RAISE THE CUP - Going Outside The Box

Lots on the go this past week. Yet somehow I was able to hit up a card show last weekend as well as the monthly trade night a few days back.

It's all about priorities.

Actually, those two events just happened to land on the right days. As a result, I was able to pick up a few cards for various PC's.

In this post, I'll take a look at some of the 'Cup raisers' that have recently come across my desk.

1973/74 Topps
#198 Stanley Cup Champions

This card featuring Henri Richard (winning one of his 11.......YES, ELEVEN Stanley Cups) was a must have when I saw it a few weeks back at an antique show I went to.

It's great to see these Stanley Cup photos from back in the day placed onto cards. It's rare, but I think it makes them that much more special.

2011/12 Upper Deck Series II
#440 Tyler Seguin

At the local trade night, I played a couple rounds of pack wars featuring the new Upper Deck Series II product.

While I didn't win anything, I did notice one person sifting through the cards he picked up. This Seguin caught my eye and before the end of the night I asked if I could pick it up.

He gladly handed it over to me not looking for anything in return.

A great add to the collection.

1999/00 Upper Deck Timeline
#12 Gretzky Exclusive

A friend of mine handed this card to me a couple nights ago asking if I needed it.

Not only did I need it, I had never seen or heard of this card before. I still can't find any info on it (other than some singles for what looks to be a set).

Regardless, it's got a cool reflective surface and a great pick of Wayne looking borderline overwhelmed with all the commotion.

If the photo could have been a tinge wider though.

2011/12 Panini Certified
Certified Champions
#12 Jean-Sebastien Giguere

Another card that I picked up at trade night. Made a nice deal for this and some other lower-end pc cards as well as a couple of traders. Always nice to mix things up a bit sometimes.

This card won't go into the official books as part of the Raise the Cup set.....yet. I'm waiting until I finish building the insert set (and yes, I still need to finish the set from the year before as well).


Now we get to a couple of cards that have pushed the envelope in terms of what I will accept and not accept into my pc.

You'll see what I mean.

1992/92 Upper Deck
#275 Kevin Stevens (card back)

Brian (Captian Canuck) over at Waxaholic flashed this card in front of me with a bit of a sly smirk on his face. He commented on looking outside the box - pushing the envelope when it comes to cards that can go into the Raise the Cup collection.

I like that.

This Stevens card really has no redeeming qualities on the front side, but this shot on the back opens up the dialogue of "should card backs be allowed".

I see no reason why not. As long as the card fits backwards into a binder sheet - why not.

And yes, for the record......it does.

Thanks Brian.

2011/12 Upper Deck Series I
#187 Tim Thomas (Cup cameo)

Here's another one that gets some serious attention. Should a card be included into the set if the player listed isn't the one holding the Cup?

Here we have Tim Thomas looking all cool during (what I'm guessing is) the Bruins' Stanley Cup parade. Yet it's Milan Lucic who's stealing all the thunder in my eyes.

Again, why not.

The whole idea of this project is to show those moments in time where a player is celebrating one of the greatest moments an NHLer can experience - raising the Stanley Cup.

That's good enough for me.

Current Collection - 78 cards