Hockey Card of the Day #39

#E9 - Jim Kyte

94-95 Classic Enforcers of Hockey

I guess these budget brands did have a good idea every once in a while. Since NHL cards aren't allowed to show fighting, Classic made a ten card set of AHL and IHL'ers beating this shit out of each other (or at the very least staring each other down).

Apparently this career minor-league goon is a hero in Syracuse where he has a banner with his name and number in the War Memorial at Oncenter, the home of the AHL Crunch.

Worst Ever Hockey Cards #9

Worst Ever Hockey Card Set #9
#13 - Markus Naslund
91-92 Classic Four-Sport

Classic knew how to squeeze every penny out of the trading card fad of the early-90's. This card from Classic's 91-92 Four-Sport set features the exact same photo as Naslund's card in Classic's Draft Pick set from the same year. The big difference between the two cards is the horrible marble border they slapped on the Four-Spot card, which is one of the worst I've ever seen on any card. The back of the Four-Sport card is like an uglier version of the Draft Pick card as well, with an near identical design, but without the photo and, for some reason, only with two of the four sentences that its counterpart has.

The Four-Sport set was called that because it was where Classic combined all the draft picks from the big four North American sports into one easy to collect set. The only problem is that the fifty hockey cards included in the Four-Sport set were the same as their previously released draft pick set. I haven't seen the rest of the set, but I can only guess the other 49 hockey cards also have the same photos as the ones in the draft pick set. It's unfortunate, but Classic probably didn't have too many problems finding suckers to invest in a near identical draft set.

The Naslund card above was the cheapest hockey card for sale on checkoutmycards.com, so it has proven to have been a very good investment (just click on the google ad about selling your cards for $0.20 and I'll earn back the three cents I spent on the card).

Hockey Card of the Day #14

#112 - Manon Rheaume (Hockey Art)
93-94 Classic Draft Picks
(back)
Worst Ever Hockey Card Set #5

Classic made 26 Manon Rheaume cards between 1992 and 1995. That's one card for every regular season professional and major junior ice hockey game she played (she also played some professional roller hockey games in the RHI), plus a bonus card for the pre-season publicity stunt with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

I'm sure that many of the other Rheaume cards are bad, but nothing tops Classic's hockey art. The only thing this card is missing is a dolphin jumping in the background.

And also, what is that on her left hand-- an oven mitt?

Hockey Card of the Day #7

#35 - Antti Aalto
93-94 Classic Draft Picks
(back)

He won't be remembered for much in his NHL career, but at least he'll have the distinction of being the first player listed in the alumni section in every NHL record book. He better cross his fingers that Vitalij Aab doesn't get signed by an NHL team.

91-92 Classic Draft Picks

Classic is one of many budget companies that existed in the early-90's. These companies either were not allowed to, or more likely, could not afford to pay for the rights to release NHL hockey cards, so instead they released sets like Classic's Draft Picks. Classic's inaugral draft set includes 50 of the top 62 draft picks from 1991 (most of the Russian and US College players are not inlcuded).

Of the four companies that released draft sets in 91-92, Classic is the only company that is licensed by the CHL (where most of the draft picks played), and the only company that was able to include the first pick from the '91 draft, Eric Lindros. Because it is licensed by the CHL, Classic could show most of the players in their actual junior uniforms while other companies had to airbrush the logos out. Some of the European players are only shown in blank jerseys, however.

Classic tried to create the illusion of value for this set by including 'Ceritification of Limited Edition', but my set is numbered 199,556 of 360,000, so I don't think they were really fooling anyone. Anyone who wants to pick up this 'limited edition' set can get one off of Ebay for less than $2.

For a budget set, Classic 91-92 Draft Picks has pretty good photography. A few cards are blurry or grainy, but most are as clear as anything in any NHL set.

This set also includes a bonus card (numbered 'B') of CFL'er Raghib 'Rocket' Ismail, a Los Angeles Raiders draft pick that was signed away from the NFL to the Toronto Argonauts for a ridiculous amount of money. He won a Grey Cup in his first year with the team, but got into trouble in his second year when he stomped on another player's helmeted head during a brawl.

Five of my favorites:
#15 - Glen Murray - I got to see Sudbury's opening game this year while I was on tour. They play in an old fire hazard of a building (built in 1951) and each time they score a goal, a taxidermic wolf on a pulley system flies across the ceiling above the opposing team's bench. The wolf looks like it's been there since the team's first season in 1962. My point is, Sudbury knows when they have a good thing going. Their logo is one of the best in all of the CHL because they haven't bothered changing it every few years like so many other teams.

#39 - Yanic Perreault - My favorite part of this draft set is getting to see all the old CHL logos. This one is the Trois-Rivières Draveurs. Apparently a draveur is a raftmen. I guess that could be a raft on the jersey?

#14 - Brent Bilodeau - Seattle still has the same logo, but they've changed the colour scheme from the old Hartford Whalers straight green, to the later Whalers navy blue, green and silver. It sucks.

#12 - Pat Peake - Probably the worst team name in CHL history: The Detriot Compuware Ambassadors.

#32 - Jeff Nelson - Right now the Prince Albert Raiders have a pretty boring pirate logo. I like their old 'Screaming Jihad' logo way better.