Mail Day Warning! Cards from Canada!

Today has been a bit gloomy in the TBA what with the weather and the latest ownership debacle surrounding the Hockey club de Tampa Bay. So it was quite nice to see a package in the mail that I knew contained cards. Even better it had a post mark from up north, waaaaay up north.

The Captain has come through with my favorite cards of the year so far. Not because they have patches of shirts or slivers of wood, but because they are all but inaccessible for hockey fans in the south.

We may have sunshine (most of the time) and beaches (look out for the sharks!), but one thing we don’t have – hockey cards at McDonalds! I love McDonalds, I love the convenience, the price, and the French Fries. I love the sheer Americaness of it as well. For $5.00 one can walk in there and get a meal loaded with more calories then the rest of the world sees in a day.

Too much is never enough for this country and that is never better reflected than in McDonalds.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, cards from Captain. You see, up there in Canada Upper Deck and McDonalds team together to sell a set of cards. I don’t think they’re worth a lot of money – most of the cards I’ve looked at on eBay seem to go for about $.99, but good lord are they shiny.

I had mentioned a few months ago that we don’t have the pleasure of acquiring the cards first hand down here in Florida, despite being a town with a major league hockey team so Captain Canuck gracefully declared that he would send some Vinny’s down when they were available.

True to his word – they showed up this week. He even threw in some older versions as well.



The 2009-10 version. This is least Vinny-looking card I’ve ever seen. He has a bit of a distinctive visage and for some reason I don’t see it here. Is Upper Deck selling a card with an imposter on it? Probably not….



The 2006-07 version. He is called an “emerging superstar” by Upper Deck. Or if you prefer the French a “supervedette en devenir”. The information on the back of the card is in French and English, so us poor mono-lingual Americans can actually learn something!




The 2005-06 version. The back mentions his 16 points in 23 playoff games during the Stanley Cup run. Man, those were fond memories.


As anyone who has traded with the captain knows, it’s not a trade unless there is a pack of unopened cards included. My pack this time – 1991-92 Score. Purple borders! The best card out of the bunch:



Patrick Roy Dream Team. Look at that smug look on his face, you would think he was good or something!

Thanks to the Captain and much condolences to Calgary’s loss….not Phaneuf, but
Cuthbert of course!