How did you get started?

[wild4life]

Everyone is a newbie to the hobby at some point; how did you get into collecting hockey cards or sports cards? I'll start, I guess. I really got into hockey last year and became an addicted Minnesota Wild fan. At some point, I decided to get a card of my favorite player (Derek Boogaard) and ended up coming home from the sports card shop with three and a pack of either Victory or Series 1 (can't really remember). Eight months later, I'm absolutely addicted to collecting hockey cards! Anyone else have a story to share?

[RGM81]

January 2008 and then-GF, now Mrs. RGM81, and I were out for a walk one morning when we went by the Halifax Forum and saw that there was a card show. I said, "Wanna go inside?" It was cold out, so it seemed a good idea. We browsed around and I happened upon a table that had a good price on a decent little card of some goalie.

373 cards later, but you always remember your first:

[skyride39]

Used to collect in the junk era, had my cards stolen from a break in and didn't get back in till last year. Went into an LCS near my work that convinced me to buy 2 boxes of Ultra after telling them my story of how I wanted to get back in. Needless to say I enjoyed opening the boxes but realized how ripped off I was from the LCS after comparing prices from another LCS. Discovered ebay and overspent there. A year later, I'm still learning but hopefully have learned enough to get by. Discovered SCF this year but didn't really try it till a few months ago and wish I knew about this site last year. Way better than that LCS that ripped me off and ebay. Enjoy reading the threads and posting here and there (hopefully no one is annoyed with me yet with my posts and sale threads!).

Now hopefully have enough experience to withstand temptation of buying reckless when I go to the Toronto expo tomorrow! i don't thikn I've learned that lesson yet of resisting...

[mikecole141]

In the fall of 1983 just before I turned 10, I walked into the "The Corner Store" in Labrador City to spend my allowance. And saw on the counter O-Pee-Chee Hockey Cards for 25 cents. I put back almost all the candy and chips I had planned on buying and went nuts.

Almost 30 years later I am still thinking I am nuts.

[comfortably9numb]

i used to go to sabres games when i was younger, my first season was during the cup run of '99...i was only 9...and then a card store opened up that season in a local mall, and i wandered in and i saw some Rob Ray cards haha. I bought a few of his and then I started buying a few packs...nothing major, stuff like victory and what not. Then as i collected more my parents told me they would get me a box of cards. I searched the internet and asked for a box of Pacific 2002, and i got a case hit of a Nabokov auto #'ed /500 (thus started my Nabokov PC) then i collected until the lockout, and there was a very dark period for a while. I stopped collecting, a horrible idea, i missed out on Crosby and ovechkin rookie hay-day. A few years later, (about 6 months ago) my dad asked me how much his football cards were worth (cards from the 1970's), and it got me interested to see how my cards did after a few years, then i bought a few packs, and the 2nd pack when i went to the LCS after all those years was a rookie auto of Duchene #'ed /100. So i figured that was an omen to keep collecting and i kept with it :)

[MasonRaymond0320]

Nice stories everyone!

I got stated into collecting when I would used to walk into the LCS every Saturday/Sunday, and spend my allowance. I stopped after I sorta ran outta money *blush* lol
Well, 1-2 years ago, after watching YouTube mailday videos by one scf member, I decided to see what scf was all about, and what the big deal about this site was. TannieS (the member on YouTube that was filming her maildays) talked highly about this site. After looking around, and exploring this site a lil bit, I decided not to join. On a boring summer day, with nothing to do on the computer, I went back to this site...explored a bit more, and finally decided to join. Little did I know that this would be the start of a serious addiction lol

Andrew

[thesnake87]

In my young life so far (currently 15)... I've had an on/off relationship with hockey cards.

I have no clue when I got my first box or pack of cards, but for seriously as long as I can remember, I've been getting cards. I put up a pretty decent collection too and have a few friends who collect that I would trade a lot with (my un-educatedness got me snubbed a little bit though... Plus one friend was crazy rich and had cards up the wazzoo including a Gretzky O-Pee-Chee rookie) and in my early teen years I would go to my LCS and get a couple singles or see what blasters they had on the discount racks. I always ask for hockey cards for my birthdays and Christmas too. The one point that changed my view on collecting was when I split a blaster of 05-06 Upper Deck (series 1 I think) so I ended up with 5 packs, my brother 5 (again... I think) and pulled a Crosby Victory rookie. That made my day and made me want more!

After taking a serious look at my collection, I decided to look around online at forums and see what there was. I was a member of a gaming community for 2 years where I held a staff position at moderating and running events, so forums were not new and I understood how to conduct myself. So, I first stumbled upon SportsCardFreaks. I had 1 trade there, but that trade is what got me going with my Cal O'Reilly PC. I snooped around some more and found this site, and ever since there's been no turning back! I've learned so much about collecting from reading posts and learned more about what's on eBay and Paypal, I have established a decent reputation and continued to learn about trading and what's good to collect etc. I have Photoshop experience so I whipped myself up a sig, made $470 by selling 2 goalie masks (I saved some and spent some on model making supplies and hockey cards) and have taken on some challenges! From completing my UD Black Rookie Letterman Cal O'Reilly nameplate to completing the 08-09 O-Pee-Chee master set, it's been a blast to continually work on them (no way am I finished yet lol) and interact with members here!

I'm addicted. And will be for years to come! I love hockey cards! (Playing the sport also helps :D)

[blueshirtfan2136]

I remember just having a lot of retail and team sets all the time as a kid. I think the topps pre packaged team sets were an anual stocking stuffer at my house. as I got older, I moved on to tabletop gaming (still cards, mostly). a few years back I unearthed some of my old Richter memorobilia, found the old (and current) centerpiece of my card collection, and started getting nostalgic. I jumped back into collecting with Victory and MVP, after badly losing a Magic: The Gathering tournament at a card shop.

[BullMarket88]

I started collecting when I was about 10 years old with my Dad...which was in the 90's...JUNK ERA. Got back into it a few years ago (when I actually had a reasonable income and some disposable cash) and started collecting the 90's again...BUT WAIT...ONLY the RARE sets (ie. Mirror gold, red blue sets, refractor sets, 1st day issue sets) and also got into some oddball original items (ie. 1990 Upper Deck set but 98% autographed). I also moved into some of the more rare graded items and picked up a couple 1952 Topps #311 Mantles and two pairs of Game worn Jordan signed shoes UDA. Also started collecting signatures of DEAD people. Best pieces so far are of Abraham Lincoln and Albert Einstein.

Could go on forever but I absolutely love this stuff!!

[Gabby10]

I started collecting sports cards in general in the early 90's. Now, I'm 24, and I'm just getting back into it. Only going to collect hockey now, cause its the only sport I'm into. I actually got back into collecting after looking at my bookshelf and realized that I have my boxes with all my cards in them. I opened up the box with all my hockey, started searching to see if I had anything cool, but it was all 90's Junk Era. I exited the hobby right at the start of the game used and auto cards. I started looking around on the net for a place for me to sell my baseball/football cards that wasn't ebay (I HATE ebay), and stumbled across this site. Looked around, decided to sign up, and started posting.

I'm sad though cause people have more cards of one player than I do my entire collection :(