College Days and a glimpse into the 2026 Olympics

 This time I want to discuss the cards that have been made for certain colleges. I have cards from the University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin and Ohio State. Of the three the Minnesota cards appear to easily be the better looking cards fronts and backs. They have a very nice looking border resembling a frame around a photo and the backs indicate a bright gold back with a square inset of the player along with there info for winning letters and what they led the league in and it tells what they are majoring in.

As you can see from the photo the design of the card and the back really stands out. If you look closely you can see the teams mascot the Golden Gopher. These cards seem to be sturdy and they do not have the perforated edges like the other 2 college cards. They are straight cut but as an autograph collector they are difficult to see the card being signed because of the dark brown background. I have now sent out all but two cards from the set and I have only got back one signed card so far. I am hoping that in time I get them all back signed.

Of all of the players from this 1997-98 Minnesota team which by the way was the inaugural team. Nadine Muzerall was one of the better players who went on to a great career. As this card from Sports Illustrated for kids is a nice card and is an indication of her as a great player. She went on to play 3 seasons in the Swiss league with Team Lugano.

One of my other favorite college sets is both the 2007-08 and 2008-09 Quaker Steak and Lube University of Wisconsin. These cards are very colorful and it is a toss-up as to which one I like best. 

This card is the 2007-08 card of Hilary Knight and the card has nice color and great photo's of the players. The backs of the card are a bit plain with not much info.

This card is the 2008-09 card of Hilary Knight. The photo is very vivid and looks almost 3-D and the backs have the players stats with a brief write-up on career highlights. Now that I look at these more closely I am giving the edge to this set the 2008-09 Quaker Steak and Lube Wisconsin Badgers. If you look close you can see in the background of fans at the game. I am hoping someday to get both of these cards autographed by Hilary as it would be huge to my collection.

The final set of cards is of the Ohio State Hockey team. One thing about all of their cards is that they are short and they measure 2 1/2 X 3 1/4 making them a quarter of an inch smaller. Of all of there different sets my favorite would have to be the 2007-08 set.

This is the 2007-08 Design and it is flashy with the top and bottom designs. These cards were all perforated and given as a uncut sheet and you only had to bend the cards on the perforation and they would snap clean. It did leave the indication of the perforation on the cards edges.

The card on the left is the 2004-05 Holiday Inn Ohio State Buckeyes set and the players indicated on the card is Rookie Freshman Lisa Chesson and Shelby Aldous. The card on the right is the 2005-06 Holiday Inn set  and the player is Lisa Chesson. These cards I like as well and the back has a nice inset photo of the player along with the players favorite things and their Height Hometown etc.. I am hoping to get these back autographed by Lisa Chesson as it would be another great addition to my autograph collection.

This card is from the 2002 Women's Olympic team which won the Silver Medal. This is another tough card to get autographed as it took years to get back but I am very happy that I got it signed by Angela Ruggiero. I only need two more players from this set of 20 to have it all signed. Still need Tricia Dunn and Sue Merz.

As for this years Olympics I feel that it will be another repeat for the gold medal which would be Team USA versus Team Canada. If you look at the rosters you will see that team USA has several players from colleges and Team Canada has some older players. Will it be the experience that wins over the younger and possibly faster players. Of course it all depends on the goaltending and team Canada has one of the all time greats in Ann-Renee Desbiens but Team USA has one of the upcoming goalies in Aerin frankel. It is too close for me to call but it should be interesting. There still could be a few upsets to change it all and that is what I like to see and that is may the Best team win. It is just that simple.