Hitting the favorites- hockey

Posting about the cards added in the COMC Black Friday sales is sort of like a card blog write-of-passage (see what I did there?) and I shall do that as well. Granted, I've had too many other things going on to get it posted quickly, but post I shall!  I let my COMC order build up since August of 2018, and hit ship on December 1st...so I ended up with over 150 cards coming my way, and while I don't know if I will show them all, some of them demand to be shown.

So here we are.

I have been more into hockey lately, it's surpassed everything else in terms of interest, time spent watching and thinking about, etc. So naturally I got more hockey in the order than any other sport, and I made the conscious effort to pick up cards of my two favorite players, Henrik Lundqvist and Mats Zuccarello. I had believed that I would be getting Henrik over 100 cards when the order arrived, but I miscounted badly- it only got him to 76 as reckoned by the Database, which means less than that because I know at least one of them is a multi-player card. No matter what the actual number is, it's put him firmly in place as #1 in my ever-expanding NHL collection, just the way I like it. For most of the year he's been neck-and-neck with Wayne Gretzky, including spending months tied for #1, only breaking the tie literally the night before the COMC order arrived when I pulled two out of one of the boxes Shane sent me....over a year ago.

 This is a promo from the 2011-12 All-Star game that was only available at the Toronto Expo. It's probably the rarest of the cards I got.

 This one, showing the iconic roof of Madison Square Garden, is one of the cooler looking cards in the group!

 Wal-Mart Blue Pulsar parallel.

 2016-17 MVP insert

 Pretty sure this is an E-pack exclusive parallel.

 This is SN 013/100, and I scanned it on December 13th. The UD Exclusives parallel is the longest running parallel in the hobby, it began in 1998-99 and is still being produced today. This is only my third from the NHL, first of any Rangers. (I later pulled one of Jesper Fast on Christmas day!)

 This dark blue version of the 2018-19 MVP card was listed as a Pack Wars parallel...I had no idea that existed. It's SN to 100 copies, and was an instant buy when I saw it.

 I also picked up the Silver Script. I  now have three of the parallels (the Factory Set not shown) but I don't have the base card yet, since it was short printed.

 My first card from last year's Canadian Tire exclusive O-Pee-Chee Coast to Coast set.

 An insert from last year's Parkhurst

This appears to be a promo from the 2018 Draft...it uses the 1990-91 design and apparently a photo from when he was drafted in 2000.

I'm not sure if this one is Hockey only or Multi-Sport. It's a set from Russia for the 2006 Olympics!

Now, I noticed that my Mats Zuccarello collection was lacking. He became my favorite skater quickly and I'm still bitter that the Rangers traded him away for nothing. Worst thing they've done in my time as a fan, admittedly not long yet, but it's going to be hard to "top" that. So, I took to COMC to fix that collection deficiency...

 The MVP Green Script cards are E-Pack exclusive. I don't do epack but I have been picking them up on COMC. I should really work on getting more while they are still cheap, most can be had for about 27 cents.

 2017-18 O-Pee-Chee Platinum Rainbow...

 and Rainbow Color Wheel. I actually bought two of these, and forgot and bought them again. Duh! That's what happens when you let your order sit for 15 months.

 This is my first Green Script from last year's MVP...

 and I picked up the Silver Script as well. I have his base and Factory Set so I'm on my way to the Rainbow. Gold Script, Super Script (SN25), Pack War (SN100) and Puzzle Back remain.

 Last year's Parkhurst Bronze parallel, which surprised me by having old school brown cardback.

 A banner from the Winter Classic, a game I saw.

 The Gold parallel from Upper Deck 2018-19 (flagship) which is Epack only.

 last year's UD Canvas insert...his teammates were having a laugh at his expense because he's from Norway, and the only one that was bothered by the cold of the outdoor game. It was 15 degrees out that day, the ice itself was actually warmer.

This year's MVP Green script...the green is actually metallic which doesn't show up well in scans, but looks really nice in hand. With green being my favorite color, I'd build this entire 250 card set if I could afford it. This year's MVP is likely going to be one of only two cards he gets as a member of the Stars....he was not there for long, suffering a broken arm in his very first game with them...I think he only ended up playing 4 or 5 games total, plus last year's playoffs. They did not offer him a new contract so he signed with the only team that did- the Minnesota Wild. His first Wild card just came out, in Parkhurst, which is Wal-Mart exclusive...but my local Wal-Mart has not bothered to stock the set since 2016-17, so I missed it totally the last two years. I missed out on this year's OPC totally as well, which is the other Stars card he has, and I was not lucky enough to pull his base card from the MVP blaster I got for my birthday. Of course, the OPC card has 7 parallels and the MVP card has at least 11 parallels counting printing plates, so there is a possibility this doesn't remain his only Stars card in my collection...but it wouldn't surprise me if it does, as well. Update: I wrote that caption before Christmas. On Christmas day I got a single fatpack of MVP, and I pulled his base card. I also got a hobby box of O-Pee-Chee and pulled his base card out of there, too. So I now have three Stars cards of him, and I'm 99% sure I picked up the Silver Script on COMC with the Christmas money my brother gave me to spend on there. I got so many cards and it hasn't arrived yet, so I can't remember for sure.