It is now Official I have them (Barely)

 After I had sent these first out to be autographed on July 31st I got nervous when a month passed. So I did what any caring person would do. I wrote to Julie just asking if she got the cards and I did not like doing that because I did not want to make her feel bad because that is not my nature. So I got an email from Julie on Thursday telling me that the cards were on there way and that it was a very busy month of August for her and I did reply back telling her I understood. So let me show you the cards that I have been waiting for and I now have my very first 2 player autograph card but I plan on sending it to one more player which will give me three different auto's on this special Titled: First Goal card.

This is the front of the first goal card these cards are from the 1997-98 Gophers Women's hockey set. This is the inaugural team. I am going to have Brittny Ralph sign the front of this card. The back of this card has been signed by both the First ever goal scorer Julie Otto and the First ever assist Laura Tryba. So this week I will send only one of these cards out for Brittny Ralph to sign and there is a very good reason why I will only send out one at a time, I will explain later in this post.

This is the back of the First goal card and as you can see Julie Otto and Laura Tryba signed under each of their photo's. This is another favorite card of mine and I now have 2 of these cards signed by both players. This is a historic card and I am pleased I own both signed and I want to say a BIG thank-you to Laura Tryba and Julie Otto for taking time to sign this legendary card. I still wonder what ever happened to that first goal game puck, was it removed from the game and put somewhere in the School?? I will ask Brittny when I send her the card to sign as she may know.

This card is Julie Otto's card and I sent her 2 of these cards to sign and she added 1st ever goal, I already have this card signed by her. Julie was the team Captain along with Kris Scholz. I currently only need 7 more player auto's from this set to complete it all signed but I honestly do not think I will get those 7 player's auto's, time will tell.

This index card is from Erin Magee and I wanted to get her autograph and she was a star for the B.C. Eagles. She has a nice autograph. The thing I really love about doing the through the mail auto's and that is getting nice letters telling me thanks for bringing back all of those memories and this happens a lot. What I find interesting is when I send to a star player and the star player signs but a majority of them will not sign and it is very depressing when I get back a Return to Sender. I have got back lots of nice replies from the players and the players who refuse to sign should learn from the ones that do and it shows me the ones who do sign are the better players.

Those players have a heart for not themselves but their fans.

This card is the Tim Hortons Maple Leaf Immortals card of Marie Philip-Poulin and a nice addition to the collection. Poulin is currently the best player in the PWHL and their are others who have their opinions as to being better. It will be interesting this year to see who has better seasons as the players to watch are this years draft picks. Caroline Harvey went number 1 while going number 2 was Abbey Murphy. Looks to be getting competitive in the PWHL which should make for a very challenging season in the PWHL and challenging for the collectors of women's hockey cards.

As I said earlier I would discuss what I meant about sending one card at a time. First these types of cards being a regional are not very easy to locate so if they got lost I would be out both but by sending the first one once I get it back signed by Brittny I will send the second asking her to sign that card too. The post office is horrid and they are trying to tell me that the way I send the cards out in the SASE is not correctly done. In the 10 years I have been doing through the mail autos and the thousands of cards I have sent out I have only had 4 envelopes damaged. 

So yesterday I got no mail delivery even though my Informed delivery showed I had 4 pieces of mail and of the four pieces two were autographs. I still believe those 4 pieces of mail were at my post office but they were not pleased with me because I told them I was tired of getting lost letters. They blamed the lost letters because of the SASE being to thick and getting damaged but 4 damaged envelopes in 10 years, is that bad?? No it is not and I told the postmaster I can not control what the person adds to the envelope like the one she had set aside to show me. The person put a team USA pin in the envelope which caused the damage. I am not changing how I send them out and I was told my address label is not supposed to have anything on the bottom of the label like I have a motto, it reads We Love team USA. I was told I can't do that but today I did a search and was told yes you can.

My next post I will be adding more of my Women's autographs that I get back and I will be adding some baseball cards. Enjoy the hobby and stay safe!!!

I just picked up these and the Muzzy second year and what is coming in the mail

 It seems that collecting cards and autographs go hand and hand and there are a lot of times we see issues that make us stop and think. We say is this really worth it, the let downs when a certain player won't sign an autograph. As collectors we see these athletes differently when we should see them as we are: Human Beings. I too get upset when I do not get a certain players auto back as a success but rather a disappointment and it usually is a player that is more noticed by fans because of their talents making them a star versus a player who puts up low numbers. That is wrong because any player that can crack a lineup for that league is a damn good player but we as fans get spoiled because of a players star qualities.

When I got the package yesterday of the 2 sets of Minnesota Gophers Women's hockey cards I was quite excited. Taking the time to read the stats and the interesting card writeups asking the players questions and printing there answers on the back. Have you ever read the backs of the cards now a days?? They look to be written by a 10 year old but maybe they don't care because it seems the collectors today are only interested in a players star quality.

What makes a card valuable?? If we look at a price guide it seems it is the players who lead their team in stats and the only time a common type player card is valuable is when the card is limited or an error that not many know about. The not knowing though today does not last as long with the internet and this is what takes the fun out of the hobby for some. I feel that way as the hobby is now based as a way for some to get rich quick instead of just enjoying a players card. I find the hobby to be upsetting and when I see the prices realized at auction I laugh at what is being paid. A card made withing a few years worth millions is just downright nuts. Over a period of time that card will suffer and the price will fall like a rock from the sky.

So lets take a look at these 2 sets and discuss what I am talking about like stand out players and common players. It is all just a way to get a stars cards and forget about the player who seems to get lost and their cards are just a common card.

This card is the 1998-99 Minnesota Gophers card of Nadine Muzerall and this is her second year card. As you can see from me showing this card first that I am excited owning this card so I am doing the same thing which is letting her talent take over as a indication to me and I am going to try and be as excited for every card and autograph that I add to my collection.

This card is the 1998-99 Minnesota Gophers card of Laura Slominski and this is her rookie card. Laura put up good numbers and became team captain her senior year of 2001-02. She went on to coach at various schools, During her 4 years as a Gopher she amassed 162 points.

This card is the 1998-99 Minnesota Gophers card of Courtney Kennedy. Courtney played in 2 Olympics winning a silver medal in 2002 and a bronze medal in 2006.

This card is the 1998-99 Minnesota Gophers card of Shannon Kennedy. This is Courtney Kennedy's older sister who played 3 seasons with the Gophers. She did put up decent numbers 65 points over 2 seasons adding 24 goals.

This card is the 1998-99 Minnesota Gophers card of Ambria Thomas. She is another player who put up good numbers. I was surprised to see that her career ended after her 4 years as a gopher. She amassed a total of 201 points, with 89 goals. She is a tough tough autograph as well. I have written to her twice with no success and I will not be trying again at least with this card. I will not be sending any of these cards out because I do not want to break up the set by not getting the card back. I may buy a few single cards of new players from the 1998-99 team as I have all of the autographs from the 1997-98 team all except 7. I will not take on trying to complete another set as it is too frustrating.

These cards are from the other set I just got. I will show these 3 cards but my next blog post I will be discussing more of these cards. The card on the left is of Gigi Marvin, the middle card is Anne Schleper and the card on the right showing the back of the card is Kelli Blankenship. I chose Kelli's card because of the answers she gave to the questions. The first question her answer made me laugh. Do you have any secret talents?? Answer: I can touch my nose with my tongue. What is the greatest hockey movie of all time?? Answer Youngblood. If you didn't play hockey, What sport would you want to play?? Answer Beach Volleyball. Why did you pick your jersey number?? Answer Because 7 is a good looking number and I have to agree with her there because I wore number 7 as well.

The only two players missing from this set are the Lamoureux twins Jocelyne and Monique. Maybe someday I will find these 2 cards and add them to my growing collection of women Hockey players.

There are times when I feel like just stopping the through the mail autographs and just concentrate on the base cards but it is hard to just stop. What makes me angry is when I get back RTS especially when I know the player has got the request but they just send it back because they just wish not to sign.

My next blog post you will see the cards that I have been going on so much about. Hint it will be my first double autographed card. I have just found out that those cards are enroute and I hope and pray that the postal people do not lose the letter as I am currently at 9 letters lost this year which to me is uncalled for.

So until my next post Happy Collecting and stay Safe!!!

 

This Weeks Mail

 I was planning on having a better week of autographs through the mail, however it did get better with today's pickup. I only needed 1 more autograph to complete the 1994-95 Classic Women of Hockey set. Well back on July 1st I found some information about the last player I needed and I am very elated that I sent the autograph request to that address because as of right now I no longer need the 1 autograph but am complete now with getting all of the American players cards all signed. Here is the autographs I got back so far this week with only 1 more day left with Saturday's mail. Before I start showing the scans I want to say that I am so upset with the way the mail is delivered today. On Weds. I got a catalog and as I am flipping through it there is someone's letter withing the pages and today I did not get my other autograph request because my mailman is terrible. It looks like it is lost yet again. If it is raining outside and I get a magazine that day I kid you not the magazine is soaked because the mailman walks down the sidewalk with the mail out in his hand but there is a funny part. The funny part is he has a satchel on his shoulder so instead of keeping the mail in the satchel where it will be protected from the rain he has it out in his hand. 

This is the card I got back today and it completes the 1994-95 Classic Women Of Hockey American players now completely signed, YIPPEEEE!!!! She did send me a nice note and she signed her name twice on the note. I can see the autograph is the initials S. B. and her uniform number 12. Her autograph is on a lot of autograph collector's want list but I sure am glad I can cross off her name from my want list.

This is the other autograph I got back this week of Ali Brewer who played 4 years at Brown University. Her autograph is creative and the oo1 indicates her last year. During the 1999-00 season she posted incredible numbers. In 32 games she went 25 Wins 4 Losses and 3 Ties. Incredible save percentage of .939, Goals Against average 1.44 and 7 shutouts.

This autograph is from Stephanie O'Sullivan who played 4 years at Providence College and she played in 4 Women's World Championships. In those 20 games she played at the World's she scored 32 points, 12 goals and 20 assists.

Getting back the autograph from Stephanie Boyd keeps the week from being a total disaster but I now wonder who the missing letter is from. It was postmarked St. Paul, MN but a majority of the letters sent are from the state of Minnesota which is a hockey hotbed. I just hope it is not from Marisa Pettiford because I did send her a autograph request and I hinted in my letter to her that her card was the only card that I never owned and I know the players do have cards they got and was hoping she might include one signed. Now do you see why I am so upset???

I am hoping that I get  back more successes in tomorrow's mail and that missing mail piece shows up but I do not count on that happening. I am going to start keeping track of all the mail lost when my regular mailman delivers mail. If it continues I am filing a complaint as this is just not right and it happens way too often. I will be adding a new page soon titled My Weekly Auto's Pickups. By having it's own page I can keep track of when the auto's arrive and I can do updates to the lost mail that seems to happen at my lovely post office. The thing that I get so upset about is I do not know who the lost mail is from since the letter coming back with the autographs is the envelope with my address label.

To update I still have not heard back about my multi player card that I am only 1 autograph away from having both autographs on the card. If and when I do get them back signed I will be sending the 2 cards to one more player but only sending one of those at a time and that way if one gets lost I will have the card with both autographs but not the third autograph.

There are still several Women's autographs that I need and I do have some photo's of what these players autographs look like and these are 2 that I would love to add to my collection.

This autograph is of Isabelle Chartrand who played for Team Canada and won a Gold medal in the 2002 Winter Olympics. She also won a gold medal in the World Championships. She was a very good defensive player and it showed with her plus minus.

This autograph is another one that I would really like to add to my collection of Dana Antal and I did send out an auto request to her. She does have a few cards but I never picked one up. I hope I get back her autograph soon. She does have a very nice auto as you can see her signing has that quick light flow.

Also check out my other new page titled Dream Cards. This will show the cards that I someday would love to own. I do plan on buying a couple blaster boxes from the 2025-26 Upper Deck PWHL and I have been thinking about buying a 2007 In the Game box and opening that and post the pulls. Stay tuned and as always Happy Collecting and stay safe!!!

Rookie Gems Rewind

 I want to talk about the Women's rookie cards that I have in my collection and some cards that I hope to find and add to my growing Women of Hockey Autographs. There have been times when I send these cards out for an autograph and yes there is the thought that I may never see the cards again. They can get lost in the mail or damaged in the mail or what happens the most is the person you are sending to never signs the cards and I have been told that there are some players that never open the envelope. It gets thrown in the trash or the person just misplaces it. The longest I have ever waited getting an autograph back was 9 years. Can you imagine what their mail area looks like??

Let's look at some of the more prominent Women Hockey Players.

This card is the 2004-05 Ohio State Buckeyes Rookie card of Lisa Chesson. I was fortunate to get all 4 of her college cards signed. It would have been great if I could have got Shelby Aldous to sign this card. This is the way the Ohio state Buckeyes cards were done with multiple players on one card was usually the rookies.

This little Gem is the 2002-03 Minnesota Gophers rookie card of Natalie Darwitz. The one thing about these cards are a majority of the college cards were perforated. You only have to fold the cards three times and they easily come apart. Thanks to a collecting friend for the picture.

This card is the 1997-98 University of Minnesota card of Nadine Muzerall. She put up decent numbers in her 4 years, played in 129 games, 139 goals, 96 assists for 235 points. Nadine is the head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes. Her first season as head coach was 2016-17 season and she has won 2 NCAA Championships 2022 and 2024.

This card is another little Gem of Gigi Marvin and this card is the 2005-06 University of Minnesota Rookie card. I did get Gigi to sign the card which I was very pleased with. Looking at the card you can see how young she looks and I have 3 of her college cards from each year that she has signed.

This card is the 1997-98 Collectors Choice National Heroes Rookie card of Hayley Wickenheiser. I added the back of the card so the reader can see how young she looks. There are others that feel her first rookie card should be the 1994-95 Classic Women of hockey card.

This card is the 2004-05 Upper Deck Young Guns card of Cammi Granato. Here is where I draw the line, I am only showing this card because it is a young guns card but her true rookie card is the 1993 Classic '93 Hockey Draft card as you can this card below.

I always liked this card of Cammi and you can see how young she is versus the 2004-05 Young Guns card. Classic did a lot of nice hockey cards throughout the 90's.

This card is the 1992 Classic Four sport Rookie card of Manon Rheaume and this is her true rookie card. Manon has over 1,800 cards and a large majority of these cards were done by Classic. She has signed thousands of cards for classic. I sent a autograph request to her a few years ago and I got it back signed but instead of her beautiful autograph she just initialed the card M R '33. I did send her another auto requests in the middle of august hoping she signs her full name as I asked her to do in my letter to her. We will see.

This card is the 2003-04 University of Minnesota card of Natalie Darwitz, this is her second year card. These cards have a unique design and I do like these designs but of all of the University of Minnesota cards I have seen my favorite are the 1997-98 Inaugural year cards as I love the outline surrounding the player. My dream is to someday locate as many of these Minnesota cards through the years as possible. 

This card is the 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Canadian Heroes True Rookie card of Marie Philip-Poulin. She does have a young guns card but to me this is her true rookie card. The Young guns rookie has her in the new PWHL with the Montreal Victoire. This card shows her with team Canada, many believe she is the best player today but after next season we will have to wait and see if she is still at the top. With the next crop of rookies playing this season and after this season the next batch of rookie cards collectors will have to dig deep into their pockets to be able to get their rookie cards. Caroline Harvey who was selected as the number one draft pick at this years draft and Abbey Murphy who was selected number two. Those 2 players should be doing what Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini are doing in the NHL as two of the best players. I believe that Harvey will be the best female player with Murphy right behind her. It will be good seeing more stars over in the PWHL now and in the future for years to come.

This card is the 2013 Sports Illustrated for Kids card of Amanda Kessel and this is her rookie card. Amanda played 4 years at the University of Minnesota and is a 3 time NCAA champion with the Golden Gophers. I have never been able to get her to sign any of her cards. I have seen her autograph and it is just intials as in A.K. but it would be nice to get one of her cards signed but that is not very likely through the mail.

This card is the 2024 Upper Deck PWHL Young Guns Silver Outburst Rookie card of Taylor Heise. Taylor is not a great signer as I have sent to her at least 5 different times with nothing to show for her autograph. I would never send her a expensive card because you may never see that card ever again. She is a very good player with lots of talent, great skater and has good hands for making difficult plays look easy but she does not like signing through the mail, at least for me anyways.

This card is the 2004 Halifax Herald Team Canada card of Dana Antal and her rookie card. These cards are beautiful with the yellow, red and brown borders. I have only sent one autograph request to her and I am waiting for a reply. It was sent August 17 so it has only been gone a couple weeks. I hope I get her auto as it would be another nice addition.

My next post I will be writing about some autographs that I am hoping to get back signed this week and this is a short week due to the holiday (Labor Day). I will be posting those autographs that I get in for my next post and I am planning on opening some boxes and posting what I pull from the box. I will add that the hobby boxes for the Upper Deck PWHL cards are a bit boring to open because they only include 6 cards a pack. From opening several I will say that the way it works is the pull card is always on the back while the base are the first 5 cards. If there were more cards per pack it would allow for a mixture of more than one insert card per pack. The Young Guns are on the back and any insert are on the back. They need to have a bigger base set and now that the league has expanded to 12 teams let's hope next years cards have 100 base and more young guns. Next year should be one of the best year with the first 2 picks in this years draft. Caroline Harvey going #1 and Abbey Murphy going #2. It should be a battle looking for their young guns rookie cards but how much will it increase a box of PWHL cards is the question. That is what I get upset about as it should not affect the increase but let us wait and see, I bet it does.

Happy Collecting and as always stay safe and enjoy the hobby the best way you can that you find enjoyable to you.

Let's Talk about Autograph's Through the Mail

One of the reasons why I enjoy collecting autographs through the mail is the challenge of building one of the biggest and best collections. I am only focusing on collecting Women hockey player autographs. I do enjoy watching their play and it will be interesting this season in the PWHL with the players drafted this year. I look forward to watching the first 2 picks in this years draft. The 2 players are Caroline Harvey and Abbey Murphy. It is always interesting to see how these players can do offensively in this league versus when they played college hockey and we got a taste of that earlier in the year when we had some college players playing in the 2026 Olympics.

First let me start off discussing the good part versus the bad part. What I love the most is getting up each morning around 4:00 A.M. to check the informed delivery to see what I have coming back for mail on that day. Mondays are usually better days for getting multiple back because the players sending them back usually send on a Thursday or Friday and with Sunday being a no mail day that usually indicates that the odds are greater getting more back on Mondays. The mail still moves on Sunday but no deliveries. If I send to a highly sought after player I usually put a certain mark on the address label which is an indicator of who it is from.

                                    1997-98 First Goal Card # 1

I have asked Julie Otto to sign the front of the card too, I may send one of those cards to Brittny Ralph asking her to sign the front by her photo. I do not have any double player autograph cards in my collection so this would be a very nice and important addition.

                       1997-98 First Goal Card # 1 Reverse

These are the 2 cards that I am waiting to get signed by Julie Otto. The other player to already signed them is Laura Tryba. The front of the card is titled: First Goal and on the front of the card is shows the first ever goal scored by Julie Otto and it shows Brittny Ralph celebrating. The back of the card has 2 inset photo's. On the Left is Julie Otto and the right is Laura Tryba. She signed her name then under her name she added the inscription 11/2/97 First ever assist.

I am hoping they come back this week and when they do I will be adding card # 1 on the page titled: 1997-98 Minnesota Lady Gophers Inaugural Season. I will show the front and back of that special card.

I do get upset when I get a few back in a week's time especially when I average 20-25 auto requests per week. This week including today’s mail (Saturday August 29, 2026) will give me a total of 4 this week. That is a weak number but getting 8 to 10 back a week is very good but it happens only a few times a year. Currently I have got back 155 successes and I usually put 2-3 cards per envelope. So I have added over 300 autographs this year with 4 more months to go which is a decent year for returns. 

These 4 auto's really made me very happy and one of them was one that I needed the other 3 I had asked the players to sign the front of the card because they earlier in the year signed the back because the front of the cards are a dark color but as you can see Kris Scholz signed hers in a blue marker and I am ok with that as it is visible. I sent each player a silver sharpie and I told them they could keep the sharpie. That can get costly close to $10 each time and I never did send a silver sharpie to Kris and I won't have to as the blue is ok.

Collecting autographs through the mail is risky. Risky because you may never see the card again and there have been times I have spent $60 on one card and never got it back. My letters to the players are always nice and I am always thanking them for taking the time to read my letter and sign for me. I know there are some players who won’t sign but I won’t name those players. I just keep the names in my head. This is the bad part of collecting autographs through the mail. The letters can get lost by the mail itself and I have had players take as long as 7 years. I have had some letters lost that show up on the informed delivery but never make it to me.

I Will be adding a new page Titled: Great Signers and on that page I will list the players who are great signers so stay tuned as I compile that list. I will also add some players that are tough to get through the mail and some that have never signed for me.

This is Hilary Knight's first card with the University of Wisconsin Badgers, her freshman year. I am hoping that someday I get this beauty of a card signed by Hilary. When I first saw this card I thought it said Quaker State like the motor oil because it is the same green color but it actually says  Quaker Steak & Lube along with Best Wings USA.

This is Hilary Knight's second year card as a sopohmore and again this is a nice card and it shows the outline as a shadow. This would be another one I would love to get signed but that will not be very easy but I will give it a try this upcoming PWHL season as Hilary will be with the Detroit team, this will be their first season in the PWHL.

There are some players that are sporadic and sign but not as quick as the ones listed. Hilary Knight has signed only one time for me but I have sent 3 other times to her with nothing back. My most recent one to her was a bubble mailer I sent her with 4 cards and I included a silver sharpie. Curious if I get those back signed. The thing I keep thinking about is why wouldn't these players want other fans to see them being positive with their fans. The PWHL is new and I thought the players would all sign to build a positive fan base and grow the game. I have and will continue to support Women’s hockey and mostly I love watching their game and watching the players improve each year.

I hope that other autograph collectors find the fun and yes there will be times when you feel bad. Just try not to let it stop you because collecting autographs through the mail is very challenging and to make yourself a better collector you must not let the obstacles get in your way. Remember collecting cards is only a hobby and in the collecting world today I see the cost just in wanting to open a box of cards. I know it would be nice buying a box and pulling a big card but in reality the chances of that happening are just against the collector. I keep telling myself to put the same amount of money towards cards that you want and this way you will enjoy the hobby for what it is and that is you the collector is the one responsible for enjoying the hobby. Just remember this: JUST HAVE FUN!!!

Women in Nets Signed Part II

I thought I would show the recent autographs for some of the best Women Goalies. I have watched the NHL for 57 years and I will say that the past 10 years I have watched the Women hockey players. The Winter Olympics, PHF, CWHL, College games, PWHL. I will tell you that I am enjoying it more, I see exciting plays on scoring goals and incredible saves by those brave lady's. I say brave because that is the only position I would never play. I have played in net using a street hockey ball but I wore a mask but these were not players taking slapshots only snap shots so it was like just playing catch, ball to glove. Taking a street hockey ball off the shin is painful with just a snap shot, I cringe just thinking about a player winding up taking a slapper, not for me. Here are some incredible Lady goalies that just seem to have fun and have no fear which makes them stand alone in being some of the best ever.

Erin Whitten was the first American Women to play in professional hockey and got her first win with the Toledo Storm a 6-5 victory over the Dayton Bombers of the East coast league. This card is the 1996 Flint Generals card and I love the cartoonish circular with her name and position.

This player needs no introduction as she was one of the biggest female players of her era. She has more cards than any other Woman and a majority of her cards were by Classic games. She has been having more cards being added in some of the cards being produced today. As you can see she signed many thousands of cards as this single issue has a run of 6300 auto's. What a lot of collectors would rather have are hard signed and over 75% of her autographs are hard signed. This card is certified hard signed and I am not a huge fan of the band aid auto. Manon also was the first Canadian female to play in a professional league. She also played in an NHL exhibition game with the Tampa Bay Lightning and signed a contract with them. If you send to her for an autograph requests chances are you will get the card signed but it will be initials only with her jersey number 33, maybe signing all of those cards earlier in her career has taken a toll on her hand.

This card is the 1999-2000 Upper Deck Prospects Signatures of tradition Charlene Labonte. This is another hard signed certified card and she has a unique but beautiful autograph. I am not a fan of Upper Deck but this card I do like very much as the colors in the photo just pop.

This card is the 2011 In the Game Between the Pipes Women of the Nets Authentic Goaliegraph of Sami Jo Small. My reason for loving in the game versus Upper Deck is the beautiful colors and the names for these subsets. I love the Goaliegraph and the highly collectible between the pipes cards year after year.  The 2 time Olympic gold medalists also 1 silver Olympic medal. She won 4 gold medals in the Women's Worlds and played 10 season in the CWHL, 3 seasons with the Mississaugus Chiefs and 7 seasons with the Toronto Furies.

This card is the 2011 In the Game Between the Pipes Women of the Nets Authentic Goaliegraph of Kim St-Pierre. Beautiful card and I sure would rather see In the Game making cards as the designs and names are of hobby legend. Kim won 3 gold Olympic medals and in the 3 Olympics she was a perfect 8-0. She played several seasons in the NWHL-CA (W) league and the CWHL with the Montreal stars. Kim was inducted into the HHOF class of 2020 but the ceremony was not until 2021 because of the covid pandemic. She has a beautiful autograph and is always identical in appearance each time.

I am still awaiting those 1997-98 University of Minnesota First Goal card to come back. I hope I get them back this week as of this writing I have only got back 1 card incoming today so I hope the next 4 days I get those back signed and more. I have over 300 auto requests out and waiting. Getting cards through the mail is risky but the rewards of getting back the cards signed is a great feeling which helps keep me looking for more players to send to in the future. Happy Collecting and as always Stay Safe!!!

Women in Nets Part I

 With the hockey season about to get underway and my focus is on the Women's Hockey and with keeping with the sites title. I want to discuss the Women who patrol the Nets. There has been so many female goaltenders that have gone on to playing in men's leagues.

One of the most famous ones is Manon Rheaume who has played in 8 leagues over her Illustrious career. Her first season she was with Trois-Rivieres Draveurs of the QMJHL. She also played in a pre-season exhibition game with the Tampa Bay Lightning in games in 1992 and 1993. She is the first general manager with the PWHL Detroit team which begins play this season.

This card is one of Manon Rheaume's most difficult card to locate. I was fortunate to have found 3 of these cards and currently I have just sent one to Manon asking her to sign the card. The card is by Semic Globe and the text on the cards reverse is Swedish. This is her rookie card and is card number 250. This shows Manon during her playing time with team Canada. I like the small hologram on the front of the card as it is in gold which changes colors when moved in the light.

This card is from the 2023 Tim Hortons Record Books card. Again this card shows her playing for team Canada. These cards have a metallic look and Manon won gold medals with team Canada during the World Championships in 1992 and 1994. She went on to win a silver medal during the 1998 winter Olympics losing the gold to team USA.

This card is one of my favorite as it is the beautiful design as it has many unique symbols. This card is the 2011 In the Game Women of the Nets card. Kim is one of the most successful goalies in Canadian hockey history winning 3 gold medals in the winter games. Kim was the first woman ever to practice with the Montreal Canadiens when Carey Price was ill.

This card is another beautiful cards of Kim St. Pierre. I wish In the Game was still manufacturing hockey cards as I would easily choose them over Upper Deck. Just the name for the card set Going for Gold says a lot and the clean crisp photo's. In the Game made many autograph issues and I do have a Kim St. Pierre certified auto of Kim by In the Game. I will show some of these cards in the second part of Women in Nets.

This card is the 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee card of Charline Labonte from the Canadian Heroes subset. Labonte helped team Canada win the gold medal in the 2006 winter games in Torino and she also won a silver playing in the Woman's worlds in 2009.

This card is from the 2006 In the Game Going for Gold and Charline did just that getting 2 shutouts in the 3 games played during the 2006 winter games in Torino.

This card is the 2014 Women'sNational team USA card of Jessie Vetter. Jessie played 4 years at the University of Wisconsin Badgers winning a national championship in 2009. She won an NCAA record 91 games and now the record was broken by Hillary Pattenden who broke the record with 100 wins in 2011. Jessie went on to win 6 gold medals at the  Women's World Championships, 2 silver medals at the 2010 Vancouver and Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic games. She also won 2 silver medals at the Women's world championships.

This card is the 2024-25 Upper Deck Elevated Talent card of Ann Renee Desbiens. Desbiens also played 4 years with the University of Wisconsin. In her senior year 2016 she broke the shutout record held by Noora Raty's with her 44th career shutout by defeating Bemidji state beavers 6-0. She has won Gold in the 2022 Olympics and won 3 world championship gold medals along with 3 silvers in the Worlds.

Her last trophy was guiding the Montreal Victoire of the PWHL to their first ever Walter Cup in 2026.

This card is the 2024-25 Upper Deck PWHL of Aerin Frankel. Frankel played in this year Winter Olympic games leading team USA to the gold medal. She also has won 2 world champions gold medals along with 3 silvers and a 5 time NCAA hockey east championships.

Her last accolade was being named the PWHL MVP and goaltender of the year in 2026. Aerin is a great at signing an autograph for her fans.

I hope everyone has enjoyed the summer as it sure has flown by and very soon the white flakes will be flying in the air. I am ok with that because this year I will be watching more hockey. I am adding to start watching the University of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio State and others this year along with my Bruins. Good luck reeling in cards from your want list and stay safe. Happy Collecting!!!