Friday, July 01, 2022

Я люблю русские хоккейные карточки

Translated, that says "I love Russian hockey cards".  At least according to Google.

I've been aware of the existence of KHL cards (Kontinental Hockey League) for a while now, and knew that Sergei Fedorov was active there for a few years after he left the NHL.  I wanted some of those cards to add to my Fedorov collection, but I hadn't seen any on eBay for a while.  Checking recently, I found there was only a dealer in Canada with very few (and Canadian shipping), and another in Latvia, which I wouldn't think would be cheap.  Then I found a dealer in Pennsylvania - Scotso53 - that had some.  There weren't any Fedorovs that I wanted, but he did have my favorite newer Capital player - Evgeny Kuznetsov.  They were only $1.60 each on average, so I pulled the trigger.

These two are 2011-12 SeReal KHL.  I'm guessing you pronounce the company like the breakfast food.  I've watched a couple YouTube videos on learning the Russian language, (because I always thought it sounded cool in all those Tom Clancy movies) but I'm not fluent enough to be able to read any of it.  The blue(er) one notes that Kuzy is on Team Fedorov for the All-Star game.  He played for Traktor Chelyabinsk over there otherwise.

These are from the next year, 2012-13.  The first is a regular base card, and the other two are Hockey Kings (inserts) with silver foil on the banners.  I learned later that there are red and gold numbered parallels to these.  (Stay tuned for more on that later.)

Picked up this All-Star jersey numbered to 250 with a cool patch for just over five bucks.  This is the highlight of this purchase.

2013-14 next, and the base cards are similar.  The second card is part of a team logo puzzle series, and the third is an Under the Flag insert.

Here's what the backs of the first two look like.  Luckily there is a lot of English to go with the Russian text.  The base card notes his last couple All-Star appearances, and a World Championship for the national IIHF team I believe.  

Also included in this Capitals star lot from other places, were these Braden Holtbys from the minors:

Three really thin stock cards from the Hershey Bears.  They play in Chocolate Town, which is about an hour from my house.  The last is an In The Game of him with Saskatoon.  I think Braden is still playing for Dallas now.  At least it's not the football team...

And finally, a young version of our favorite Capitals tough guy, Tom Wilson.

Oh Thomas, so many hits you hadn't delivered yet...

So that's it for this eBay order.  But there is a Chapter Two in the Russian collection saga.  (Actually, there's a Chapter Zero that includes the old Red Army cards that I have - beyond those Upper Decks that came out with the Sharks in the '90s.  I'll have to post those soon too.)  But what I'll say now is - turns out the Latvia dealer offered cheap shipping and had TONS more....


7 comments:

  1. If it didn't mean trusting my credit card with a Russian source, I'd totally buy a Traktor Chelyabinsk jersey. Best logo in hockey.

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  2. I also love Russian hockey cards and PC Federov. As i was completing certain sets the invasion of Ukraine occurred and it made me uneasy. I've visited Russia and found the people are simply normal people that live under an oppressive government, and for that reason I continue collecting Russian teams and Federov as I distinguish the people from the politics.

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  3. I'm slowly getting back into collecting hockey cards, but didn't realize there were Russian cards. Very cool. I remember chasing down Arturs Irbe's cards in 1990-91 O-Pee-Chee and thinking they were so cool. But I think my first actual Russian trading cards were these Federov cards that kind of remind me of Broders.

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  4. These look pretty good. In general, the look of modern hockey cards leaves me cold (heh), except OPC, and these are along those lines, but it's interesting to see the Russian treatment.

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  5. I had no idea there were such a thing. I don't collect hockey, but these were still interesting to see.

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  6. Very cool to see! I'm kinda surprised as to how modern they look.

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