No, YOU check out MY cards: hockey edition

So in the last month or so I started looking into CheckOutMyCards a bit more.  I found a couple sellers that had large groups of cards I liked (think Michigan alumni) and fortunately, before I actually bought them, I discovered the "Make Offer" button.  What a beautiful thing that is.  So far I've made about 3-5 purchases and either had my initial offer accepted or was able to haggle down to a price I liked.

When I piled up enough stuff to justify the bulk shipping option, I had everything (around 40 cards, I think) sent to me.  That included a nice group of baseball, football, and even hockey.  I plan to show you everything I got, but in groups this time, for two reasons:  one, I don't feel like scanning/describing everything at once, plus this way I can stretch out the experience to a few posts, which will hopefully make them more enjoyable.

I'll start tonight with the smallest group:  hockey.  You don't see too much hockey-related stuff here despite my living near Hockeytown, home of the NHL's model franchise for scouting and player development.  The NHL just isn't high on my collecting priorities (although you may see my small Red Wings collection eventually).  However, I also happen to live in the city that's home to the NCAA's best all-time hockey program.  While we don't pump out titles like we used to, we've won the most, and we regularly churn out NHL draft picks.  Ever since before I was a Michigan student I've watched the program produce winners like Aaron Ward, John Madden (not that John Madden) and Mike Knuble, not to mention school legends like Brendan Morrison, Marty Turco and current coach Red Berenson.  Also, this happened:


I should also mention that these arrived just in time to celebrate Michigan's 11th Central Collegiate Hockey Association (conference) regular season title (we moved over from the WCHA a while ago) and preparation for their 21st consecutive NCAA tournament appearance (a record, naturally).  Sorry for all the Michigan hockey propaganda, but as you can tell, I really love this team and I'm spoiled by having been to the school with college's best football AND hockey programs all-time!

Instead of continuing on bragging about the program and ranting about the NHL seemingly largely ignores quality college players, I present to you the COMC hockey card haul that literally doubled my Michigan hockey collection:

Andrew Ebbett 2009-10 Upper Deck Champ's Signatures auto:  Yep, it's a mini, which is pretty cool.  I also like the fact that the signature is pretty legible, plus he included his number, which is a plus.  Ebbett played all four years of his Michigan career (Red's a big fan of his players graduating) culminating in being a captain for the 2005-06 season.  A rare undrafted Wolverine, Ottawa picked him up, then he found his way to the Ducks, as pictured.  He's bounced around a bit, seeing a bit of time with the Michigan-friendly Coyotes this year.  Not a star, but a very good player during some great years for the Maize and Blue.

Eric Nystrom 2005-06 Ultimate Collection Ultimate Signatures auto:  The second of the trio of autographs I grabbed, this one features former 2004-2005 Michigan captain Eric Nystrom.  Also no stranger to a pretty decent autograph, Nystrom was a much less rare Wolverine first round pick (Calgary, #10 in 2002).  Because hockey drafting rules MAKE SENSE, Nystrom got to finish up his full Michigan career and graduate with a degree from an excellent university (plus, you know, he played for a legendary coach at a storied program).  No titles for Eric either, but he was part of a couple teams that went deep into the playoffs and continued Michigan's (still-standing) NCAA tournament appearance streak.  ESPN.com says he got some PT with the Wild this year, and hopefully he'll eventually bud into a productive player that gets more ice time.

Max Pacioretty 2009-10 Black Diamond Gemography auto:  Patch enjoyed a stellar freshman (2007-08) season at Michigan with 15 goals and 38 points, then promptly left (BOO) for the Canadiens after being drafted #22 overall in '07.  All that talent didn't immediately translate into results, but now in his third season, Max has put up some decent numbers.  That doesn't justify to me leaving the program as quickly as he did, but hopefully the decision works out for him in the long run.  In the meantime, it looks like he needs to practice his autograph more.

Mike Komisarek 2008-09 SP Game Used Dual Authentic Fabrics dual jersey:  The one relic in the bunch, this one comes from another Canadien who left Michigan early, Mike Komisarek.  Mike was Montreal's first-rounder (#7) in 2001, and after two years at Michigan (including an 11-goal sophomore year, pretty nice for a D-man) defected to the NHL (which means I never got to see him play in-person since he left after my freshman year, when I didn't think to get season tickets).  He now has 13 NHL goals to his name in 7+ seasons with the Habs and now the Leafs (which, sadly, means he'll never win anything again, not even an instant lottery ticket).  Mike Played in two of three straight Frozen Four semifinal losses on teams that just couldn't get over the hump, and left a year before a third straight semifinal loss (the second in a row to hated Minnesota, an excellent team at the time) in which he could have made a difference.  Back to the card:  no boring swatches here--you get two sharp jersey pieces, the Habs' red and blue.

So there you have it, the four COMC hockey cards that increased my Michigan collection by 100%.  I hope you enjoyed an in-depth look at them (and didn't mind me expounding upon the glory that is my alma mater's hockey program) and that you're all looking forward to the rest of the haul soon.  As a reminder, baseball and football remain, and each group is about 15-20 cards, but I think I'll still keep it to one post each.  In the meantime, Go Red Wings and GO BLUE!