Masks: 2002-03 BTP The Mask II

Mask cards are one of my favorite things about collecting hockey cards. I always thought they were the coolest thing when I was a kid just starting out back in the mid 90's. Back then it was the Pinnacle designs followed by the ITG designs, all of which were awesome.

Thanks to a nice lot I picked up on eBay recently, I am nine cards closer to completing my 2002-03 BTP The Mask II set, at least the regular version. Up first is one of my favorites of the lot with Marc Denis and his Stinger themed Columbus Blue Jackets mask.

Up next is card #M-2 featuring Milan Hnilicka of the Atlanta Thrashers. I've always loved the Thrashers original look and any mask that was designed for it looks great. This one makes use of their secondary logo front and center on the top of the mask.

Another random name from the early 2000's is Roman Cechmanek. While playing for the Philadelphia Flyers he had some pretty nice looking setups, especially his masks. I love the font used for the Flyers text on the chin of this one.

Up next is one that actually goes with the teal design of the set. Card #M-25 features Miikka Kiprusoff of the San Jose Sharks. There is a lot to love about this mask design from the fin logo on top to the splash effect to the Kipper nickname on the chin.

Another really cool mask design was Steve Shields' tribute to Gerry Cheevers of the Boston Bruins. I believe this was one of the first like it and I always thought it looked nice in photos. Glad they went with the white cage as it really completes the look.

Here's another mask with the goalie's nickname on the chin. Card #M-7 features Jocelyn "T-Bo" Thibault of the Chicago Blackhawks. There is a lot going on with the design, but it works. The black cage looks great in this case too.

Up next is card #M-19 featuring Rick DiPietro's patriotic mask from his time with the New York Islanders. It is pretty simple overall with the primary logo on top and the wordmark on either side. Always like seeing the jersey number on the chin like this too.

Speaking of masks with the primary logo on top and the jersey number on the chin, here is card #M-12 featuring Tommy Salo of the Edmonton Oilers. In addition to the team logos there is a really cool viking design on either side. The cage should've been copper though.

Last we have another of my favorites from the lot: card #M-14 featuring Felix Potvin and his iconic mask design, this time in the gorgeous purple of the Los Angeles Kings.

These nine bring me a bit closer to completing this edition of the The Mask. Not sure how many I've got at the moment, but there are 30 total cards in the set. Plus, there are silver and gold versions as well, but those are a bit to pricey for me to go after.

Since there are not any new Mask cards like these anymore, I am glad that I still have several of these BAP/ITG sets to chase after. They are some of the nicest looking hockey cards out there and I would like to have them all someday.

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.

Masks: 2002-03 BTP The Mask II

Who doesn't love the Mask cards from back in the day? I know I still do and I'm always on the lookout for good deals on them. Usually I try to find them at card shows, but that's not really an option right now or for the foreseeable future. In place of browsing the singles bins at shows, I've been doing a lot more searching eBay. 

That's where I was able to snag three awesome new additions to my Mask card collection. All three come from the 2002-03 BTP The Mask II set and feature masks that I grew up watching on TV as a kid. I was able to get all three for $5 including shipping.

Of the three it was hard to pick a favorite, but if I had to it would be Olaf Kolzig's Godzilla mask. What's not to like about a fire breathing monster? The bronzes stars and the Washington landmarks in the background are nice touches as well.

My next favorite would be Ed Belfour's iconic Eagle mask, although this one from his time in Toronto is as cool as the original Blackhawks version.

Lastly we have the "Bulin Wall" mask worn by Nikolai Khabibulin with the Tampa Bay Lightning. I always thought that was one of the cooler goalie nicknames and it was awesome how it was worked into his mask design.

These join the five I already had to bring me to a total of 8 out of 30 for the set. They also bring my overall mask collection total to 61. I still have a ways to go if I want to complete all the actual mask sets. One of these days I'll have to put together a full want list. 

Any one else working on collecting all the mask cards?

Mask Collection Total: 61

Jimmy Howard: New Mask for 2019-20

Finally, the NHL's regular season is almost here. It is also the time of year when goalies masks and equipment for the upcoming season begin to show up. In the past I've does posts on here showing Jimmy Howard's masks, although its been quite a while now. I'd like to change that and show off his new mask for the upcoming 2019-20 season. 

Howard has had some really cool masks over the years. This one is no different. It was done by his usual painter Ray Bishop of Bishop Designs. He's done virtually all of Howard's Red Wings masks. Here is a good look at the left side and the back plate.

Similar to his mask from last season, this one is non-symmetric. This has the newer Hockeytown logo as well as the team logo centered on top of the mask so it wraps from one side to the other. It also has some horizontal striping that breaks it up into several alternating sections of red and white.

Also, this is probably the largest I've seen a goalie's numbers on the side of mask. That's not a bad thing, it just doesn't seem like something many goalies do.

Here is a look at the right side of the mask. This again has the large 35 and the est. 1926 right below it. The only difference from the left side would be the Spirit of Detroit instead of the city skyline in the red stripe near the bottom.

Finally, here is a cool look at the front of the mask. Another nice touch is the old school "D" on the chin. This photo kind of reminds me of those early 90's Pinnacle mask cards. So much so that I decided to have a little fun in Inkscape and turn it into an actual Pinnacle Masks card. This was one of the easiest custom designs I've made in a while.

It was nice to find these images on the Red Wings Facebook page without the usual painters logos covering up parts of the mask design. I understand why they need to put those things on there, but this just looks so much better without it. Plus, I was able to make a custom card from it relatively easily. 

There are a lot of new masks for the upcoming season, which one is your favorite?

Masks: 2003-04 BAP The Mask III

I've been pretty busy with my model railroading hobby lately so I haven't been buying many cards. I also had some issues with my scanner a while back so I never scanned a few things I had in my queue. One of those is a complete set I picked up on eBay a few months back. It is the Mask III set from 2003-04 BAP Memorabilia.

Here is a look at the first nine cards. I already had a couple of these so they're not all new to my collection. That's ok with me though as at least now I can say I have the entire set.

The next set of nine has some pretty cool masks too. My favorites of this group are probably Kolzig and Turco. It is just me or does the Hedberg mask in the middle seem like it is on a very weird angle? I wonder why they would've done just this one differently.

 

There were two more cards in the set, but in the interest of saving time I left those off. One thing I will say is that these cards look much better in person than they do in the scans. The masks really pop aginst the blue background when you are holding them in your hand.

Masks: Pacific Dynagon Ice (Part II)

Time for part two of the Dynagon Ice Goalie Masks set I bought on eBay recently. This is an awesome looking set that highlights some of the cooler masks from the late 90's and early 00's. In addition to the Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur cards I showed in my last post, there are more for John Vanbiesbrouck, Curtis Joseph and Mike Richter.

My favorite of the remaining cards in the set is this one featuring Vanbiesbrouck's mask from the Philadelphia Flyers. The mask itself is already a bit unique with the style cage he was using back then. Not many goalies wore these if I remember correctly. On top of that, the paint job is amazing and I love this adaption of the Flyers logo.

Here is the second Vanbiesbrouck card, which actually shows a completely different mask if you look at the details. This one has the main logo in black and the cage is also a different color now. He might have had one for home games and one for away games.

Up next is one that everyone should recognize and that would be Curtis Joseph's Toronto Maple Leafs mask. Before he came to Detroit, this was my favorite mask of his. It has the iconic Cujo design and always looked great in photos and on cards.

The other Cujo card has a great look at the side of the mask. After doing some searching online I found that of the several different designs he used in Toronto, this is my favorite.

Last but not least is another great 90's mask from Mike Richter of the New York Rangers. When I was a kid back then I remember thinking that he had one of the cooler looking masks at the time. At one point I even bought a bunch of Richter cards just for that reason. 

The second Richter card has a great look at the side of the mask, but some of it is covered up by the long white strap running along the bottom of the Rangers text. That's too bad because it kind of ruins what would be an excellent shot of this mask.

So this is my new favorite mask themed set at the moment. I love how these cards look in person and now I just need a good way to store them. They are too thick for the standard top loaders that currently have, so they are just sitting in penny sleeves at the moment. I'll have to get myself some of the thicker top loaders to hold these beauties.

Masks: Pacific Dynagon Ice (Part I)

When it comes to goalie masks cards, usually Pinnacle and ITG are the first sets that come to mind, at least for me. While there are plenty of goalie themed inserts out there, there are not a ton that focus on just the masks. I happened to be browsing eBay the other day and came across one of these other mask sets that I had forgotten even existed: 1999-00 Pacific Dynagon Ice Goalie Masks. 

Talk about a blast from the past. This set is almost 20 years old now and came out when I was really into cards back in middle school. Even though its newer than the Pinnacle sets, I still forgot about it for whatever reason. That made it that much cooler when I came across a listing on eBay for the entire 10 card set recently. The best part, it only cost me $10.

My favorite of the set has to be this one featuring Martin Brodeur's famous Devils mask. I always liked watching Brodeur in the late 90's and early 00's and his mask was always one of my favorites. This card has a great look at the mask and just looks awesome in person. These things are printed on a hard plastic card stock with a cool rainbow foil effect.

There are five goalies represented in the set and each of them have two different pictures of their mask. The other one featuring Brodeur has a nice shot of the front of his mask.

The second half of this post is the second greatest goalie of all time in terms of wins. Patrick Roy's mask from the Colorado Avalanche is shown here. He had another one of those unforgettable masks around the early 00's and it looks great on this card design.

Like the Brodeur cards, the second one for Roy has a nice front view of the mask.

Anyone else a fan of this set? I think they're awesome and will look great along with my Pinnacle and ITG mask cards. There are still some more of these to show, but the two guys above are in a league of their own as far as all time goalie stats, so I thought I would save the other three for the second part of this post. Stay tuned for that.

Masks: Card Show Pickups

Mask cards are some of my favorites and I am always on the lookout for them at card shows. This time around, I was able to come up with six, all from one seller. They were in the $2 box, but I got them all together for $10, so not too bad of a deal if you ask me.

The first three come from the 1993-94 Pinnacle Masks set. These are one of the better looking Pinnacle Mask designs in my opinion. I like how they kept the background relatively simple so the mask design can be the center of attention. 

The first on features Grant Fuhr's mask from his time with Buffalo. I'm not very familiar with this mask, but it does look pretty sweet. Its got the Sabres logo front and center and Furh's name on the chin. The actual buffalo on the side is pretty cool too.

Then there was this one featuring Wendell Young's Tampa Bay Lightning mask. This one is a bit simpler, but you can definitely tell which team its for. The lightning bolts on the top are cool and there is just a little blue to bring it all together.

Another Lightning mask, this time from Pat Jablonski. This one is similar to Young's design and even has the actual team logo front and center. I like the look of this one although you can't see any of the side detail in this picture of it.

Up next are the first three cards I've gotten for "The Mask" set from 2001-02 BAP Between the Pipes. These cards look much better in person than they do in these scans. The background is a little more distracting that the older Pinnacle set, but still looks pretty cool.

The first one features Ron Tugnutt's mask from Columbus. Tugnutt had a lot of masks with this splash theme. Click here to see my previous post about his masks. I love the look of Stinger the mascot on the top of the mask. It really pops with the electric green color.

The next one features Miikka Kiprusoff's mask from San Jose. Sometimes I forget that Kiprusoff started out in San Jose. This mask is pretty neat with his nickname on the chin and the sharks fin logo on the top. The splash effect around the cage is pretty cool too.

Finally we have Steve Shields' mask from the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. This mask design is great and the purple really helps it stand out from the background of the card. The terminator looking duck is awesome if you ask me, especially with all those teeth.

These six are a nice addition to my growing Mask card collection. I now have 30 different cards all together. As much as I like the newer designs from BAP and ITG, the original Pinnacle sets are still my favorites. It would be nice if someone brought these back today instead of the Masked Men sets that are out there. For whatever reason, these just seem cooler when the mask is by itself.

Masks: Card Show Pickups

So I went to a card show last weekend for the first time since July of 2014. It was nice to get back out to one and search through the quarter and dollar boxes. I always seem to find something I like from those sellers. This time was no different and I actually only bought from these boxes, I didn't pick up any singles, packs, boxes or anything like that. 

I found cards for several of my projects, but my favorites are definitely the mask cards. I haven't seen many of these in the cheap boxes before so I grabbed all of the ones that were in good shape. Its too bad a few of them had some rough corners otherwise I would've had at least five more and a few other sets represented. 

The first one and my favorite of the bunch is this Martin Brodeur from the 1997-98 version of Pinnacle. This is one of the best looking Masks sets if you ask me. It looks good in the scan, but looks way better in person. Definitely a great find in the 6 for $10 box.

Up next is one from 1993-94 Pinnacle. I've never actually seen any cards from this specific set in person, so it was nice to finally see and grab some of them. This one features Peter Sidorkiewicz of the Devils, although his card still has his sweet looking Senators mask.

 Then there was Dominic Roussel of the Flyers and another awesome 90's mask.

And then there was Stephane Fiset of the Nordiques and an even cooler 90's mask.

The next three come from The Mask II that was included in 2002-03 Between The Pipes. While not as cool as the original 90's versions, this is one of the better looking Masks sets from ITG. Up first is one of the best Red Wings masks ever with Curtis Joesph.

The next one was Patrick Roy and the end of my 6 for $10 run of masks.

Out of the 12 for $10 box was this JS Giguere.

The next two also came from the 12 for $10 box, but are not nearly as cool as the cards above. They come from 2011-12 Between the Pipes and the Masked Men 4 insert set. The first one is Chris Mason of the Jets.

The second was James Reimer of the Maple Leafs.

Even though those two are not the same as the original Masks cards, they are still part of a great set for a goalie collector like me, so I will keep going after these too. These nine definitely help boost my masks collection overall, but I still have a long ways to go before I can complete some of these sets.