The Card That Started It All

[Drewk86a]

It seems that PCs have replaced set collecting, and with good reason. Sets are too big, or too expensive, with too many parellels and inserts. Looking at the postings in the Super Collector HOF you can see such a wide array of PCs and it begs the question. How did it start? How did you choose your PC? Let's here some stories. I'll go first...

Been collecting hockey cards since the late 1980's. Got swept up in the Junk Wax hype of the 1990's but my PC was limited to Eric Lindros and Mario Lemieux. I never considered Ilya Kovlachuk for starting a PC. I recognized he was a once in a generation talent, but I thought he was arrogant and cocky (no proof of that. He played for a rival team and back then that was enough)

Fast forward to 2011 when I pick up a box of 2004 Pacific Exhibit online. Looking for Lindros or Lemieux cards (hoping for a jersey or patch!) Instead, I pulled this Lafluer / Kovalchuk card. At that time Kovy was playing for the Devils and I got to see more of his games. Decided to take up a Kovy PC. 12 years, and over 1,000 cards later I am still working on the PC but I am enjoying the chase and have gained a ton or respect for his on-ice talent.

I am still working on my my Lindros and Lemiuex PCs, and have added a few others, as well. My Ilya Kovalchuk PC is growing and it all started with this card.
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[cjb]

3 years ago I pulled an Elias Pettersson young guns from an MJ Holding loose pack. The way I saw it was that I got the best Canuck YG....might as well collect the rest.

[30ranfordfan]

I started collecting in 1990 (I was 10 years old). Started out just doing a set every year (90-91 Pro Set, 91-92 Score, 92-93 UD were my first three!).

At some point, I started collecting all the cards of my favorite player (Bill Ranford). The first few years, it was easy. This was back in the day when card shops opened a lot of wax, so they could sell singles. When parallels started to become a thing - it got tougher and tougher, but I would collect whatever I could find.

I stopped and started collecting a few times - but eventually I got turned onto eBay. This was when it was easy to contact sellers and make "off site" deals (i.e. "Hey, you just bought this card. I have more Ranford. Interested in more?). I did a couple of deals off eBay that brought in a massive amount of late 90s parallels.

I've had different collections over the years, but the Ranford one is really something I've been doing for 30 years (or so). Always seemed like the thing to do.

[pwskelly]

For me it was very simple. My father used to purchase 1982-83 OPC hockey cards for my brother and I. I played goalie from a very young age and although I was an Oilers fan, soon to be a Habs fan, the moment I saw this card I was hooked.

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I remember thinking how cool and intimidating Liut looked in this picture and how I wanted to wear a similar mask. I watched Liut a lot when I could on TV and even though he ditched the ghoul mask when he moved to Hartford, I found other reasons to tune in. Liut was an old school, stand up goalie. More often than not, Liut was the best player on the ice for the Whalers. He had a number of memorable playoff games against Quebec and Montreal where he frequently stood on his head. Since my childhood, I have on again, off again collected Liut. About 10-15 years ago I really dug in and started aggressively pursuing his cards to improve my collection.

[cjb]

pelle Lindbergh's mask was pretty cool too

[pwskelly]

pelle Lindbergh's mask was pretty cool too

Absolutely, I also enjoyed looking at cards of Tony Esposito with the cage over mask combo.

[PRoy33Collector]

My Roy obsession started in 1997 with the two cards below. I got them in a trade with a classmate, I think I swapped a couple Dan Marino cards to get them.
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The scans aren't the original ones, but still have them in an index card holder at my parents house with all my original Roy PC from that time. Since they were all taken in and out of binder sleeves over and over, they're in terrible shape now, but these were the two that got me started on Roy. After that, I would pick up as many base cards I could from my local stores. Living in the Philly area, there wasn't much Roy love. Everyone was chasing Lindros at that time. I was able to move about 10 Lindros base cards to another classmate for this one, which got me started on the inserts:
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Through the ons and offs of collecting in the roughly 26 years since, Roy has remained the only constant of my collecting habits.

[sleepn0t]

For me, the player I chose to collect was a no brainer... I've always liked Patrick Roy, actually he's always been my favorite player (by far). Problem is that I was just like eight or nine year-old at the time, so obviously I didn't have much cash to afford myself a pc of St. Patrick. That's also why there's been a long pause between the time I started collecting and the time I resumed my pc a few years later, 'til the present day. Fun fact, I used to play Hockey when I was younger, I was a winger, but even then I happen to collect a goaltender! So in short, what started it all for me, back in the day when I was around 8, since Roy was my favorite player and still is, my dad had bought me the following card in a flea market:

-1990-91 Score Canadian #312 Patrick Roy AS1

Back then, that card was cheap, still is today. I think my dad paid like 10 or 20¢ for it. I remember that day like if it was yesterday, I was so happy & proud of my card, I was showing it to all my friends. It was in fact my very first card of Roy too. And I've always liked the special effect on that Score card, even though it's only worth like $0,50 in the Beckett price guide. Unfortunately, I don't have any longer the very same copy that my dad had purchased me in the past, I have another one just like it but not my "original" one.. Nowadays, I might have about a thousand different cards of Roy, some are worth quite a lot among those, however, the ONE that still brings me the most memories is this specific 1990 Score one, still and always, even if it remains almost worthless..! I guess that it kind of proves that sentimental value sometimes prevails over money...

[SenatorCollector]

I returned to collecting in the late 90s, after years away. The card that did it for me, was the 98/99 Aurora Championship Fever Silver Parallel Daniel Alfredsson. I was already a huge Sens fan, but buying a pack, and hitting that card got me back in to collecting

[JordanStaal11]

The first cards I remember collecting was when my dad brought me home packs of 81-82 OPC. We had sets stacked in a cupboard wrapped in rubber bands, lol. Those hockey sticker albums were great too. Sitting out at recess, trading with your friends...those were the days.