2013 COMC pickups #14: C-U-P. I want a C-U... Oh, my God!

Well, hockey fans, it's the first game of the 2012-13 Stanley Cup Finals, and as far as I'm concerned, this year's matchup looks like this:

Chicago is the giant douche, obviously

Basically, not the pair of teams I was hoping for, since Boston fans are no prize either.  No Red Wings and no Michigan alumni left means I pretty much won't be watching, not that the NHL will miss me.

Still, all the same I decided to commemorate today's Game 1 by showing off my remaining hockey pickups from COMC:

Andrew Cogliano 2007-08 SPx dual jersey auto RC (#336/999)

Andrew Cogliano 2009-10 Upper Deck Champ's Signatures auto

Wow, that's the way to kick things off!  You've seen Cogliano here before, but as a quick recap, he was a two-year starter in Ann Arbor who scored 36 goals and 46 points in 77 collegiate games.  Edmonton made him the 25th overall pick in 2005, and he then went straight to the NHL after his sophomore season, putting up an 18-27-45 line in his rookie season.  He was traded to Anaheim before the 2011-12 season and has been with them since, continuing to put up double-digit goal totals.  

Ok, maybe that wasn't so quick, but anyway, this stunning pair of cards comes to my collection for the crazy low price of about $5.50 combined!  SPx has turned out some pretty sweet RC hits in multiple sports, and this one's certainly a shining example of that.  I was very happy to get a pair of different colors of jersey swatches which, as a bonus, weren't white.  The signature, featuring his jersey number, is a huge plus.  That's no knock against the UD mini, which looks fantastic, especially in-person where you can get a better sense of scale.  These cards represent my 6th and 7th of Cogs, and given how talented of a scorer he can be, I'm going to get to work on reaching double digits as soon as I can!

Andrew Ebbett 2008-09 SPx dual jersey RC (#0631/1299)

Today's other Andrew, Ebbett is also no stranger to this here blog.  He stuck around for his four-year Michigan tenure before signing with the Sens as a UDFA.  He then signed with the Ducks the following year, and bounced up and down before being claimed by the Hawks and Wild over the course of a few seasons, then signed with the Coyotes before ending up with Vancouver, his current team.

This is a beautiful three-color dual jersey RC of a guy I hope sees more playing time next year.  And of course, it's another great example of a spiffy SPx rookie!  Chalk up card #4 of Ebbett.

Brendan Morrison-Marty Turco 2001-02 Titanium Double-Sided Jerseys dual jersey

I've kind of moved on from relic cards for the most part, not so much because of their questionable authenticity as much as a lack of interest compared to autographs.  That went completely out the window when this dual-sided jersey card showed up during my usual COMC searching.  For $1.89 I grabbed a dual relic of my two favorite all-time UM icers!  Better yet, while Morrison's swatch is a single color, it's not a boring-ass white piece, and Turco's features two colors.  This is definitely a big win for my collection, and I applaud Pacific for recognizing the link between a couple college hockey alumni.  Speaking of those two guys, their new hit totals are 13 for B-Mo and 14 for Turco.

Steve Shields 1997-98 Be A Player auto

And speaking of cards with interesting backs, this Shields auto is the only one today that features a blurb about the player instead of a second relic or a "congratulations" message.  The reason that interests me:  "A standout for four seasons at the University of Michigan where he became the NCAA all-time wins leader" is the sentence that begins the back blurb.  Because Turco is often celebrated as one of the all-time great NCAA goalies, I hadn't realized that Shields was the first collegiate goalie to 100 career wins.  Turco later surpassed that mark, but it's still crazy impressive.

Steve played for six NHL teams in his 12-season career and is one of a proud line of Michigan-graduated NHL goaltenders.  And he's got a pretty sweet signature too!  This is my fourth Shields PC card, all of which are still autos, a streak I hope to continue.

Well, today's five added in to the old hockey PC make for a new sport total of 76, meaning I surpassed yet another resolution goal before the year was even half up.  While this may again be too conservative, I'm going to amend that to 100, and I won't be surprised at all if I get help from north of the border!

To those watching the finals tonight, good luck to your favorite team (even yours, Jeff).  Me, I'm just looking forward to the end of the NBA finals (and hopefully a Miami embarrassment) so we can get back to having the spotlight on baseball once again.