• Home
  • Enroth Card Gallery
  • Game-Used Memorabilia
  • Miscellaneous
  • Wantlist
  • Collections
    • Set Collections >
      • Upper Deck Win Club
      • 2018-19 Synergy Last Line of Defence
      • 2008-09 Artifacts
      • 2006-07 Fleer Netminders
    • Player Collections >
      • Martin Brodeur
      • Ed Belfour
      • Carey Price
      • Marc-Andre Fleury
      • Mike Mole
    • Vintage Collection
    • Personal Collection
    • Cards For Trade Or Sale
  • Blog
  • Contact
creasecollector

Beyond The Crease: A Hockey Card Blog
focused around Hockey, The hobby, and my Jhonas Enroth card collection (Among other things)

My New Autograph Project: The Builders Category

6/20/2022

2 Comments

 
Picture
Learn about how the NHL Hockey Hall of Fame inspired my newest Autograph Project!
Picture
In the Hockey Hall of Fame, aside from the presence of the greatest hockey players to every lace up skates, there is another category of inductees that are present... The Builders Category.

The Builders Category is reserved for those who have changed the game in other ways, ranging from famous coaches, GM's, commentators, owners, and others who have made significant contributions to the game of hockey in their own unique way.

Within my own collection, I am now creating a 'Builders Category' of my own.

​Using some connections within the hobby, along with some good old fashioned research, I have tracked down some notable people who each personally played a role in the creation of some cards in my collection. I wanted to help honour their roles played in bringing these cards to life - cards that would eventually land in my personal collection. 

​I have included a quick summary of the first couple of people who were kind enough to participate in this project, along with a picture of the card I had them sign for this unique subset within my Jhonas Enroth card collection. I hope you enjoy!
​

Dr. Brian Price - Founder / Former Owner of In The Game (ITG)

Picture
Picture
Dr. Price Price was the original mastermind behind In The Game (ITG) trading cards, founding the company in 1998. He produced a variety of products over the years, and eventually sold the In The Game brand name and assets to Leaf Trading Cards in 2014. 

Brian has always been a big player in the industry since the beginning and paved the way for a collector-focused approach to the hobby that he now continues with President's Choice Trading Cards.

​I've been lucky enough to own many amazing cards he's created over the years, so when I started this project, I knew I had to get Brian to sign something for the collection. Luckily for me, I have spoken with Brian many times over the years, including guest appearances on the hockey card podcast I also co-host on. As always, Brian was great to deal with and more than happy to autograph a card for me.

​I had him sign a Enroth base card from 2008-09 ITG Between The Pipes, which was Enroth's very first North American hockey card after coming over from Sweden to join the Portland Pirates (AHL) in 2008. 

Dave Sandford - Professional Sports Photographer

Picture
Picture
Everyone knows the photos on cards is one of the main selling points of a card, so who better to include in the builders category autograph project than a photographer who's work is featured on some cardboard?

​I reached out to Dave Sandford, an award-winning sports photographer who's work has ended up on a few cards over the years. Dave was happy to sign this 2009-10 Upper Deck Black Diamond Rookie Gems card for my Jhonas Enroth collection after connecting with him online.

One interesting thing to note about the original photo (Left), is that the # 31 was photoshopped during Upper Deck's final production stages to a # 1 for the final version of the card (Right), which is the number Enroth would go on to normally use after making this switch. I know that the number 31 and 1 were sometimes interchanged on Enroth's rookie cards (the UD Young Guns is a good example of this, mentioning 31 on the card while being pictured wearing number 1) due to his number swap, so maybe Upper Deck wanted to keep some sort of continuity on his rookie cards moving forward at the time Black Diamond was being created. 
​

Stephen Laroche - In The Game (ITG) Brand Manager

Picture
Picture
Stephen Laroche worked with In The Game (ITG) from 2004-2014. During this time, Stephen helped develop many ITG products such as In The Game Action, Parkhurst Original Six, Toronto Star series, Heroes & Prospects, Ultimate Memorabilia, Between The Pipes, and Sport Kings brands. 
Among his various duties, he selected and approved photography, card designs, wrote card backs, and assisted in developing new product ideas with the production staff. I had him sign this 2010-11 ITG Between The Pipes insert card (on the top portion of the card), which he helped create. 
​
​

Billy Celio - Upper Deck Product Manager & Builder

Picture
Picture
Billy Celio has been a hockey Product Manager at Upper Deck since 2015. He has build many flagship products over the years including Upper Deck Series 1 & 2, O-Pee-Chee, Chronology, Metal Universe, and UD The Cup (among many others).

I asked him to sign this 2016-17 O-Pee-Chee base card, since he built the flagship hockey product that year. 
​

Matthew Stewart - Licensed Trading Card Artist

Picture
Even though I added this card in October of 2021, I still felt I needed to mention this card in The Builders Project introduction post. Matt was kind enough to create this 1/1 Leaf Artist Proof card for my Enroth card collection last year, and autographed the back of it.

Matt has been making sketch cards for licensed trading card manufacturers for many years now, including Leaf, Upper Deck, and Topps. If you want to learn more about this Artist Proof card, you can check out the blog post I made about it back in October. 

So there you have it... the first 5 "introductions" into the Builders Category of my collection. If this idea has inspired you to do the same with your own collection, awesome! If you'd like to suggest and/or help me find other people to bring onto this collection, also awesome! Please feel free to connect with me through the comment section, or contact me on social media or through the contact page of this website. 

Happy Collecting, 

Aaron / creasecollector
2 Comments
Disxtomas
6/21/2022 08:36:49 am

Very interesting idea to start with this collection, thumbs up :) Again great article, actually as always.

Reply
creasecollector link
6/21/2022 02:20:03 pm

Thank you so much! I appreciate it.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author - Aaron

    ​I've been collecting Hockey cards since the late 90's. Mainly the goalies since 2005. I also Co-Host a Hockey Card Podcast.
    ​
    Not-so-secretly searching for every Jhonas Enroth card on earth. ​Let's enjoy this hobby together!

    ​Connect with me to talk hockey cards, goalies, collaborations, or any article ideas you may have.

    About
    Contact

    Picture
    Picture
    C&C Collector Of The Month
    Picture
    My Featured Article in Beckett Hockey

    The Podcast

    Picture
    A Hockey Card Podcast for collectors, by collectors.
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Featured Articles

    Picture
    The History of Trading Cards
    Picture
    The Early History of NHL Cards
    Picture
    The Tale of 2 Gretzky's
    Picture
    Finding a "White Whale" for your collection
    Picture
    Why did Crosby Autograph cards with himself?
    Picture
    Meeting Jhonas Enroth!

    Categories

    All
    Card Of The Week
    Collectors Corner
    Mail Day
    New PC Additions
    Podcasts
    Product Previews
    Random
    Set Collecting
    The Hobby

    RSS Feed


    Archives

    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018


    Picture
    Marc-Andre Fleury​
    ​Daniel & Henrik Sedin​
    Roberto Luongo

    Larry Murphy
    Trevor Linden

    Marty Turco
    Nathan Horton

    Arturs Irbe
    Arturs Irbe (2)
    Matt Belesky
    ​Sean Burke
    Tuukka Rask
    ​Mike Smith
    ​Niklas Hjalmarsson
    Lee Stempniak
    Cal Clutterbuck
    Jarome Iginla
    ​Chris Osgood
    Ondrej Pavelec

    Justin Abdelkader
    Ryan O'Reilly​
    Eric Lindros
    Paul Kariya
    ​Carl Soderberg
    Curtis Joseph

    Anze Kopitar
    Pavel Bure
    Mikhail Grabovski
    Taylor Hall
    Kevin Shattenkirk
    Niklas Bäckström
    Ed Giacomin
    ​
    Jaccob Slavin

    Martin Biron
    ​Patrick Roy
    John Tavares

    Cam Atkinson
    Jaromir Jagr
    Jimmy Howard​
    Nic Petan​

    Martin Brodeur


    Picture
    The Pro Set Fanatic
    Picture
    Goaltending Museum & Memorabilia
    Picture
    Puck Junk
    Picture
    Pre-War Cards
    Picture
    The Marc-Andre Fleury Collection
    Picture
    Hockey Ink In The Mail
    Picture
    Penguins Chronicles

    Send me a message to get your collection or website showcased here

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Enroth Card Gallery
  • Game-Used Memorabilia
  • Miscellaneous
  • Wantlist
  • Collections
    • Set Collections >
      • Upper Deck Win Club
      • 2018-19 Synergy Last Line of Defence
      • 2008-09 Artifacts
      • 2006-07 Fleer Netminders
    • Player Collections >
      • Martin Brodeur
      • Ed Belfour
      • Carey Price
      • Marc-Andre Fleury
      • Mike Mole
    • Vintage Collection
    • Personal Collection
    • Cards For Trade Or Sale
  • Blog
  • Contact