist, featuring Nicklas Lidstrom from 07-08 Upper Deck. I had never seen the checklists from this set, so when I came across it I had to have it. I love the way it's split into four consecutive pics of Lidstrom scoring a goal from the blue line.

Now onto the quarter box where I found a few more nice cards for the Wings PC. The first was this Pavel Datsyuk special edition hobby preview card from Upper Deck. I never knew he was part of this set, so it was a welcome addition to the collection.

Here you've got a Hank Zetterberg from the same set, another one I didn't even know existed. These cards are actually pretty nice looking in person. I believe they were handed out at hobby shops with UD product. I remember getting a Crosby from my LCS at the time.

Next is another Zetterberg, this time from Upper Deck's biography of a season set. This one is from 2008-09 and chronicles how the Wings handed the Hawks a loss at Wrigley Field during the Winter Classic. Man, I can't wait for Wings/Leafs at The Big House next winter.

Here's another biography of a season card, focusing on Nicklas Lidstrom reaching the 1000 career point mark during the 2009-10 season.  

One more bigraphy of a season, this time featuring Johan Franzen and his explosive five goal performance against the Ottawa Senators. If only he could've played like that this postseason, the Wings may not be headed for the golf course already.

The last from the quarter box is of current Red Wing Todd Bertuzzi, shown with the New York Islanders. It's an X-Axis Fractal Matrix Die Cut from 97-98 Leaf. I've always loved this set and for only $0.25 I figured what the heck.

Lastly, we have the dollar box. I didn't expect to find much in there hockey wise, at least that's what the guy told me, then this popped out. It's a Mike Richter The Mask II card from Between The Pipes. For only $1 I had to have it. Kind of makes me want to start going after all the mask cards again. I've got close to 20 of them now.

All in all it was a good haul as I grabbed some supplies too, all for under $10. Kind of makes me want to hit up another card show here soon just to pick through all the dime, quarter, and dollar boxes there. You never know what you'll find, right?

Thoughts: Found Myself a New LCS

Over the weekend I made a trip down to Toledo, Ohio and on the way home I needed to pass through the Ann Arbor area, where I just happened to know of a new card shop, well new to me at least, thanks to the wonderful world of the internet.

As far as I've know for the last few years, where I live, there is not a single card shop within a reasonable driving distance. There is one that's about 50 miles west of me and there's one that's about 40 miles east of me. This means any time I need to pick up supplies and stuff I find myself driving at least 45 minutes.

Well, it looks like I won't be making that long of a trek anymore. The new shop I found is Stadium Cards & Comics out of Ypsilanti, MI and it's about 20 miles from my place. Much better than 40 or 50, think of the money I would save on gas.

This time I was just looking to pick up some top loaders for some recent additions to my PC projects as well as a few one-touch holders. Other than that I just wanted to check out the store and get an idea of how much hockey stuff they carried. 

There was a decent amount, more than I expected actually. They had a lot of late 2000's sets for sale, lots of early 90's boxes for sale, a decent selection of singles, and of course the new stuff from Panini and Upper Deck. Pretty much all I could ask for.

If there's one thing I really like about this shop, its the fact that they are connected through social media with a Facebook page as well as a website. I think that's great, it gives customers a way to stay in touch with what's going on, something that pretty much every card shop I've gone to in the past is lacking.

One last thing, I'm curious, what kind of drives do you guys have to your LCS? I'm sure all of you north of the border have an easier time finding them, especially one's with plenty of hockey stuff, but correct me if I'm wrong.

Pack Break: 2009-10 SPx

I was at my LCS the other day picking up some supplies and thought a good way to use up the rest of the money I brought with me was on a pack of something I've yet to buy this year, that being SPx.

I've seen plenty of breaks on the various forums and thought what the heck, I might as well grab one pack and see what happens. I didn't expect to get much and that's exactly what happened, all base cards.

Here is what I got:

 

Not all that bad for nothing but base cards. I really like the Datsyuk with the winter classic jersey. The Orr is cool too, it's always nice to see some older players thrown into a newer base set.

Overall I like the design, especially the fact that all of the cards are horizontal. They're just really, really shiny as you can see from the scans. The only thing I don't get is the few random x's in the middle on the right side.

One thing this set lacks that I miss from older SPx releases is the hologram image on the front of the card. Those kind of set SPx apart from other sets in the past, but oh well, these are pretty nice too.

Jimmy Howard: An Unexpected Addition

I went to my local card shop to kill some time the other day and to maybe find some Silver Scripts in the dollar box. I didn't find any of those, but I did make an unexpected addition to my Jimmy Howard collection.

The last time I was in there I got to talking with the owner and he was going to keep an eye out for any Howard cards that came his way. I completely forgot being so busy lately and when I walked in he said he had something I might want. Needless to say, I did want it.

This 05-06 MVP Rookies Gold numbered 025/100 is now the lowest numbered card in my Howard collection and it brings me to eight different cards, nine total with the two Trilogy RC's. Now I'm going to be on the lookout for the Platinum version of this card, which is numbered to 25, as well as the base version to complete the rainbow.

Pack Break: 2009-10 UD ICE

Empty pop bottles = free hockey cards, at least that's the way I see it. After returning bottles this morning, I decided to take a trip to the LCS and see what I could get for $5.

Since there were no Jimmy Howard cards available I settled for a $4 pack of ICE. I have yet to purchase a pack of this product so I figured what the heck, why not?

Not bad for only $4. I really like the base card design, especially the raised circular pattern in the center of the card. The top fading to team colors is a nice touch and adds some variety to the set. 

I've had good luck with single packs from this store in the past and I think I was due for a hit. I definitely got it with this Gilmour Frozen Fabrics. It's a great looking card with a nice white jersey swatch. 

Card Shop Pickup

I was at the mall the other day and stopped by the only card shop there, Sports R Us. I don't usually go for team sets, but I ended up getting one anyway. It was a Red Wings team set from 2008-09 UD Victory. The cool thing was I had never bought anything from this set so they were the first in my collection and it had a pretty decent player selection.

Here is the list of the cards in the set:

Dominik Hasek # 122
Nicklas Lidstrom # 123
Dan Cleary # 124
Pavel Datsyuk # 125
Chris Osgood # 126
Valtteri Filppula # 127
Tomas Holmstrom # 128
Henrik Zetterberg # 129

The Victory designs are usually hit or miss. I happen to like this one. Its simple and not too crowded. I could maybe do without two Victory logos, but hey its better than the UD logo.

Pack Break: 2006-07 O-Pee-Chee

I returned some bottles this morning and thought it would be nice to use the money for some hockey cards. I went to my local card shop, Extra Innings, and picked up two $1 packs of 2006-07 O-Pee-Chee just to have something to open.

Like the last time I opened some of these, I was not expecting to pull anything spectacular. That was the case once again, although I did end up with a nice mix of base cards so it wasn't a bad purchase at all. Here is the rundown.

(1) Marquee Rookies Michael Ryan # 593

Pack Break: 2006-07 O-Pee-Chee

I just finished my last final exam for the term this morning and thought it would be a good idea to reward myself with some new hockey cards. I went to one of my local card shops, Extra Innings in Mason, MI, and looked for something I could afford with the change in my pocket and ended up with a pack of 2006-07 O-Pee-Chee.

This pack came with six cards and even thought it was a hobby pack, I did not expect to pull anything spectacular. After opening it I was the proud owner of six non-spectacular new base cards, the best of which is listed in the rundown below.

(1) Stat Leaders Martin Brodeur # 608

Not too bad for only paying $1 the six card pack. It's not the greatest set in the world, but hey what's wrong with cheap hockey cards. Check out MY HOCKEY CARD OBSESSION for an excellent review of this particular set.