What's up Hive!
After a comment convo with 
Big Bro G-Dog, take a few pointer's from Edmonton's best goaltender ever to avoid those last second goals in your net.😝
I only have one jersey and it was cool when I got it. Eberle is now off the team and I have no idea how he's doing elsewhere, I still kept the jersey, it's part of a limited edition that was only made for one year. The male Equivalent had orange trim instead of pink. Still my favorite design to this day.
Part of the Basic Edmontonian starter pack, a pair of gloves to hang on the rearview mirror. BOOO Calgary, you can't beat Wayne Gretzky yet!🤣
Not Wayne's actual Rookie card, a replica series was made by Black Diamond to commemorate a series of hall of famers. The second photo is a limited edition numbered lithograph poster purchased at a Metallica concert, as you can see, he's a city icon and most things Wayne is a guaranty to be popular.
If I want to reach my 2000 HP by the end of the year, I should probably start by posting stuff. I'm trying to stay post-regular but that's just not my style, been a little hit and miss but that's ok. I try tho, I also try to keep content somewhat diversified throwing a few odd topics here and there.
Of course I had to throw in some of my own homemade memorabilia, I can't take my big camera into the arena so picture taking is with a cellphone and at a distance, sometimes thru netting, it can also add elements to the photo too. I was looking for my more recent game opener pictures from the newer arena but somehow I couldn't find them. I suppose, to stick with the memory topic, well here is so in game photos from the old arena former home of the Oilers, Rexall Place. I obviously played with the colors of the photo duo below for an artistic twist.
Strangely enough, I'm a girl and I have a hockey card/memorabilia collection. Growing up, the nearest team was the Montreal Canadians and since we didn't have cable available where I lived, on Saturday Night, that was the only thing on. Now I live in a hockey town where we have our own professional NHL hockey team called the Edmonton Oilers and a close opponent in the province called the Calgary Flames and the controversies and rivalry are not only found on the ice! The music video below by Stomping Tom used to be the theme song we heard every broadcast and commercials, Hockey Classics. Blast the volume for the 80's Hockey Night in Canada experience.
Oh how times have changed, they used to play no helmet or visors, minimal protection. Rough game!
This isn't about rivalry, this about $$ and collectibles! Given the culture here and my ability to find wealth at a discount in strange places, learning the hockey card and collectible market is also interesting even for the non sport fan, more like experimental fun and analyzing the stars futures much like the team scouts do, obviously on a lesser scale but you know what I mean.
Having no attachments to teams, it's easier for me to stay objective on each player regardless of who they play for but more so what do they have the potential to achieve, a great way to kill time productively. Well that's not entirely true, I am a bit partial to our hometown heroes just the same. It's been a while since I participated in the hobby but I still have my loot and leaned skills to get it so we good. Hockey card and memorabilia is a long game anyway. With that being said, that can yield hidden treasures or epic blunders. Lets explore a few of my experiences during my collecting journey.
Alex Ovechkin, My show pony! Over a decade ago, I was looking for the next Wayne Gretzky of Rookie cards since I had missed the boat on the real deal having been too young and now being too expensive to get. I couldn't understand for the life of me why Ovie was so cheap at the time, he was already breaking records well expected to be on his way to rise to the top with the greats. I found this on ebay for $70. How times have changed and he's still breaking substantial high profile records. Run shiny pony run! Mama likes, we know this one is making it to the Hall of Fame!
2009 mini-jerseys maybe? Sidney, born and raised in Halifax, Nova-Scotia, used to play for the Rimouski Oceanic team before his draft into the NHL, close to where my relatives are from. At the time of his draft, I worked at the famous Hockey brand of restaurants at the time, Don Cherry. As a big name sportscaster, a press conference and a jersey signing was held privately at the restaurant I worked at in Moncton, NB (it might still be hanging on the wall if the restaurant still exists). I did work that shift and saw him but wasn't allowed to get close because, well high profile event.
Tickets to the games are expensive but we do have draws at our employment and have won my fair share of tickets and good seats over my 15 year career and bought a few of course but I keep it limited to 1 game per year maximum just as a fun outing. Nothing beats the smell of greasy arena fast foods and over priced beer in an atmosphere where mini pizzas fall out of the sky. Yes I said that correctly. Being live at a game is so much different than watching on TV! Last season, I went to the game opener and they had pizza's on parachutes dropped off by drones in the arena at random. It's only one example of the interactive prizes and games they play during TV commercial breaks. Our arena commercial breaks are just more fun!
The flags below were part of a Montreal special edition tin, one banner in every set.
I used to periodically buy a Beckett guide to see the values, been a few years since I have done that too, keep track of my rookie card values as the players progress with their careers! I have no idea what is the current value of them now. Some are classics from retired hall of famers, we know their value always remain high, greats like Wayne Gretzky, Lemieux or Stevie Y and far beyond. I tore my house apart to get a few photos for you, it probably took longer to tear apart and put back than it will take to write this post! What a mess. Obviously, I didn't photos of everything, only a large handful.
Mini jerseys found in card boxes. I bought them a few years later, Walmart had several boxes at a steep discount and they were much cheaper than value of the cheapest jersey so I backed up the truck and got every box that was there and got me a nice collection.
Excuse me while I take time to fold my mini-laundry, wouldn't want them to get wrinkled.🤣
Now back at the beginning, I said something about a basement find that sparked excitement in the collector world. Lets not delay. Wayne Gretzky #99 is a name immortalized not only in the Hockey Hall of Fame but also echoes every wall and street corner in Edmonton, he is still a prominent figure at the arena with the current team being in the building during many games. There was a recent find in a Saskatchewan home, watch the short newscast in the video below for the full story. Crazy how much a single piece of cardboard can be worth.
The Oilers play a big hand in promoting and donating various children charities along with giving sick children team experiences of a lifetime thru Make a Wish Foundation and immortalizing their sweet little angel names within our communities so supporting the team is supporting the community, also a strong area of involvement for Wayne's post ice achievements. Joey Moss has been Edmonton's favorite fan since he was a child and has built close relationships with the team now deceased only in body forever with the team. Ben Stelter is another top fan that can measure up to Joey's enthusiasm for the team. RIP Edmonton's favorite hockey fans.
Back to collecting, I seem to have so weird lucky juju when picking boxes, I used to go to the card shop on boxing day and take part of all the sales and free stuff promos to go along with it. Nothing says boxing day like half priced hockey blaster boxes and tins! Ovie is the only rookie card I ever bought separate, all my other winners were simply found with my good luck. I seemed pretty good at getting hits on the Oilers top draft picks over the years, Some like Nuge, Connor McDavid aka Edmonton's hockey McJesus that might measure up to Gretzky that may someday bring the team to winning another Stanley Cup...Maybe. As you can see, when it comes to rookie cards, Upper Deck has the stamp of approval with most collectors keeping their strong market shares in the card collecting world.
Not all the cards in this post are of value, some are just because they caught my eye while I was flipping thru, it was more about making a quiet Sunday afternoon activity and to be creative with my posts keeping content fresh-ish even with it's nostalgic tones. In hindsight, some of them I should have sold much sooner when they first got drafted before we found out otherwise. For 4 years in a row, Edmonton Oilers got #1 overall draft pick and somehow struggled to make a winning team...somehow. Some have moved on while key pieces remained to create the current McDavid Era.
Naturally, the whole thing is one big long term cardboard casino and despite my shining card unboxing moments, I have my share of blunders. This one is a bit funny. sometime back, there was a strike and cards were delayed especially for rookies. Upper deck had a promo of rare-ish 3 scratch cards to find to make a set of the year's top rookies. This was one of the year where the top rookie fell from grace and so did I, well , collector wise. I somehow got all 3 and was bragging about it at the card shop, the owner offered me $1000 for them before they were redeemed and I said no. Just a couple of years later it was clear that none of the players had developed as anticipated and the trio collectible fell to little to no value 🤡. AAHH man...you live and you learn. I didn't pay much for them tho, I found them in boxes anyway. Below are the infamous trio. Yakupov, Galcheniuk and Huberdeau. So much for what I thought was my stroke of luck! 😜
I have a strange relationship with sports. I say I'm not a sports fan by my interests clearly states otherwise. I love going to live games but I don't watch them on tv religiously, more about the experience of the crowd and event along with the card unboxing activities, I have to admit it's also kinda fun. Me being the overgrown kid that I am. Maybe I'm a closeted sports fan. Being part of a city with a strong NHL culture, it's hard not to be at least a little bit. Something for our city to be proud of even if they seem to struggle getting us the Stanley Cup since the Gretzky days. Part of our culture, part of our fabric, our blue blood.
Alright, I hope you enjoyed the walk down memorabilia lane! Play safe...wear your helmets and save that brain for later use eh! xox