Lord Stanley 1/1 Pulled!

Aug 1 2008 4:56PM

CHICAGO -- It's a card one veteran dealer described as the "most significant present-day hockey card in existence." And it's a card that Toronto collector Joe Fernandez drove nine hours to pull.

He left his house at about 3 o'clock Friday morning, arrived in Chicago at around noon and wasted little time in purchasing a case of In the Game Superlative to participate in the wrapper redemption program at ITG's corporate booth at the 29th National Sports Collectors Convention.

Shortly after landing a nice Foster Hewitt cut autograph, Fernandez made hockey hobby history by yanking the Lord Stanley cut autograph 1/1.

"I couldn't believe it," Fernandez says. "I was already happy with the Foster Hewitt. In the same case, I got the Lord Stanley right after it. I was like, ‘Wow.' I think I'm going to keep it, because you don't get a card like this very often, right?"

Exactly. Just ask Daniel Naiman, a 20-year veteran who runs The Hockey Connection and who had the thrill of selling the historic case to Fernandez.

"I was floored with the pull," Naiman says. "It's, in my opinion, the most significant card in the set and probably the most significant present-day hockey card that exists in the marketplace. It's a great pull for a great collector. It's wonderful.

"It's unbelievable from the standpoint that you always like to see collectors who support products to large extents getting the best cards possible. It's very apropos that a great collector who supports In the Game products on all levels gets probably the best card they've ever made."