eBay Score: Jordan Pearce

My first foray into the Between the Pipes offering from In The Game comes in the form of this 2011 Jordan Pearce Goaligraph.

During his collegiate career with Notre Dame, Jordan earned the CCHA Goaltender of the Year for the 2008-09 season - after which the Red Wings signed him to a two-year contract. For the last three seasons, Jordan has bounced between the Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL) and Toledo Walleye (ECHL) as the Wings extended his contract through the 2012-13 season - which we all know will soon be completely eliminated.

I managed to acquire this nicely signed (on-card) specimen from a seller in Warrenton, Virgina for just $0.99 plus a very reasonable shipping charge.

eBay Score: David Vyborny

Sticking with an unintentional Czech theme, I scored this 2008-09 Fleer Ultra Uniformity David Vyborny #UA-DV game-used jersey card (and once more, for the perfectionists - Výborný).  The swatch is rather bland, as are most of the Jackets relics on the market, but the card design isn't too terribly bad. Not necessarily exciting, the subdued wintry accents nevertheless convey a nice hockey "mood".

Originally drafted by Edmonton in the 2nd round of the 1993 draft, Vyborny was a rising star in the Czech Extraliga. He was tearing up the league as a member of Sparta Prague when he joined the Cape Breton Oilers of the AHL for the 1994 season, where he notched up 61 points in 76 games. For reasons that I don't understand, Edmonton didn't keep Vyborny in North America after that season. Although he returned to setting records in the Czech league, it wasn't until the 2000 campaign (the inaugural season of the Jackets) when Vyborny reached the NHL after Columbus signed him to add some offensive pop to the line-up. And pop he did. While not necessarily a superstar, he would set (over the next several seasons) franchise records for plus/minus and consecutive games before eventually returning to the Czech Republic after the 2007-08 campaign - where he continues to play though his numbers have dwindled significantly.

Purchased from a seller in northern Wisconsin for just $0.99 plus a fairly reasonable shipping charge, this pick-up wasn't a bad score.  Booking at $8, there haven't been very many of them on the market lately.

eBay Score: Tomas Popperle

Is it really a "score" when the player is someone that no one (or very few people) have ever heard of? If the card fills a void in your collection, then you bet your ass it is! Which, of course, is the motivation behind my eBay pickup of this 2007-08 SPx #160 Tomas Popperle 573/999 rookie card (or Tomáš Pöpperle, for the perfectionists).

Tomas was a product of the sometimes questionable draft practices employed by the then-GM of the Blue Jackets Doug MacLean. In the 2005 draft, which say the likes of Kris Russell and enforcer Jared Boll become Jackets, MacLean snagged Popperle in the fifth round. While those taken ahead of him in the draft have each laced up their skates several hundred times in the NHL, the Czech native saw action just twice - both times during the 2006-07 campaign. Tomas stayed in the AHL for a part of the following season before returning to the Czech Republic, where he continues to play.

As for the card itself, I'm not a huge fan of the design. Too much of the player is obscured by graphic flourishes, and the "digital" font is just a pain in the ass to read. Yet, it fills a void so the $.099 (plus shipping) I sent to the seller in Quarryville, PA is justified.

eBay Score: September 9th, 2012

When that little brown padded envelope arrived in the mail today, I got to thinking about the month-end eBay posts I've been doing. Originally, having won just a card or two a month, the posts weren't too bad length-wise. I've stepped up my hunt, so the acquisitions have been increasing and the blog posts are getting correspondingly larger. Therefore, I'm going to try posting as the packages arrive - starting today.

The first win of September is a three-card score from hockeycv in York, PA. I apologize for the lousy scan quality, but these foil cards and my scanner don't get along very well.

This Pavel Datsyuk 2005-06 UD Black Diamond #134 books for $8, but there are a number on the Beckett Marketplace for less than a buck. I ventured $0.99 on this card, which in itself isn't a great deal, but I needed multiple items to save on shipping so consider this an insurance purchase.

Next up is this Chris Osgood 2000-01 Be A Player Signature Series #235 Ruby parallel, numbered 35/200.

Booking at $5, this card is showing up for $2.50 on Beckett but not getting a lot of love on eBay. Another $0.99 snag.

Finally is this Marc Rodgers 1999-00 SP Authentic #102 rookie card numbered 368/2000. Booking at $5 and selling between $3.00 and $5 on Beckett, I grabbed it for $0.99.

Marc had a brief NHL career, playing in just 21 games with the Red Wings. His last season on the ice was 2001-02 with the Knoxville Speed of the UHL. This isn't a bad looking card, but if I were Marc, I would have sued over the use of that most unfortunate photo on the reverse.

August eBay Wins

Now that more than a month has passed since my last post here at Hockey Card Fanatic, I suppose it's high time that I get it in gear and write about something. Besides all of the typical excuses for posting so rarely, I suppose a lot of the problem rests with the state of disarray that my collection always seems to be in. I've been acquiring cards without pause over these summer months, but getting them organized, scanned, and on the blog tends to be where the logistics break down. I suppose that's just something I'll have to add to my New Year's Resolution list.  Until then....

August was a slightly more productive month on the eBay front, as I snagged nearly half a dozen cards at quite reasonable prices. First up is Fredrik Norrena's 2006-07 SP Game Used Edition #112. Numbered to /999, mine is relatively high at 812.

This RC is just a base card, but the design is pretty slick in a sci-fi sorta way. It books for $8 but there seem to have been very few on the market recently, with just one selling in July for $2 + shipping. I picked this one up for $2.24 (including shipping). From the same seller, and also for a total of $2.24, I picked up Norrena's 2006-07 SPx #157 jersey card. The numbering here was much better, coming in at 64/1999.

Also considered a rookie card, this piece also features a sci-fi motif that doesn't come across as tasteful as the previous card. The jersey swatch, which of course is certified as having been worn during an "official" photo shoot, is also nothing to write home about. Still, I'm happy with the bargain since the card books at $10 and seems to run between $3 and $6 on BIN listings. Norrena seemed to be on the rise as the SEL star took over the starting job in Columbus from Pascal Leclaire in the 2006 season. His grip on the position would soon be pried away by up-and-coming flash-in-the-pan Steve Mason. Displaced back to the AHL, Norrena eventually made his way back to Europe where he currently plays in the SEL.

Next up is Kyle Wilson's 2010-11 Donruss #265 Rated Rookie card.

This is definitely not a very remarkable card, but shelling out $2.07 including shipping for a card that books at $5 and lists between $2 and $5 on eBay was a fairly good bargain. The Ontario native suited up for 32 games with Columbus during the 2010-11 season (plus another 23 with Springfield) before moving on to Nashville for the 2011-12 campaign. From the same seller that I acquired the Wilson card comes my two Red Wing pickups of the month.

This Jimmy Howard 2010-11 Donruss The Goalies #9 card is a pretty sweet little find. You really can't tell from the scan, but it's mostly a clear plastic deal with an opaque splash of color along the lower third. Booking for $4 and listing on eBay for around $3, I obtained mine for $2.07. Making it a three-card deal is this Joey Kocur 2010-11 Donruss Tough Times #3 insert.

I really dig the vintage look of these inserts. Joey is the only tough guy that I need from this set, so the $2.07 I paid for a card that books at $4 and has been going as high as $2 on eBay is a fair bargain in my mind.