High School Hockey Trophies (Or, the Glory Days)

A few months ago here on the blog, I shared an image of the one Little League trophy that I managed to hold onto for all of these years, along with a picture of young Gregory Ninepockets in the batter's box. The trophy was a little bit weathered from years spent in garages and attics, but I was able to clean it up pretty well, and now it resides in a much more pleasant, temperature-controlled environment.

The whole thing generated a pretty strong sense of nostalgia, and it pushed me a few years forward on Memory Lane. Here's the brief story.

From the very start, I was a baseball kid. Every spring, the prospect of a new Little League season generated that special combination of nervousness and excitement inside of me. I loved to play, and practice, and learn. Baseball was just a huge deal for me. But during my last year of Little League, I met a new friend who introduced me to another sport: Ice hockey. And I took a shine to it. 

Now I was well aware that baseball was—and always would be—my first love. So it wasn't like I was going to ditch it completely for hockey, or anything. However, this new friend and all his brothers played hockey all the time. Whenever I went over their house, it was hockey everywhere. Equipment bags everywhere. Sticks everywhere. Jerseys everywhere. I started to really enjoy being in that environment, and learning as much as I could about the game. I even started collecting hockey cards for the first time! 

On top of that, I began playing the sport—first in the street, wearing sneakers, and then on rollerblades. By the time 9th grade came around, that was it. I was hooked, and ready for high school–level ice hockey. Full equipment and everything. Thanks to a generous and hard-working mom and dad, I did play four full years of high school ice hockey. 

And so, after finishing up that post about the Little League trophy, I thought back to those high school hockey days. I knew I had some awards from that time tucked away in a box somewhere. 

That's where this post comes in. Because I found them.

Now before you scroll down and start assuming too much about my hockey skills, I'll tell you that these awards came from a recreational county league that anyone could join. Our high school didn't have a hockey team, and although the county did certainly have travel teams, I'd only been playing the sport for a couple of years at that point, and didn't quite have the abilities to match those guys. A few of them played in our rec league for fun, and I really had to be on my game if I wanted to keep up with them on the ice. You could tell they were on a different level.

Anyway, here's the fun stuff that I found in the box, year by year. 

 

 

 

Freshman Year

 

 

1991-92 All-Star Game Plaque

The "Executive Classic" is the name the league used for its annual all-star game. I think most seasons there were between 6 and 8 teams in the league, and each coach submitted the names of a few players for the all-star game. I was very happy to be selected my first year, and it was nice of the league to hand out a little plaque like this one to each player who participated. The plaques are fairly small—around 5 inches by 7 inches.

 

 

Sophomore Year

I didn't find an all-star game plaque for the 1992-93 season, and I really don't remember whether or not I was selected. I do know that I didn't deal with any injuries or missed games, so maybe I had an off year, or maybe our team had a lot of good players that season who were selected in front of me. 

 

 

 

Junior Year 

 

 

1993-94 All-Star Game Plaque

Back in the saddle for the all-star game. You can see that the league changed up the plaque design a little bit. And that's not all for my Junior year. Check this out:

 

 

 

1993-94 All-Star Game MVP Plaque

I was the the all-star game MVP! If I remember right, I had 2 goals and 1 assist in a victory for our side. And my Junior season was even better still, because. . .

 

 

 

 

. . . our team won the league championship! 

I really don't remember a whole lot about the season in general, but I do remember that we had an excellent squad, which included a couple of travel team players. And although I don't remember the final score of the championship game, I think it was pretty close for the first couple of periods.

  

 

 

Senior Year 

 

 

1994-95 All-Star Game Plaque

I wrapped up my high school playing days with another all-star game appearance. A couple of my classmates were rec league all-stars over the years, as well. It always felt great to represent our high school in that way.

 

And playing with those classmates is what I remember the most about those days. There were four or five of us in the same grade who all loved the sport, and we joined the rec league year after year. From what I remember, the league always tried to place us on the same team, which made things really fun. The day after a game, we'd get together in school and talk about how we played, and who we were playing next. The fact that we were such a small group only made it more special.

As for that friend who introduced me to ice hockey a few years prior? He was one of those classmates on the team. We ended up developing such good chemistry on the ice that we often played together on the same forward line. And guess what else? He was a card collector like me. That made things even more fun! 

Here are a few cards that we would have been excited to find in packs around that time.

1991-92 Upper Deck #21 Teemu Selanne, 1991-92 Upper Deck #AW9 Mario Lemieux, 
1993-94 Topps Premier Black Gold #7 Wayne Gretzky

They take me right back to those high school hockey days. And I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but how cool is it that a few little pieces of cardboard can help preserve such great memories? I only wish we documented more of our hockey experiences and kept more physical mementos from that time.

 

What about you readers and collectors? 

If you played any sports or were part of any clubs in high school, do you still have some trophies, awards, or other mementos?

 

I want to hear some stories! Share in the comment section. 

Completed Set: 1978 Topps Baseball

Well, that was fast.

In January I posted a great meetup-and-trade experience that I had with Bo from Baseball Cards Come to Life! The box of cards he handed over to me that day contained a generous amount of 1978 Topps cards to start me on my set-completion journey.

And now, just a few months (and a few big trades) later, that initial stack of cards has turned into a total of 726. In other words, a complete set!

Not only that, but here's another example of how generous card collectors are:

Before I even finished setting up those trades and receiving all the cards, another collector reached out to me. Turns out he had a complete set of 1978s that he was willing to give me for a very, very good price, plus a small stack of Phillies cards that he needed. (Thanks Dan!)

So yes. That's right. Through the generosity of fellow collectors, I now have two complete sets. Amazing.

The 1978 design is one I've always enjoyed. It's the simple borders, unique script for the team names, and fielding-position-inside-a-baseball theme. Those straightforward, clean elements allow the photography—which in many cases is excellent—to really stand out.

And by excellent, I mean that in the 1978 set you've got some of the most classic of classic baseball card poses. Just look at these images and tell me that your baseball card senses aren't stirred into overdrive:

Robin Yount, #173

Nolan Ryan, #400

Greg Luzinski, #420

Jim Palmer, #160

They're superstars of baseball in superstar poses, captured on cardboard forever. And you'll find quite a handful of these types of cards in the set.

You'll also find plenty of cards that exemplify the ease and blue skies of springtime, like these:

Rick Manning, #11

Bob Grich, #18

Rich Hebner, #26

Bob Forsch, #58

And the dog days of summer, like these:

Dave Chalk, #178

Al Oliver, #430

Biff Pocoroba, #296

Dave Goltz, #249

  
Here's a card back, featuring the "Play Ball" game on the right-hand side:

In a previous post I wrote about why I like the Eddie Murray card from this set, so here are some other cards that I enjoy:

John Candelaria #190

Cecil Cooper, #154

Reggie Jackson, #200

Dave Winfield, #530

Ken Singleton, #65

I'm very happy that this set is checked off my list. Thanks very much to all of the readers, bloggers, and trading card forum members who've helped me complete it much more quickly than I could have imagined. Twice!