Card Hemorrhage Hockey Card Update

One of the reasons I don't really do much hockey cards collectin' - despite being a big fan of the sport - is that I've come to realize that most of the card designs themselves are just hideous. I blame Upper Deck and O-Pee-Chee, sure, but I also blame the lack of imagination of the grand majority of the other brands as well, dating all the way back to the 70s. I mean, look at this stuff. It's the most razzle-dazzle, color-overloaded shiny garbage imaginable, and it's really kept me away from the stuff.

So when I decided to dip a real toe into hockey card accumulation - which I documented here and here - I really only had two major goals: to collect every single Topps card ever made of the Oakland Seals / California Golden Seals - which I did! - and to collect the entire 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee World Hockey Association set. I only have three left of those to track down. 

After, that I was high and dry. Bereft. In need of inspiration - and a set to collect. I said, well - is there such a thing as "Topps Heritage" cards in the hockey card world? Turns out there used to be, and it's a real dilly of a set! In fact, Topps Heritage Hockey 2001-02 is exactly what I was looking for (they did two other Heritage sets, the year before and the year after, but they're not as cool as these). Just so happens around that time - 2001-02 - my hockey-mania was totally off the charts, and I went to 6 or 7 San Jose Sharks game each year; watched every one of their games on TV and followed both the team and the league religiously. 

So yeah, I decided to pick up the entire 187-card set, best as I could. I actually know and remember pretty much every player in the set. Here are a few random others from it:

Now that's what a hockey card should look like, folks. Any modern set that looks vintage and clean like these, I'm all-in. I don't know enough about hockey cards to say for sure....but are there any others this cool? Even small, Canadian-only sets? Let me know and I'll investigate.

But wait! There's a newer set I totally dig as well. 2019-20 O-Pee-Chee Platinum Hockey Retro looks pretty snazzy and it actually has dudes that are playing, like, now:

So I'm going after this 100-card set as well. May take me a while, but they're pretty nice, right? Reminds me that I bought some Topps Hockey cards that year that Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel both debuted; I guess that was 4 years ago...? I didn't pull the McDavid, but I got the Eichel in a pack - and then saw that their rookie cards were going for insane prices on eBay. I put the Eichel up for $85 and it sold in minutes. Wow. 

Finally, there's this related 2019-20 O-Pee-Chee Platinum set. I think I bought a small batch of these by mistake on eBay. It's better-looking than most sets, but I don't think it's really the vibe I'm going for in my hockey card collection. I don't know. Besides, there are multiple confusing variations of each of these cards, all with the same card numbers, and....jeez. I can't handle it. Baseball cards are so much easier to figure out, right? Anyway, here are a few of those. What is Max Jones doing here again?!? See you next time, folks.