An Obscure Printing Plate Added To The Collection This Week

2008-09 Upper Deck The Cup Cyan Printing Plate 1/1 of New York Islanders Goaltender, Mike Mole.

For those who don't know my collection history, this post and card pickup will probably be as random as it gets. For those who are familiar with my collection, it's been years in the making.

This past week I picked up another 1/1 for my obscure Mike Mole collection: A cyan printing plate from 2008-09 Upper Deck The Cup (one of the MVP production plates).

For those who aren't familiar with Mike's career, it's quite the story, and one that I think gives true meaning to the phrase: "Never give up on your dreams".

After winning the Canadian reality show "Making The Cut: Last Man Standing" in 2004, Mike was awarded a invitation to training camp with the Ottawa Senators. Due to this recognition, he eventually earned a contract with the New York Islanders, signing as a Free Agent in 2006.

During my own hockey season in 2010-11, I had the opportunity to have Mike as my goalie coach for the season. During the season, he slowly made me into a better goalie and I still use his teachings today in my own game to defend my crease in my local beer league.

Along with him turning me into a better goalie, he also talked about his own playing days and his unique experiences when he got to live the dream with the New York Islanders for a few games (March 27th and 29th) in 2008.

​I also learned that he had a few cards made of himself, so being the collector that I am, I decided to collect a few of them to the goalie collection whenever I can. As you can imagine, rarer cards of his don't surface too often, but it's nice when they do. 

I hope you enjoyed this blog post! Do you have any 'obscure' or different collections you'd like to share? Please reach out. I always like seeing what/who other collectors collect and why they do. 

Happy Collecting, 

- Aaron / creasecollector

Mike teaching during a coaching session in 2011.