Dropping the puck

Hi guys and gals,

My name is Chuck and I'm proud to be your extra-special guest blogger today. I collect mainly baseball and hockey cards so the powers that be here at APAD thought it would be nice to mix it up a bit and talk about (pronounced aboot if you are Canadian) hockey cards. Right off the bat I'll take a leap of faith and assume that if you want to begin a hockey card collection, you are somwehat familiar with the teams and players. If beads of sweat are now pouring down your dejected faces, don't worry. There aren't any mandatory pre-requisites to becomming a hockey collector.

The most important aspect of collecting hockey cards (if you're new to this branch of the hobby) is that unlike our baseball collecting bretheren, we hockey collectors are totally at the mercy of that not-so benevolent dictatorship known as Upper Deck. Currently, UD holds the only NHL license to produce hockey cards. Yep, UD is the only licensed game in town and as such hockey collectors are annually left with a confusing myriad of products that each carry various degrees of "sweetness". I won't list the entire product line but I'm pretty sure you guys are familiar with the names of the usual suspects. There is an alternative to UD however. ITG makes some nice hockey products, unfortunately none of their current lines carry an NHL license. I guess it comes down to your particular brand of scotch. If a license doesn't mean alot to you, check out ITG. If however, you demand "the real deal" pick a product from the UD family. Either one will provide you with a satisfying collecting experience.

In my next few posts, I'll try to talk about player collecting, team collecting and I may even bust a pack or 2. Below I included some links to help you get started. Enjoy the hobby and I'll see you soon!!

http://sports.upperdeck.com/hockey/

http://itgtradingcards.com/

http://nhl.com