1977-78 O-Pee-Chee #312 Rick Bourbonnais

A case of mistaken identity is not the most uncommon thing in the world of hockey cards, but collectors definitely notice when it happens -  believe me!

Through my own experiences of selecting photos to appear on trading cards, something inevitably slipped through the cracks and the revelation of each mistake (usually in the form of a snarky email or message board posting) was like a punch to the gut - especially when you think you made every effort to ensure that you had the right player. Sometimes, the photographer marked the wrong name on a slide or file. Sometimes, you forgot to check a minor detail.

Shit happens, right?

In the days before the collecting world went online, and even before the boom years, there were no scathing criticisms posted for the world to see and the photo editor had already moved on to other duties by the time anyone had really noticed. If only I had that luxury during my decade at In The Game! Usually, Dr. Price blew his top in an epic fashion once a mistake went public. However, the explosion was normally quick and within a few minutes, we had all moved on. If I made a mistake, I simply owned up to it and kept pushing to make sure it was not going to happen again. Try as you might, though, it inevitably would - but not from a lack of trying on my end to aim for perfection. It's funny, but I can remember most of the big mistakes and they still sting to this day. It's embarrassing, but at least there's a good story to tell.

Speaking honestly, I think collectors need to move out of the "gotcha" mentality when a card company makes an error like that, but I know that is just not going to become a reality.

All that being said, one of my favourite error cards of all-time is perhaps a bit obscure compared to some, but it does have a Hall of Fame connection to it.

The 1977-78 O-Pee-Chee set has a distinct lack of key rookie cards and a rather bland design which has kept it from being a hobby favourite, but it did have an unintentional cameo on the debut card of then-St. Louis Blues prospect Rick Bourbonnais. A fourth round pick in 1975, he played in just 71 games at the NHL level before settling in the minors and moving on to Europe. The player that actually appeared on the card had a much greater impact, though.

Who was it? Oh, only one of the greatest players in franchise history - Bernie Federko.

There are some hockey fans that simply discount Federko's on-ice accomplishments and that is a bloody shame. They will say that he never deserved to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame, but that mentality is simply ignorant in my opinion. He spent 13 seasons with the Blues and shattered more than a few team records. Playing in a smaller hockey market like St. Louis might have kept him from the richly-deserved spotlight and if he had played in New York or Boston - or even a Canadian market - his legacy would be a lot different today.

When I was younger, I knew he was a special player. He consistently put up great numbers and made a couple of All-Star Game appearances (only two, really?), but the Blues played in the Norris Division, which was always perceived by some as being weaker in some ways, and he only came close to a Stanley Cup Final once (Wales Conference Final in 1985-86). To me, he was an underappreciated star who never got his proper due - even after being elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. I was pleased to sign him to a trading card deal on at least a couple occasions and he was more than gracious in our interactions.

So, how on Earth did he end up on the Rick Bourbonnais card? Well, I asked my old pal and iconic hockey photographer Steve Babineau about it and he theorized it was simply a small mistake where someone at O-Pee-Chee or Topps thought the 24 on Federko's sleeve was actually the 28 worn by Bourbonnais. Case closed.

By looking at Federko's game log for his debut campaign, we can determine the exact date the photo was taken at Boston Garden - February 3, 1977. At the time, the Blues were in the middle of a season where they finished first in a very weak Smythe Division with a 32-39-9 record. They were in their 10th season at that point and had only missed the playoffs once (1973-74) at that point. They were also on the brink of transitioning from a consistent middle-of-the-pack team to a bottom feeder as the wheels came off over the next two campaigns before rising back to contention by the dawn of the next decade.

So, what was so special about this night? For starters, the Blues were hungry for victory and were riding a five-game winless streak - the previous game being a 3-3 tie that came at home two days earlier to the same Bruins club.

The seventh overall pick in the 1976 NHL Amateur Draft, Federko had been called up to the Blues for a three-game trial in December, 1976 and the first-year pro had been sent back to the Central Hockey League's Kansas City Blues. Over 42 games in the minors, he simply proven to be too good for that level of competition with 30 goals and 69 points and his arrival in St. Louis was to be expected.

A quick look at the box score for this particular contest shows that Federko scored his first career goal on fellow Hall of Famer Gerry Cheevers to tie things up at one in the second period. He also earned his first assist on Ted Irvine's late goal. but it was not enough as Boston won by a 5-4 margin.

Of special note as well, legendary enforcer John Wensink of the Bruins scored for the first time that night on Doug Grant.

Bourbonnais and Federko were actually linemates during the 1976-77 season and were joined by another rookie in Brian Sutter (who had his first career point as well, an assist on Federko's goal).

By the time this card hit convenience stores in early 1978, Bourbonnais was playing the last few games of his NHL career, but Federko and Sutter were only warming up. By 1978-79, the pair had a perfect new linemate in Wayne Babych and a year later, their defensive woes were placated with the arrival of Mike Liut (who was drafted in 1976 along with Sutter and Federko!). From 1979-80 to 2003-04, the team did not miss a single playoff appearance - a remarkable feat indeed when you consider how close they were to packing up an moving to Saskatoon in 1983!

While most people who own this card may dismiss it as a mere common, it truly is so much more than that. It will not cost much to own one and you may get it for the price of a basic card from this set if you are lucky!

1973-74 O-Pee-Chee #3 Phil Roberto

Whether you support fighting in hockey or abhor the concept entirely, it is perfectly clear that the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players' Association do not want to see it on licensed trading cards.

Their position is perfectly understandable. It is a controversial subject at the best of times, but there have been a few occasions in the past where fisticuffs, or the aftermath thereof, have been immortalized on cardboard.

While I could probably fill a book with my own experiences in helping build the Tough Customers and Enforcers releases produced in years past by In The Game, I want to instead talk about one of the greatest hockey cards ever made.

At the suggestion of one of my oldest and friends in the hobby, John Pichette, it was only natural to pay tribute to the 1973-74 card of Phil Roberto. The first full-fledged fight shown on a hockey card, it is the product of an era where licensing and approvals were not as rigid and there is so much to appreciate about this 2.5" x 3.5" piece of cardboard.

First off, astute hockey fans will instantly notice that Roberto's opponent is none other than Hockey Hall of Famer and New York Islanders icon Billy Smith. That fact alone puts this card in a lofty spot in the hockey card collecting community, and with a little bit of research, a story can be discovered.

While this card was covered in Ken Reid's excellent book, Hockey Card Stories, with perspective from Roberto himself, there are some more details about the incident that can be shared. The moment itself was immortalized by photographer Lewis Portnoy, who shot out of St. Louis throughout the 1970s and early 80s. He also shot a few other cards in the set, but strangely, his work was not used much on hockey cards (if at all) beyond that until the past decade or so. Even still, his collection is something that should appear more on cards as it currently resides at the Hockey Hall of Fame waiting to be explored fully.

Getting back to the exact moment, I decided to try to figure it out a few years ago while working on my book, Changing The Game: A History of NHL Expansion. Knowing that the photo was taken during the disastrous first season for the Isles, I then examined box scores to determine if there were any games between them and the Blues in St. Louis where Smith or Roberto were assessed a major penalty.

It did not take long to figure this out thanks to the Hockey Summary Project.

The game took place on March 10, 1973 as the Islanders were mired in what became a six-game losing streak. With a rag-tag roster that lost a lot of potential talent to the debuting World Hockey Association, the Islanders were not setting the league on fire. However, with original Blues member Craig Cameron opening the scoring at the 1:49 mark of the first period, they were a little feisty that night.

At 4:34 of the opening stanza, things went a bit crazy as Roberto and Smith dropped the gloves. Portnoy got his shot and the photo editor for Topps eventually selected it for use on a card a few months later. Needless to say, it was something that was not to be repeated again. Sure, you will see a few post-fight shots once in a while in the sets that have come out over the past 45 seasons, but this is something truly unique and worthy of the praise it receive. It's Old Time Hockey at its finest and card collectors know it.

As for the game itself, the Islanders jumped to a 2-0 lead in the second (Dave Hudson), but the Blues tied it up before the siren rang out. Who scored those goals? Roberto, of course!

Once the puck dropped in the third, the Blues pulled away with goals by Pierre Plante, Chris Evans, and Garry Unger. In the late stages, the Isles tried to rally with tallies from Bryan Lefley and Ralph Stewart, but it was not enough to even force a tie.

While the O-Pee-Chee card shown above has distinct red borders that chip easily, the Topps version has green borders instead. Additionally, nitpickers who love getting every variation of a vintage card will know that this O-Pee-Chee set can be found with light or dark backs.

1977-78 O-Pee-Chee WHA #49 Al Smith

One of my favourite stories about a hockey player burning a bridge in epic fashion comes courtesy of Al Smith.

A veteran goalie who started off in the Maple Leafs system in the pre-expansion era but could not become a regular thanks to names like Terry Sawchuk, Johnny Bower, and Bruce Gamble, he would finally get a shot at full-time NHL duty once the Pittsburgh Penguins claimed him in the 1969 Intra-League Draft - the same one that saw Tony Esposito go from the Montreal Canadiens to the Chicago Blackhawks.

In the Steel City, Smith wrestled the starting job away from an aging Les Binkley and spent two tough seasons with the Pens and one with the Detroit Red Wings before the WHA came calling. With the opportunity to make more money, he made a decision that proved to be a wise one. At the time, the New England Whalers played out of Boston Garden and he gave the team instant stability between the pipes alongside a young 'tender named Bruce Landon. The rest of the team was solid, featuring strong offense from Larry Pleau, Tom Webster, and WHA Rookie of the Year Terry Caffery, and a blue line boasting Rick Ley and local favourite Ted Green.

The first Whalers team finished first in the East Division and once the playoffs started, they were almost unstoppable. They stormed past a surging Ottawa Nationals squad (that was actually playing at Maple Leaf Gardens before becoming the Toronto Toros in 1973-74) and Smith out-dueled Gerry Cheevers and the Cleveland Crusaders before meeting the Winnipeg Jets in the Avco Cup Final. Smith and his teammates took down Bobby Hull's crew in just five games.

For the next two years, Smith continued to thrive with the Whalers and late in the 1974-75 campaign, the Red Wings sent his rights to the Buffalo Sabres, who eventually convinced him to return to the NHL.

FRUSTRATION IN BUFFALO

Now, here is where a few details get murky. Smith did not make his debut with the Sabres until February 4, 1976 against the Los Angeles Kings. This makes one wonder where he was for all that time beforehand, but he won his first four starts with Buffalo. He essentially served as backup to Gerry Desjardins, who was in the midst of a 29-win campaign.

When Desjardins went down with an injury the next year, Smith was not amused by Floyd Smith's choice to go with rookie Don Edwards as the starter. Throughout the 1976-77 season, he had been sparingly and the frustration continued to build until that fateful home game against the Minnesota North Stars on February 13, 1977. After the Star Spangled Banner played, The Bear stepped onto the ice and did a victory lap for the fans before heading to the dressing room and removing his gear. Edwards won in his debut and fellow prospect Bob Sauve got a promotion as Smith waited out the contract and chose to sign once again with the Whalers.

“I thought he was justified,” Sabres stalwart Jim Schoenfeld told the Associated Press at the time. “I think Al was mistreated and deserved a chance to play.” (Source)

THE BEAR RETURNS

The 1977-78 season proved to be arguably the best of Smith's career as he won the Ben Hatskin Trophy as the WHA's Top Goaltender and led the league with a 3.22 goals-against average. Since O-Pee-Chee, who was preparing its last official WHA trading card set, wanted to get as many players on cardboard with their new teams, they had to resort to using an older photo on Smith's card. In fact, it is most likely from the 1974-75 campaign as that was the first year the Whalers wore that style of jersey. Smith also wore a new mask (similar to that of future Colorado Rockies teammate Phil Myre) with the Whalers during his return stint, but it is hard to say exactly when he transitioned into this particular protective gear.

CHILDHOOD CONNECTION

So, what is the personal rationale behind hundreds of words devoted to a relatively common vintage card? Around the age of nine, a school friend of mine happened to have this card and would not trade it to me under any circumstances. Try as I might, I just could not convince him to part ways with it. Later that year, the full 1977-78 O-Pee-Chee WHA set ended up as a gift in my stocking at Christmas, so at least the wait to get one during my early days in the hobby was not a long one.

The funny thing is, that same friend now teaches art to my stepdaughter. Funny how life allows connections to be made like that!

BONUS CARD

One of the best things about the beloved 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee set is the fact that so many WHA refugees were included as four teams were absorbed into the NHL. Most of the players were relegated to the last 132 cards in the set which were exclusive to the O-Pee-Chee collections and their cards often featured training camp, preseason, or early season shots - most of which were taken by Steve Babineau.

Unfortunately for fans of Smith, we would not get to see him in his new NHL jersey as an older photo was once again used. After this season, Smith only had one more classic era card and it reflected his joining the Rockies for one last year in 1980-81.

1985-86 O-Pee-Chee #110 Pelle Lindbergh

For those of us that grew up watching hockey in the mid-1980s, there is one player who makes us ask "what if?"

Pelle Lindbergh was a star goalie for the Philadelphia Flyers and had just established himself as a superstar on the rise with an amazing 1984-85 campaign that saw him the Vezina Trophy and take the Philadelphia Flyers all the way to the Stanley Cup Final. While he and his teammates succumbed to the Edmonton Oilers team that was recently ranked as the Greatest in NHL History via a public poll, there was so much hope that the Flyers would be back to challenge for that Silver Bowl once again in 1985-86.

For those watching early that year, it seemed like that was going to be exactly the case. After their first 13 games, the team was 11-2-0 thanks to the sensational tandem of Lindbergh and Bob Froese. In fact, after the Swedish sensation earned a 6-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on November 7, 1985, they had won nine in a row (a streak that ultimately extended to 13 games). Nobody could have dreamed of it at the time, but that proved to be his last appearance.

During the early hours of November 10, an intoxicated Lindbergh was behind the wheel of his Porsche 930 Turbo that crashed into the wall in front of an elementary school in Somerdale, New Jersey. Two passengers inside were injured, but the 26-year-old's state was critical. A day later, he passed away and the Flyers (and their fans) were devastated. I was definitely one of those kids.

Since Topps was already deep into production of its 1985-86 set, it was too late to update his card to reflect this tragedy. However, O-Pee-Chee's traditional January release date gave Canadian kids an instantly-coveted piece of cardboard thanks to a black memorial banner added just above his name. The beautiful photo on the card also helped create a lasting tribute that is still fondly looked upon to this day.

Oh, and so much love for that mask - late era Jacques Plante model much like Lindbergh's goalie coach and mentor, Bernie Parent.

THOUGHTS FROM FROESE 

Back in 2015, I spoke with Froese for an article I wrote in a special magazine entitled Hockey's Greatest Goalies and he spoke about the impact Lindbergh's death had on the team.

"It was, for lack of a better term, devastating," Froese said. "He had done these amazing things and we had Iron Mike (Keenan) as our coach and we had done these tests and we were supposed to be the best-conditioned team. We were a young team. We all thought we were supermen. We lived that way on and off the ice and no one ever thought of death. The finality of death was just overwhelming and so I would say that the games were our release. To get to play was a time where we could forget, believe it or not. He was a fantastic and well-loved guy on the team. It wasn't like he was over in the corner, he was a huge rock in that team."

Froese also spoke very highly of his crease partner and reflected upon meeting him for the first time.

"We were in the minors. I was in the IHL and we met in training camp," recalled Froese. "He was the second round draft pick and he was a little Bernie (Parent) and Bernie is still a pretty big deal in Philadelphia. He was not a real boisterous guy or anything like that. Quiet, but he was fun.

"Naturally, there's competition and everybody's trying to size each other up, no matter if you're a defenseman or a centerman. Goalies are even moreso because there's only two positions on the team and everyone is trying for that. I think some people tried to portray that we had one, and don't get me wrong, we had a mutual respect for each other. I guess you could say that he was the quarterhorse or the thoroughbred and I was more the Clydesdale. We understood that about each other. He was very superstitious and I wasn't. He was extremely gifted and more temperamental where I wasn't. It was a real difference in personalities, so we realized early that we were going to be up against each other. I realized from the get-go that he was more gifted than I, but I knew what I had going for me was more of a (Bobby) Clarke mentality that was appreciated in Philadelphia."

MODERN HOBBY RESURGENCE

As the years went by, there was simply no new cardboard of Lindbergh to collect - until a friend of mine named Fabio Del Rio made it happen. During the 2001-02 season, he was working at In The Game (also commonly called Be A Player during those days) and was working on the first Between The Pipes set. Like me, he had been seriously impacted by Lindbergh's death and he found a way to include the late legend in that product. By the time I was working for the company, Dr. Brian Price had acquired some of Lindbergh's game-used equipment and I was able to get it into cards for the 2004-05 In The Game Franchises USA East release.

Instantly in demand from collectors, these memorabilia cards sold quite well on the secondary market and he was a fixture on checklists from that point forward. Upper Deck has also included him in a few occasional releases and have cut up a pair of his game-used socks for them.

BONUS CARD

Packs of 1985-86 O-Pee-Chee (and Topps) featured a special insert set inside for the first time in years and in addition to team logo stickers, there were also 12 All-Stars from the previous season. Since Lindbergh easily earned a spot on the First All-Star Team, collectors got a good look at him without his mask on. This was the only year that O-Pee-Chee included this feature, but Topps carried it forward to the 1989-90 campaign.

1968-69 O-Pee-Chee #1 - Doug Harvey

This is where, for most collectors, the classic O-Pee-Chee Hockey Card era began.

Sure, the original run of O-Pee-Chee cards took place from 1933-34 to 1940-41 as Canadian youth got to collect the stars they heard about on the airwaves from Foster Hewitt conveniently packaged with a piece of sickeningly-sweet gum for a cool penny. There were five series of traditional cards produced up to the 1937-38 season before the company took a brief hiatus and moved to a 5" x 7" format for two seasons before wartime paper and sugar rationing made trading card production a moot point due to bigger problems in the world.

In 1954-55, Topps entered the hockey card market with a gorgeous set focused on the four American-based teams at the time. In a conversation I had with Sy Berger a few years ago, he noted that he was not at all interested in the game of hockey, but he took a chance on making the cards. O-Pee-Chee distributed them in Canada that year and starting again in 1957-58 with sales taking place essentially in the Great White North for the next decade. The cards were often designed stateside, but printed and packaged in Canada starting with the 1960-61 release.

EXPANSION

With the NHL expanding in time for the 1967-68 season, Topps realized that it could produce a set in 1968-69 for American kids while Canadians could have something unique from O-Pee-Chee that would include French text and additional players and even a second series.

Thus was the birth of the Classic O-Pee-Chee Era and the first set kicked off in perfect fashion with one of the NHL's established stars in Doug Harvey.

Then in the waning days of his Hall of Fame career, Harvey had revolutionized the defense position in the 1950s as a member of the Montreal Canadiens. and was a key part of five straight Stanley Cup championships. By the end of the 1960-61 season, the team mistakenly considered him to be expendable and shipped him off to the New York Rangers - where he won his seventh Norris Trophy in eight seasons and finished second in Hart Trophy balloting to former teammate Jacques Plante.

Did I also mention that he was the coach of the Rangers that year as well?

By 1963-64, Harvey was on his way out of a regular NHL job and was essentially exiled to the minors. It is likely that alcoholism and mental health issues may have played a factor here as his struggles are well-documented, but he was determined to still play the game. His AHL stops included Quebec, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh and he even got back for a two-game stint with the Detroit Red Wings in the last year of the Original Six era, 1966-67.

THE COMEBACK

Once that season ended, he was asked by the expansion St. Louis Blues to serve as a player-coach for their Central Hockey League affiliate, the Kansas City Blues. The team had a 31-29-10 record that year, but once they were out of the playoffs, the parent club asked the grizzled vet to join them for the playoffs. It was a smart move as he assisted on Larry Keenan's Game 7 overtime winner in his first outing back!

Moving forward, he was able to provide some strong leadership in a seven-game thriller with the Minnesota North Stars as well before the Blues were swept in four straight by the Habs in the Stanley Cup Final.

Instead of heading back to Kansas City, Harvey was able to join the Blues for one last season in 1968-69 and fittingly, he was chosen to be the first card in the O-Pee-Chee set. The Topps series had Boston Bruins goaltender Gerry Cheevers in that spot instead, but there is little rhyme nor reason at times for this O-Pee-Chee set.

Flipping the card over, there is a brilliant cartoon which states that Harvey is known as "Mr. Smoothy", but that is a nickname that seems to be lost to the mists of time. Maybe it's time to bring it back. Or not.

The photo of Harvey is airbrushed, likely due to the rush in putting the set together and probably dates back to his time with the Rangers. There is a bit of a glaring error that went uncorrected as well. The text states that he is 45-years-old, but by the time this card came out in roughly January, 1969, he was in fact only 44. It's a small mistake, so most would have never noticed it. You can check out the back of the card courtesy of the fine folks at Trading Card Database here.

Looking at Harvey's 1968-69 campaign, he managed to play 70 of 76 regular season games and finished second on the team's blueline corps in scoring behind Noel Picard. On January 3, 1969, he scored the final goal of his career against the Oakland Seals and made his last appearance while battling the Los Angeles Kings on March 29. He did not make an appearance in the playoffs as the Blues went to the Stanley Cup Final yet again.

AFTERMATH

In retirement, Harvey endured many struggles and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1973. Around that time, he served as an assistant coach for the WHA's Houston Aeros and for a brief spell in the mid-1980s, was a scout for the Canadiens - who finally retired his number in 1985.

He passed away at the age of 65 on December 26, 1989. In 2017, he was named one of the NHL's Top 100.

BONUS CARD

The second series produced by O-Pee-Chee in 1968-69 featured 22 Puck Stickers which kids could punch out, lick, and stick to a flat surface. As one of the game's greats, it was only natural that Harvey was included in the checklist.

Collecting Origins

It was roughly 36 years ago to this exact day when I opened my first pack of O-Pee-Chee Hockey Cards. The journey from that point onward has certainly been a remarkable one - especially after some of the things that I have been through over the past few months.

For those of you that do not know me, I'm Stephen Laroche. 

Who?

Okay, this requires a bit of explanation for those of you who are not familiar with my work in the trading card industry. As stated above, I have been collecting since the 1981-82 season and have worn a lot of hats in the collecting world. Over time, I went from obsessed young collector to occasional weekend warrior dealer by the time the industry was booming in the early '90s.

(Yes, hockey cards are still around, and yes, there are grown men and women who still enjoy the pursuit of collecting them.)

Unlike many people who were collecting/investing 25 years ago, I managed to stick with it and by the time I was in college in Ottawa, Ontario learning about the world of Public Relations, I was working at a card store. Once I moved on to get my second diploma (Print Journalism), I finally got up the nerve to submit a story to the late, great magazine known as Canadian Sports Collector. Soon after, I was working for SLAM! Sports (part of Sun Media's CANOE portal) and launched a small area of the site called SLAM! Collectibles in October, 2001.

For about three years,  I regularly updated the site (even after being let go from the full-time gig once the dotcom bubble burst) on essentially a voluntary basis. The site had plenty of hobby news for all sports along with box breaks (in the days before they essentially required videos to go along with them) and the occasional fun piece while making tons of contacts in the industry. I also made more than a few appearances on Sportsology's Cardboard Radio broadcasts along the way as well. While I can't seem to find any traces of the SLAM! Collectibles site online anymore, it did allow me a great opportunity.

Back in 2003, my old Editor at CSC, Baron Bedesky, was my go-to-guy for information at In The Game. I had been bugging him for months for a chance to write some card backs in order to get my foot in the door with a manufacturer. With a big project called 2003-04 In The Game Action a few months away from release, Baron gave me my chance - and I wrote 180 of them in exchange for some product.

It was one of the best deals I ever made as it turned into two more opportunities to do some work in the months that followed - compiling stats for subset cards in the massive 2003-04 Parkhurst Original Six releases and backs for the widespread In The Game set that was sold via a Toronto Star promotion.

By the time the 2004 World Cup of Hockey rolled around, I was out of work and trying to figure out how I could break into the industry on a full-time basis. One card company was interested in me at the time, but once Dr. Brian Price was told about that, he asked to meet and we came to an agreement that I would come work for In The Game.

Over the course of a decade, I wore many hats for the company and was involved in dozens of projects. I was able to use my creative energy to help create some great products in addition to building relationships with collectors, dealers, and the players themselves. Over time on this blog, I will try to share a few memories as they come up. Working at In The Game had its share of both good and bad times, like any job, but I managed to learn some valuable lessons along the way.

In 2014, Brian sold In The Game to Leaf Trading Cards and I was finding myself looking for work once again. Luckily, I had started to freelance for Beckett Hockey and its then-Editor, Susan Lulgjuraj, was on her way to taking a position with Topps. Naturally, I campaigned heavily for the position and was pleased that Bill Dumas and Chris Olds decided to give their approval.

Having fun with Travis Konecny and Mathew Barzal at the 2016 NHLPA Rookie Showcase

For a little over three years, I was able to continue to live out that childhood dream of being connected to the hobby. I set out to make the magazine feel like it did in its glory days, at least from an editorial perspective. Honestly, I feel that I succeeded in that mission as folks told me they had started to read the editorial pages again after years of essentially ignoring them. There were some great times and a few frustrating ones, but all good things come to an end and my contract was terminated along with the other freelance editors four months ago. At this time, I am not going to delve deeply into those feelings and speak ill of others that may deserve some criticism, but that may come in time as I continue to grow and move past all of it.

Luckily, I have been able to do a little bit of writing in the past few months for the Upper Deck Blog and contributed a couple of pieces to my old pal, Russ Cohen, at Sportsology. Their kindness at this time has been genuinely appreciated and as I start a new chapter in life.

Now that you have heard my long story about who I am - let's get back to the origin story.

I really need to get one of these packs and save it for a special occasion!

Flashing back to mid-February, 1982, I was five years old and my world was starting to be all about two things - Star Wars and hockey. Quite frankly, those are still big things for me, but I digress yet again.

After spending a Saturday night at a friend's house, we made a stop in the twilight hours that Sunday at a small convenience store in my hometown of Trenton, Ontario called O'Malley's. Long closed and boarded up today, the store was one of my favourite places to go as I sought out packs of O-Pee-Chee Hockey Stickers that had been released a few months earlier. Well, there were no stickers in stock that day, so I reluctantly accepted a pack of cards instead. To be honest, I wasn't even really interested in them at the time. The stickers were my jam - not these larger pieces of cardboard.

The Card That Started It All

That changed once I cracked open that pack. I pulled open the wax seal and lo and behold, Jim Korn of the Detroit Red Wings was staring at me. As I shuffled through the rest of the pack, I encountered a Dave Hunter card as well. Perhaps getting an Edmonton Oilers player sealed the deal for me and I knew I wanted more.

Well, here we are 36 years later and both nothing and everything has changed at the same time. I still love breaking open a pack. I don't think that is ever going to change, but I need to feel better about the hobby and collecting again. This blog is definitely the way to do it and I hope that you will enjoy it.