How did you decide your PC player?

[hossa18sens]

Hossa - Loved to watch him play when he came to the Home town Sens. Pure goal scorer.

Foligno - When I lived in Toronto I watched his dad play. When I saw Nick was in the draft all I could think was how cool it would be if he was drafted by the Sens and then.... There you go.

[mxaxtxtx]

Boedker - both of my parents come from Danish families, and as far as hockey players, there haven't been a lot of stand out Danish players. When Boedker was drafted 8th overall last year, the highest a hockey player from Denmark has ever been drafted, I was compelled to collect him.

[Drifter2000]

Shea Weber - Ever since I first saw him play; I've just loved him. I was looking for someone I liked who would be cheap to collect, and Weber fit the bill perfectly. He's easily one of the best defenders in the league and is criminally under loved because of where he plays.

Ian White - The guy just plays with a lot of heart. Every year since he's entered the league he's improved and has become my favorite Leaf player by a country mile. I compare him to Josh Gorges a bit...a guy who's under the radar but brings a solid game night after night.

[RLewisH]

Evgeni Malkin - My family and dad is from the Pittsburgh area, and Malkin is bad-A

Ray Whitney - Used to play for the San Diego Gulls, a now defunct ECHL team

Anze Kopitar - See last part of Evgeni Malkin.

[Prime B]

Rob Blake - I am a lifelong LA Kings fan and when the hockey card revolution hit in 1990-91 I was stoked to see all this new technology brought to the table from UD and new brands like OPC Premier, Score, etc. I always felt the defenseman was the most overlooked and undervalued position in hockey. Everyone loved the star scoring forwards and goaltenders but d-men? They're ALWAYS second fiddle. Well Blake's first cards coincided with that breakout year in 1990-91 and being a hometown LA King, a defenseman and a guy that was getting a lot of hype around the LA area as the future of the blueline, I started up. 20 years later, here we are and he isa Stanley Cup Champion, Olympic Gold Medalist, Norris Trophy Winner and future Hockey HOFer.

It didn't hurt that even though I moved to Colorado Blakey "followed" me here so I got to see him up close with my other favorite player, Peter Forsberg, as well as be there the night he won the Stanley Cup. It was clearly the stars aligning for me.

On a side note, he married my friends sister so we have a pretty good rapport. I actually helped get him signed up with ITG again, hence his inclusion in this year's Ultimate after a 5+ year absence.

Peter Forsberg - After I moved from LA to Colorado about 15 years ago, I had no hometown NHL team for the first time in my life. That changed the year after I got here when the Nordiques relocated from Quebec. I already had my Blake PC but decided to start one of a local guy. I didn't want to do 2 d-men so I chose a forward. No, not Sakic because that was WAY too trendy. Everyone in Denver had freaking Sakic stuff because he was the captain and they didn't know any better being newbie hockey fans. I went with Forsberg as I remembered staying home from school "sick" to watch Team Sweden play in the 92 Olympics, the day Foppa scored the "stamp" goal. Glad I went with him. I had Av's season tix the first 9 years they were here and I can honestly tell you, after watching him night in and night out, health pending, the dude would have ended up top 15 all time in every statistical category in NHL history, no doubt. UNBELIEVABLE talent and then some.

I might get gutted for this but as a guy who watched them both for a decade in person (I only missed SEVEN Av's games from 1995 to 2004 including playoffs) Forsberg was more talented than Sakic, no joke. Sakic had the great wrist shot, hockey sense and class but Forsberg had a much more well-rounded game, could steam roll like a tank through guys double his size while retaining possession of the puck and THEN dish off to a linemate for a goal. He didn't shoot much but when he did he had one of the most underrated shots in the game, easily one of the most accurate. And his overall skills? jaw-dropping. The guy did things with the puck that made me sick with envy, I mean it was like a game of keep away except he did it against ENTIRE teams. I have watched hockey almost 30 years and this guy was as complete and electrifying a player as I have EVER seen...................

Anze Kopitar - This collection is the one I/we do for my son Austin. We're obviously Kings fans so we watch them whenever we can. My son actually has a speech disability and has been working hard on it now for the past 3+ years. Well, when we first started watching hockey he tried hard to say the players names and it was tough for him. One night, I was watching the Kings and screamed something about Kopitar at the TV. Austin repeated his name clear as day, the first "tough" word he had said in some time. Well, I took him down to meet Kopitar his rookie year and Anze was very nice to him, took the time to sign a puck, get down to Austin's level and talk to him. here is a pic of that first encounter in the fall of 2006.



Since then, Austin has met Kopi a few more times, and got his rookie year stick from Anze when we saw him in LA in the winter of 2007.

Here is Austin with that stick, his first one ever from a hockey player and he was just over the moon happy!



Needless to say it was a EASY choice for Austin's favorite player and who to collect.

We have made friends with Anze's representation and they have borrowed some of my photos for the "Fan" section. Check it out, you might see a familiar little dude on there!

Click on the Fan Photos link/image box (that's Austin's Kopitar jersey on the picture!)

http://anzeseleven.com/pcc.asp#xpath...96632#lang=eng

Kopitar always remembers Austin, and has been so engaging with Austin everytime he seems him, taking a second to speak to him and asks me how his speech is coming along. What a classy guy!

So if you have anything that Austin might like of Kopitar, PM dear old dad so I can get it for him. Austin says thank you!

[Prime B]

BTW, what a great topic, thank you!

[NJDEVILS30]

Brodeur (main focus) - Been collecting him since I was a kid... loved the uniform and he was phenomenal from the get-go... been hooked on his cardboard ever since.

Parise (secondary) - kid outplays Sid in their first career game... I was convinced. Picked up about 30 cards of his the next day.

Patrik Elias (casual interest) - Most points in Devils history and still putting 'em up, great athlete who has scored some of the biggest, most clutch goals in the history of the franchise and is also a hell of an individual. I have a bunch of his best cards, and won't be parting with them.

[ComancheKeen]

Great thread idea, this could be Sticky worthy.

Jarome Iginla - Has been a sports icon in Calgary for years now but here is my story. I grew up listening to the Flames on the radio and only lived an hour outside of the city at that time. I still remember listening to Jarome's first NHL game in the playoffs back when I was 10 or 11 years old and remembering listening to the radio broadcast when he scored his first goal in that game. I remember sending a letter and some cards to him for some TTM autos and sure enough a few weeks later they came back signed and a little personlized note. It meant the world to a 12 year old kid! The next 5 years or so I was lucky enough to attend a lot of Flames games and Jarome was about the only good thing going on with the franchise at that time. The rest is history and I can't believe this is already his 13th year in Calgary.

Derick Brassard - Was lucky enough to see a few of his games in junior on a few trips to Quebec a few years back and loved his playmaking ability. He started so hot last year that I didn't think I was going to be able collect him but I ended up pulling a bunch of his rookies in box breaks last year. He got hurt right before Christmas and I figured that might keep his value down a bit in the New Year so I started picking up more of his cards and have been collecting him since.

Other "Mini-PC's"

Lanny McDonald - I grew up in his hometown and got to know a lot of his relatives and nephews (small, small town) and eventually met him on a few occasions. He also has been a sports icon in Calgary ever since the Cup win in 89' and its funny, because I seem to see the guy everywhere. At the "Dome", at several graduation ceremonies, even was sitting across from him at my first ever Flames game I took in.

Karl Alzner - Was one of the best Calgary Hitmen we had in the last few years. After playing defense for 10+ years in minor hockey I have always had respect for the defensive side of the game and Alzner fits that profile.

Hopefully in the near future, I can start a PC of my good friend Ryley Grantham who is currently playing for the Flames AHL affiliate in Abbotsford, British Columbia. I went to a bunch of Moose Jaw Warrior games in Calgary to support him and he was eventually traded to Kelowna last year, essentially to protect Flames prospect Mikael Backlund. Kelowna went on to win the WHL championship and lost in the Memorial Cup. Not the greatest of players, with mostly his fists doing the talking (youtube) rather than his goal scoring ability but a good friend and I hope he can get a shot next year in the preseason for a game at the Dome'. In the meantime, I'm on the lookout for one of his gamers.

[lumm0x]

I had been out of the hockey side of trading cards for many years, focusing solely on football. I still enjoyed watching a lot of hockey but the collecting bug hadn't bit. I was watching the World Junior team and was very impressed with Jeff Carter and felt he was dominant in that series. Growing up a Flyers fan and hearing that they drafted Carter seemed like a sign to me and started at that point. I have to credit fellow trader Jon Tchao for being my first Carter dealing and starting something that keeps my wallet very upset with me.

[CoolHandLuke]

Ken Dryden as to be the first hockey player I have admire.

Then Patrick Roy did impose himself really fast with the 86's cup.

Carey Price and Halak are a continuation of my Habs goalies collection. I also try to grab HOF from Montreal here and there.