[arrowsg30]

I was thinking back on why I started collecting Bill Ranford. Not to say he's obscure, but he's not the best goalie in Oilers' history. I started collecting him when I was young and he was the Bruins goalie (not a wildly successful stop), not even knowing his Conn Smythe and Canada Cup history.

My PCs have evolved over the years, usually keeping focus on Bruins goalies. But it's also covered goalies who have worn #30, goalies who have won the Conn Smythe, goalies on a team with aesthetically pleasing jerseys, US-born goalies. My current goalie PC looks as such:

Bill Ranford
Tim Thomas
Martin Brodeur
Tuukka Rask
Gerry Cheevers
Patrick Roy
Henrik Lundqvist
Jonathan Quick
Marty Turco

I plan on slimming down, possibly dropping Roy, Lundqvist and Turco.

My non-goalies are primarily Bruins players (Neely, Bergeron), so not much of a story there. There are only a couple of non-Bruins that I collect:

Toews
Yzerman

Toews, I pulled his YG RC from a pack and started following him immediately after. Yzerman, I pulled an insert back in the 90s, and for whatever reason kept collecting.

So who's is the focal point of your PC? And why did you start there? There are some obscure ones out there. And the stories are interesting.

[snobles]

Nothing too special about mine. I was a goalie in the late 80's and early 90's so there was no one I wanted to be more like than Patrick Roy. So I started collecting his cards. I had a couple of breaks in my collecting but my PC focus has never changed.

So with that in mind, if you drop Roy out of your PC keep me in mind!

[arrowsg30]

will do, but I'm sure there are few cards that I have that you don't.

[irbefan4life]

1) Arturs Irbe. My all-time favorite goalie. Great person on and off the ice, wore relic goalie equipment and didn't care. Also one of the premier iron-man goalies of the league who often had league leading stats for games played and minutes played.

2) Levente Szuper. First Hungarian born player to ever make an NHL roster, and a goalie to boot. Defied the odds to make the league despite being from an otherwise non-hockey nation. Card population is small but sweet.

3) Significant goalie game-worn memorabilia. After hearing tales of ancient relics of hockey like Vezina's only pad being destroyed for cards, I decided to take it upon my self to liberate as many significant pieces of goaltending memorabilia as possible from the chopping block. On top of that the goaltending position is my complete favorite in the game, and every player who has ever made it to "the show" has their own story to tell. What better way than through their game-worn memorabilia? The goal is to open up a goaltending museum for all to visit and appreciate, as well as to own at least one piece of memorabilia of every goalie to ever play in the NHL.

[phildo37]

1. Detroit Red Wings Game-Worn Jerseys and Memorabilia - I stay away from RBK edge jerseys, and only focus on significant players that won a Cup with the team

2. SM Liiga / Finnish National Team Game-Worn Jerseys - I'm half Finnish

3. 90's Inserts - Those were all the cool cards when I really started collecting and couldn't afford to buy them all

4. UD YG - Pretty much every significant RC is in these sets, hold their value well

5. 80's OPC/Topps - Every RC that's not a UD YG or isn't vintage is in the 80's

6. SP FW - Same as UD YG, but signed and/or serial numbered, also hold their value well

[onoxxxregretso]

1. Patrick Roy - Same reason as Scott. I was just getting into goaltending in the mid 90's when I was little and fell in love with Roy. Keep in mind I was only 10 years old in 96 so I didn't seriously start chasing his cards until about 2002-2004ish and soon after stopped because I went to college and just forgot about cards. However when I resumed collecting a couple years ago I picked up where I left off and added a few more PC players...

2. Nick Palmieri - He lives in my town and I played HS hockey with him my senior year (He left for the OHL next season). I still hang out with him at the bar or at our muutal friends houses when he's home. The best part about Nick is he's still as humble as can be and you'd never guess he was a professional athlete if you ran into him in a bar.

3. Brandon Yip - No idea why I started collecting his cards to be honest with you haha

[anavrin78]

Most guys that I collect were just the guys that I loved to watch when I was a kid. Bure, Fedorov, Hasek, Khabibulin, Jagr, etc.. Kovalchuk came along after Bure/Fedorov were winding down there careers and I thought he was going to be the next exciting Russian sniper, so I started collecting him. Sanford/Low, I have told this story before, but I was lucky enough to go to almost every home game the year Sanford was the #1 and seeing his cards reminds me of all the free food/beer in the luxury boxes and spending time w/ my good friends.

[hckydv7]

My PC is simple -- If it is Hockey and it is on a card i want it.

[wickabee]

Steve Kelly: First guy from my hometown to make it (drafted to Oilers, also played for Tampa, NJ and Columbus) and the first to win a Stanley Cup (NJ)

Barry Brust: The second guy from my hometown to make it anywhere. Has spent time in the Wild, Kings, Senators and Flames' systems, as well as a couple of years playing in Germany. I went to school with Barry for a year and my uncle was his coach.

Danny Watkins (football): Third guy to yada yada. First to make it in football. Reffed with him and also reffed games he played in, we went to school together and, honestly, he is the single nicest guy I've ever met.

Justin Schultz: Yeah, he's from here too. Very nice family, really good kid.

Trevor Linden, Stan Smyl, Markus Naslund RCs: Numbers retired in Vancouver, Pavel Bure will hit that list this upcoming season. I also like Linden JSY/PATCH/AU and low numbered.

Nicklas Lidstrom RCs: The first RC I ever pulled was Lidstrom's 91-92 Pro Set. I still have it and it is the number one card in my PC.

Chris Higgins RCs: Just sort of happened. Really not sure how.

[greg2424]

Back in the 90s I collected everything that caught my eye. Now I collect anything and everything of the Montreal Canadiens almost exclusively. I still have a lot of 90s insert sets and a bunch of complete sets that aren't going anywhere.

For players, I still collect Saku Koivu and have always collected Wayne Cashman (why? He's a Bruin from my childhood and we share the same birthday).

Other side collections include:

The Cup cards of Canadiens and superstars #'d 24/xx.
2009-10 The Cup Gold base and base jerseys #'d 24/25
2009-10 ITG Decades the 80s Black, Silver and Gold jerseys

So check your Organize, I am sure you all have something I need.