Sorry for the hiatus

I feel bad I never finished up my “Under-Appreciated Pile” posts. I know most of you were waiting in anticipation *sarcasm*. The day I stopped doing it was a tough day. My work decided to let go more people. I fortunately was not one of them. However, I was counted on to pick up their slack. This resulted in more hours. So my day basically consisted of work for 9 hours, go pick up the kids from day care, come home, eat dinner, give them a bath, put them to bed, go back to work. Rinse....repeat. Needless to say, I'm exhausted. There was one little bright spot though in all of this extra work, we ended up getting a new cat. Below is a picture of our new family member. She is much furrier than the rest of us. World, meet Sasky! With her name being Sasky, I have nicknamed her a few things: Saskatoon Blades, Blades of Steel, Wesley Snipes, Blade Runner, you get the idea. My favorite is Saskatoon Blades. Which brings me to this post, but first here is Sasky yelling at me for no reason:

Saskatoon Blades got me thinking...do I have any cool cards of former Saskatoon Blades in my collection currently? Off the top of my head, I keep thinking of Bernie Federko, Mike Green and Devin Setoguchi. I had to rack my brain on this one. Then when I looked it up, I felt dumb. I knew a bunch of them! I just had a brain fart. In honor of Sasky, I bring you my favorite cards of former Saskatoon Blades. 

1990/91 Bowman Kelly Chase RC

This Kelly Chase card is newer to my collection. My oldest son and I took a trip up to the Dollar General one day before one of his T-ball games for some Big League Chew (you would be surprised how hard that stuff is to find around here). Dollar General seems to be the only place near us that has a steady supply of it. We grabbed a few pouches, and while we were waiting in line to pay, there were these Presstine Marketing hockey packs. They had 20 or 25 cards and were $1. I picked one up and this was the best card of the bunch. A Bowman rookie of a former enforcer now podcaster/commentator. Now that I look at this card design, it makes me want to hurl. I am pretty sure the Baseball set from this year also resembles this. Am I wrong? Well, he is a former Saskatoon Blade, and he's made a nice name for himself after his playing career, so Kelly Chase, you made my list buddy!

1986/87 O-Pee-Chee Wendel Clark RC

Moving on...this next card is a card I bought when I was 8 years old at a card show at a Howard Johnson hotel about 10 minutes away from my house. I clearly remember this show in particular because Kevin Stevens was signing autographs there and asked me what cards I bought that day since I had them in my hand. Of course, the Wendel Clark was on top. I remember him kinda laughing when he saw the Clark card on top and saying "Wendel Clark hah, you're not a Leafs fan are ya bud?' I assured Mr. Stevens I was a Pens fan through and through and he liked that. Somehow, I managed to keep this card in fantastic shape over the years. I still remember watching Wendel when I was younger. He was such a competitor and was never afraid of confrontation. The guy I bought this card from sold it to me for $4. I think I made a pretty terrific buy back in 1990. Clark was a Blades legend and his #22 jersey number hangs in the rafters at SaskTel Centre where the Blades play their home games.

1978/79 O-Pee-Chee Bernie Federko RC

The next Saskatoon Blade is a NHL Hockey Hall of Famer! It's Bernie Federko! He was a legend in the WCHL (WHL) before he took the NHL by storm. His #15 jersey was also retired by the Blades. I was lucky enough to acquire his rookie card years ago in a trade. All I really remember about the trade is that the guy wanted an Edmonton Oilers SP Game Used Patch Auto in trade. It wasn't even a star or an up-and-coming prospect. I don't even remember the guy's name. I'm pretty sure he was Russian though. Somewhere on this blog, I think I wrote about it. It was a great trade for me, and the crazy thing is, the guy offered the trade to me. I don't have much to say about Bernie Federko other than I only saw him play a time or two when I was younger and it was with the Detroit Red Wings, not the St. Louis Blues. Federko is still the all-time leader scorer for the St. Louis Blues with 1,073 points! These days he is a TV color commentator for Blues broadcasts. 

1987/88 O-Pee-Chee Brian Skrudland RC (TTM Auto)

Would you believe a card from the "Under-Appreciated Pile" ends up on this list? Brian Skrudland was a Saskatoon Blades legend. His #10 jersey number currently hangs in their rafters as it was retired by the Blades back in 2003. Skrudland was the first Captain in Florida Panthers history and kept that honor for 4 years. When I was a kid, I loved NHL 95 for SNES. I played it religiously and would sometimes play a season with the Florida Panthers. Skrudland was always a guy I kept on my team and wouldn't trade away. I have no idea why, I just liked him. When I saw his RC autographed on eBay, I had to have it. I snagged this thing for a couple of dollars and was happy with the purchase. I love through the mail autos. I used to do a lot of that, but I haven't had to time to write the handwritten letters and send them out. It's time consuming, but super fun! Back to Mr. Skrudland, he currently is the director of player development for the Florida Panthers. I'm glad to see he stuck around with them. 

2005/06 Hot Prospects Mike Green White Hot RC /10

I had an eBay alert for this card for 11 years......11 YEARS! A few weeks ago, one finally came up for sale. I almost couldn't believe it! I was also surprised I was the only bidder. This thing cost me less than $25. Not a bad price for a card I have been wanting for a very long time. I just love the Hot Prospects White Hot cards! Mike Green was one of my favorite fantasy hockey players that I had on my keeper league team. It was so upsetting once his career was winding down and I had to cut him loose, but he served my team well. My Yahoo fantasy profile shows that he was a part of 4 of my 6 championship teams. Not too shabby for a guy who doesn't even have a Young Guns rookie card! Upper Deck accidentally mistook the Mike Green who was a rookie defenseman with the Washington Capitals with a Mike Green who was a Center who played 24 games the year before splitting time between the Florida Panthers and New York Rangers. So, Mike Green's first Upper Deck card ended up being just a regular base card due to this error. Whoops! I used to have 4 or 5 of them a long time ago, but I think I gave them to a young kid along with a lot of other goodies. I'll leave you with a Saskatoon Blades fact about Mike Green. In his last year with the Blades, he played in 67 games and almost averaged a point per game with 66 points! Pretty impressive!

2015/16 UD The Cup Duncan Siemens Black Auto RC 1/1

I left my biggest Saskatoon Blades card for last. When I purchased this card, I was at my nephew's hockey game (he was 10 at the time) and he was playing a very aggressive team. During the first intermission I saw the seller had accepted my $100 offer on this card and I paid right away. I actually thought Siemens might become a fun player to watch, but it never really happened. He had such a mean streak to his game and in the WHL. He could skate and make a great first pass. I think once he made it to the AHL he focused more on fighting than he did actually handling the puck. Add in injuries and his career just never got off the ground like it should have. This is a guy I really wanted to succeed and that is the truth. Once he did get an extended look in the NHL (7 years after his draft year), I actually got to see the game where he scored his only NHL goal and had his only NHL fight vs the Calgary Flames in 2018. He fought Tanner Glass and Glass ended up breaking Duncan's nose. Later on in the 3rd period, he scored his first NHL goal on an empty netter. After he scored his goal, it looked like his teammates were really pumped for him too. You could tell they were really pulling for the guy. After the 2018 season, the Avalanche cut Siemens loose, and he signed with the Milwaukee Admirals in the AHL and then faded into obscurity. A sad ending for the 11th overall pick in the 2011 NHL Draft. If you're out there Duncan, I'd love to interview you for this blog!

What does Sasky think about this blog entry? Well, let's ask her....

It looks like she's smiling at least!

Thanks for reading guys!