BEHIND THE MASKS - That's It...I Cracked

Well, it's all over.  Chicago has won the Stanley Cup and quite frankly I think they were the best team throughout the season and in the playoffs.  I was skeptical that Corey Crawford could keep it together for 16 wins in the postseason but he did it.

How many more do they have in them?  I don't know....but they could be scary good for a while.

And that leaves us less than a week before the draft.  It's like it'll never end.

But tonight I'm posting about some goalie mask pickups over the past while.

This postcard has been hiding in one of my bags since I returned from Toronto last month.  It's a great reminder of the fantastic mask display at the HHOF and also a tremendous trip in general to T.O.

Bonus points to anyone who can name all 17 masks in the pic.  Yes, there are 17 that I count.

I saw this in line when buying a couple Linden t-shirts and just had to pick it up.  A great add to the goalie mask pc.


No I also came home with a good selection of ITG's Ultimate Memorabilia 12 cards.  All nicely slabbed and protected from the elements.

Here's an example of the Linden base that I pulled.

A nice design and really quite a shame that these cards are encased in plastic.

At last month's trade night I came across another copy of this card.  It was a little crooked in the casing and since I was given the card for nothing I decided that I'd have some fun freeing it from it's enclosure.

Yeah.  Now that's more like it.

These are nice cards that have a bit of an embossed feel to them.  The colors are sharp and the green border has a sort of foil feel and look to it.

A very sharp card.

I found another card the same night that I thought would make an equally good piece of cardboard to crack open.

This scan does not do the card justice.  This photo of Pelle Lindbergh is flat out one of the nicest mask pics I've ever seen of him.  Look at the eyes darting out from behind the mask.  The plain white lid is both menacing and intimidating.  It's very loud in its simplicity.

Even the details like the frayed straps and airholes give this photo a sense of era and history.  A great card to add to the goalie mask binder.

And definitely worthy of being freed from its plastic case.