[irbefan4life]

On Tuesdays at Heroes of the Crease Ltd., I typically show off something game worn of a less famous NHL goaltender, saving more familiar names for Fridays. Today, however, is February 2nd, the birthday of Arturs Irbe. As everyone who knows me or knows of how my goaltending museum project / subsequent federally incorporated business began, Arturs Irbe is my all time favorite athlete across all sports and my card collection of him from what feels like an eon ago is what actually led to the idea of creating and building towards a complete library of game worn memorabilia of all of the goalies in NHL history.
 
In celebration of Archie's birthday, today's "Piece of History" represents many Arturs Irbe items from my collection. The following are included (from top to bottom): (1) 1999 game-issued/possible limited usage Jofa cage mask. This was one of 30 or so masks painted for Archie during his time in Carolina. (2) 1992-93 San Jose Sharks authentic game-ready style jersey (3) 1991-92 San Jose Sharks authentic game-ready style jersey (4) 2009-11 Washington Capitals era coaching worn gloves "Irbe" printed in cuffs (5)   San Jose Sharks game used stick (6) 1997-98 Vancouver Canucks game used stick (7) 1999-00 Carolina Hurricanes stick used on November 20, 1999 in a 1-0 win against Dallas (8) 2002-03 Carolina Hurricanes game used stick (9) 2002-03 Carolina Hurricanes game used stick shattered at the blade.
 

 
I also still boast about the fact that I once had the world's most complete Arturs Irbe card collection as well, however, with the focus shifted to my museum project, I sold a lot of it. Even with a lot of it gone, I still have hundreds upon hundreds of excellent ones left. Here is the top ten cards of his (not necessarily value wise as there are some valuable ones I don't really like the look of) that I still have in the collection, though that top 10 still continues to fluctuate by the week.
 
10) 1991-92 OPC Soviet Red Army Rookie Year Insert BGS 9.5
 
Not his true rookie card, but graded and preserved, this is one of the few items from the Irbe collection that are keepers. Fun fact, you will never see a post-Soviet Union CCCP item autographed by Archie as he was a strong proponent of Latvian independence around that time, and is still very pro-Latvian.
 

 
9) 2002-03 Upper Deck SPX Gold Spectrum #/10
 
A simple, though elegant design with a great action photo of Archie doing what he did worst...puck handling. The gold spectrum versions are very rare.
 

 
8) 2011-12 ITG Superbox Memorabilia and Memorabilia-Auto Rainbow 1/1 (x4)
 
I don't look at these as four cards, rather a single item of four parts, this was the tough Superbox redemption by ITG at the Toronto Expo (top 2) and Baltimore National shows (bottom 2)
 

 
7) 2000-01 Pacific Glove Side Net Fusions Platinum #/25
 
I am a fan of this subset with any goalie much less my dude, then there is the platinum parallel which is extremely rare and sought after by player collectors. A beauty card.
 

 
6) 2002-03 Between the Pipes Gold Parallel #/10
 
My second favorite BTP year ever after 2009-10, this was an amazing low numbered parallel that looks as good as it is rare.
 

 
5) 2002-03 Between the Pipes Behind the Mask #/30
 
Everyone loves goalies and their goalie gear, but never is the person behind the mask appreciated enough. This goalie set was fantastic and showed who they were when not wearing their masks.
 

 
4) 2001-02 Pacific Titanium Dual Patch with Tom Barrasso #/199
 
I mean...check this patch with 8 breaks in such a tiny window...why wouldn't this be a top piece...wow!
 

 
3) 2000-01 Topps Gold Label Behind the Mask One to One Parallel #1/1
 
An old 1/1 from the back in the day when 1/1s didn't fall off trees like tangerines, this is a simply beautiful card!
 

 
2) 2002-03 Pacific Heads Up Purple #10/30
 
This one was fortuitous. The first time I ever went to Wayne's Sports Cards, I ended up buying a box of Heads Up and what came out of it? Well, this card of course. Pulling a low numbered card of anyone is awesome, pulling it of a star player is great, but pulling one of your all time favorite player? Hell yeah!
 

 
1) 1999-00 BAP Millennium Goalie Gear #/30
 
No matter how many 1/1s, rare parallels, patches..yadda, yadda, yadda I got in the Irbe collection, this card is the one Irbe trading card I would never give up. I think this is the most well designed memorabilia card in history, Dr. Price truly knocked the design out of the park on this one (it's too bad the cards from that set were so apt for rear edge whiting and chipping.)