Trials, Tribulations, and Milestones of An Ambitious Long-Term Collection. Many Pictures, Long Story

[IrbeFan4Life]

Good morning everyone! As everyone knows by now, I have been working on my Bruce C. Goaltending Museum collection for several years now. A daunting and near-impossible task, I recently got to 155 of the 778 goalies (as of 2018-19) to have ever made the NHL (nearly 20%) and it got me thinking: "where can I take it from here?" (In a good way, there is no way I am giving up on this project).


My goal with this collection is to get at least one piece of NHL game used memorabilia from every goalie to ever play in the NHL regular season or playoffs (wherever possible). Looking not just at jerseys, but the entire spectrum of the goaltending experience, I go for everything from sticks, to jerseys, to pads, to gloves, to blockers, and even to masks. The purpose is to educate and astound the world about all things NHL goaltending, from the goalie with seconds of ice time to the legendary hall of famers, they all get their recognition due.


The ultimate goal, however, is not just to have a private collection with one yearly exhibit, but to rather make this a fun and educational business on request which would allow me to travel to the world's hockey hubs (NHL teams, European leagues, KHL teams, etc.) to set up for a period of time and to spread the knowledge about the history of the best position in all of sports, one for which I have a huge passion for! I have already had regular citizens outside of the game worn community message me through my website asking if my museum was open for business (I am even on a world museums website as a museum located in Edmonton), showing that the collection is starting to become noticed and has enough players of interest in it for people to visit it. I still feel I have a long way to go, or a few legends/superstars to go at least.

There are huge trials and tribulations that I anticipate along the way. The cost of adding new pieces can be quite prohibitive when working on a budget. For every 10 pieces I would love to add, I can maybe add one of them to the collection. Storing them is no concern as many others have asked me if that was a challenge. Another challenge will be fulfilling that 100% mark. Financial constraints aside, is the very unrealistic impossibility of getting to 100%. Where nowadays, goalies who play one minute have a game worn jersey (plus back-up worn, AHL, pre-season, etc.) out there, there was a time when goalies with one game had a jersey impossible to attribute to them. Long since recycled and attributed to greater players, possibly destroyed, and with no other game worn of theirs in existence, we will have to get creative in fulfilling those players for the collection. Another important step will have to be the rebranding of the name of the collection. While having my name as the forefront for now is acceptable, if I want it to grow and be more respectable, the name has to be more professional and to the point and we are in the process of doing this. Having said that, I built it as my goalie museum and it would take a while to get used to a new name and image. And these are the obvious difficulties, with many smaller businessy ones sprinkled throughout that are not worthy of note.

On the positives, we have made quite a few connections in the hobby. We have interacted with the legendary collectors and vendors respected in the entire game worn community and who have great connections to the main sports leagues at large. We have had positive experiences with equipment managers both present and past who were active in the NHL. We have even made friends with several ex-NHL goalies through the acquisition of their pieces and giving them the recognition they deserve, whether they were a starter, backup, or a one game guy living the ultimate athletic dream.

Where we go from here is anyone's guess, but know the collection will continue to grow and maybe the big dreams of it will come true some day! Maybe a trip to Shark Tank is due haha

Here are a small selection of my top 10 favorites from my collection, a highlight of some of the best pieces we have ever acquired for the collection (with countless that could have been included in this):

10) Jordan Binnington 2015-16 NHL Debut Jersey (STL)



9) Rogie Vachon Photomatched 1978-79 Stick (DET)



8) Gilles Meloche 1987-88 Last Career Game Worn Jersey (PIT)



7) Gilles Villemure 1971-72 Blocker (NYR)



6) Curtis Joseph 1995-96 Glove and Blocker Set (Vegas IHL, EDM)



5) Bill Ranford 1989-90 Game Worn Jersey (EDM)



4) Kelly Hrudey 1984-85 Game Worn Playoff Debut Jersey (NYI)



3) Eddie Johnston 1975-77 Game Worn Jersey (STL)



2) Ernie Wakely 1978-79 Game Worn Jersey (Birmingham WHA)



1) Chris Osgood 2008-09 Stanley Cup Final / Entire Playoffs Worn Jersey (DET)



And an extra, our first ever jersey (Mark Fitzpatrick 1999-00)

[pwskelly]

As always, amazing gear! Glad to hear that you haven't given up on this massive project!

[creasecollector]

Bruce, incredible post. I love your museum and the passion you out into it with every piece you add.

I'm glad to hear that your museum is getting the attention it deserves and I hope that your museum will continue to grow, both in volume and in noteriety from here on out.

The top 10 you have there is insane. Can't wait to see what else is around the corner.... hey, maybe a Jhonas Enroth piece will enter your collection soon. I don't think you have anything of his in your museum yet.