2009-10 Heroes & Prospects Packs World Junior Championship Excitement
By Russ Cohen
The 2010 World Junior Hockey Championships will start and finish before 2009-10 ITG Heroes & Prospects is released on January 27, so the demand for some of the cards based on the key players’ on-ice performances could potentially skyrocket.
Two of the players most likely to reap the biggest benefits are Cody Hodgson and Oliver Roy.
I’ve been to the “Bunker,” home of the Brampton Battalion, and have seen firsthand how crazy the hometown fans are for Hodgson, the future Vancouver Canucks standout. A game-used fatigue/jersey of Hodgson will most certainly be a hot commodity. Although he’s coming off an injury, Hodgson is expected to play and have a sizable impact for Team Canada.
Roy is a solid goalie for the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in the “Q.” He has a chance to make the World Junior squad but he did play in the “Subway Super Series” and ITG has acquired the jersey rights to the “fresh” game-used memorabilia from that tournament as well as the CHL Top Prospects Game. Future top-five picks in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, Taylor Hall (Windsor) and Tyler Seguin (Plymouth Whalers) played in the Super Series.
One of the hottest cards in the hobby could be Roy’s prime-piece Subway Series jersey card. By the time this set hits the streets in late January, this card is likely to be on many collectors’ want lists.
Russ Cohen is a Beckett Hockey correspondent and the lead writer for www.sportsology.net.
Bob McKenzie is reporting that Hodgson is out. Too bad for Canada.