Sal's Custom Hockey Cards

Tom Fenton

2010-12-28T22:59:00.006-06:00

On December 16, 2010, the Phoenix Coyotes were in New York for a game against the Rangers. Starting goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov came down with the flu, and the Coyotes would not be able to get one of their minor league goalies to New York in time for that night's game. So, Phoenix recruited former collegiate netminder Tom Fenton to serve as their backup goalie for a one-game "emergency" stint. More about that story can be read here and here.

Like every other hockey fan, I was intrigued by this story. No, Fenton didn't actually play in the game, and eventually this all will be forgotten. But I don't think anyone would turn down the opportunity to be an NHL backup goalie for a night.

Thus, I made a custom card of him. I chose this year's Upper Deck Victory set because I was able to find a nice portrait, and Victory uses portraits and close-ups on their Victory Rookies subset.

I know the story is almost 2 weeks old, but this card took a surprising amount of work. Normally, I would take an existing card and WHAM BAM change the name and photograph, maybe jazz it up a bit.

However, Victory did not feature any Coyotes players in their Victory Rookies subset, so I had to make this card from scratch. For those of you who "know" computer graphics, that means I had to make a design in Illustrator and then composite it in Photoshop. I also had to track down a font that matched the lettering used on the player and team names. Even still, I had to mix different fonts to get the desired effect.

Ironically, I spent more time working on this card than Fenton spent sitting on the Coyotes' bench. But I'm very pleased with the results.

Bruce Racine

2010-11-19T00:20:00.002-06:00

Sorry about the small text on the card--it reads as follows:

Originally drafted by the Pittsburgh , “Racer” never saw action for
the Penguins but did dress as a backup for 4 games in the 1991
Stanley Cup playoffs. Last season, he served as Grant Fuhr’s back-
up, setting an NHL record for career games without a start.

Racine never had an NHL card. This one is designed to look like a 1995-96 Upper Deck Collectors' Choice card. Unfortunately, the only images I could find of him were low-resolution. Thus, the card does not look as good as it could. If anyone has some better resolution pictures that they wouldn't mind sharing, let me know.

Jeremy Roenick

2010-07-05T00:01:00.010-05:00

During the 2007-08 season, Upper Deck must have assumed that Jeremy Roenick was going to retire, because other than a few jersey cards, they didn't bother putting him on a regular card in any of theri sets. So I made this custom card of Roenick using the 2007-08 O-Pee-Chee design.

I just wrote a "Career in Cards" retrospective on Puck Junk, which you can read here.

Patrick Kane

2010-06-11T14:31:00.002-05:00

Here he is...the guy who scored the game-winner for the Blackhawks in Game 6, Patrick Kane. Maybe I'll do custom cards of all the 2010 Blackhawks, but in 1971-72 style.

Troy Brouwer

2010-06-08T09:30:00.011-05:00

This was another request for a fan of this blog. Troy Brouwer enjoyed his best season in the NHL thus far, with 40 points in the regular season and another 8 in the playoffs (through Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals).

Here, this cards was done in the epic 1971-72 style, but updating the logo and the team name ("Black Hawks" became "Blackhawks" in 1986...bet you didn't know that.)

Andrew Ference

2010-05-31T14:22:00.002-05:00

Someone asked me to make them a custom card of Boston Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference, but in the style of a 1980-81 Topps card.

To create this card, I actually traced the border and "puck" in Illustrator, so that I can easily recolor it for different teams. I think it came out pretty well.

Mark Johnson

2010-05-13T22:34:00.002-05:00

Mark Johnson didn't have an O-Pee-Chee card issued during the 1982-83 season. That same year, Topps didn't even bother to issue a set of cards, but they did put out a set of 263 stickers. This custom sticker "pretends" that a 264th sticker--of Johnson--was issued.

Tony McKegney

2010-03-01T12:10:00.002-06:00

No card was issued of Tony McKegney during the 1986-87 season. That was his only year with the New York Rangers. So, I made this card to rectify this oversight.

Curtis Joseph

2010-02-10T00:01:00.002-06:00

Since Curtis Joseph didn't have any cards in 2007-08 that actually showed him with the Calgary Flames, I decided to make one using that year's O-Pee-Chee design.

Peter Zezel

2010-02-09T00:01:00.017-06:00

A custom card of Peter Zezel's uncredited character, "Rossini", from the film "Youngblood."

Derek Sutton

2010-02-08T20:50:00.006-06:00

Yeah, it has been a while since I've posted to this illustrious blog--which now has FIVE followers, thank you very much.

After Patrick Swayze passed away last year, I made a bunch of custom cards of Swayze as Derek Sutton--his character from the movie "Youngblood." This is the last of the batch.

Darren Eliot

2009-11-17T00:01:00.001-06:00

Last week, I made a card of former L.A. Kings netminder Darren Eliot, using the '85-86 design. He played 27 games that season--and I had another photo of him--so I decided to make a card in the 1986-87 design too.

Chris Chelios

2009-11-16T00:01:00.000-06:00

Now that Chris Chelios has played a few games for the Chicago Wolves, I was able to find photos of him in an actual game, and not just the practice photos like from the previous card I made.

Darren Eliot

2009-11-13T00:01:00.002-06:00

Darren Eliot played 33 games for the Los Angeles Kings during the 1984-85 season--but never got a card. Someone suggested that I make him one, and so I did--using the 1985-86 design. Yeah, I'm using that one a lot lately, but it makes sense for this card.

Derek Sutton

2009-11-12T00:01:00.003-06:00

"Thank God there is a sport for middle-sized white boys."
- Derek Sutton from the film "Youngblood"

Peter Zezel

2009-11-09T00:01:00.004-06:00

Another custom "Youngblood" card. Eventually, I will run out of these.

In "Youngblood," Peter Zezel's uncredited character is referred to as "Rossini." A first name is never given, so I just used "Peter" as his first name on this mock card.

Pat Foley

2009-11-06T00:01:00.001-06:00

During the 2007-08 season, I started making a Chicago Wolves custom card set. It was supposed to encompass all Wolves players, past and present, but ended up just being current Wolves players.

Here is Pat Foley, who was the Wolves' play-by-play announcer for two seasons. Prior to that, he did play-by-play for the Blackhawks for about 20 years or so. After '07-08, he came back to the 'Hawks. It was great having him be a part of the Wolves' broadcasts during those two years, but I think everyone agrees that he belongs with the Blackhawks.

1989-90 Derek Sutton

2009-11-05T17:39:00.003-06:00

Did someone say "Swayze?"

Another custom "Youngblood" card, which is also a custom 1989-90 card. If I actually do make a complete custom set of "89-90 Traded/Update" cards, fictitious character Derek Sutton won't be among them.

Sidney Crosby

2009-11-03T00:33:00.000-06:00

Sidney Crosby...need I say more?

1989-90 Ed Belfour

2009-11-02T00:01:00.003-06:00

Ed Belfour played in 23 games for the Chicago Blackhawks during the 1988-89 season, which should have been enough games to get him a card in the 1989-90 set. But it didn't. So, here is the fifth card from my imagined 1989-90 Traded/Update Set.

Brett Leonhardt

2009-10-30T00:01:00.000-05:00

Some of you may remember Brett Leonhardt. He is a website guy for the Washington Capitals who appeared as the team's backup goalie for one game on December 12, 2008. The full story can be seen here, but in a nutshell the Caps had an injury, and their top guy in the AHL could not make it in time for the start of the game. Leonhardt played college hockey in the ECAC, and has practiced a few times with the Caps. But this time, he got to be the backup goalie--at least for the game's first ten minutes.

After hearing about that, I made a couple of custom cards of Leonhardt to get autographed. I never did send them out--I figured he probably got swamped with fan mail the first couple of weeks. Then I forgot about this custom card. Now that I am updating this blog every day (or at least every weekday), I found this and decided to post it. Maybe I'll even send Leonhardt a few of these and ask him to sign one for me.

Derek Sutton

2009-10-29T00:01:00.002-05:00

Another Thursday, another Swayze - this time based on the 1985-86 design. The film Youngblood came out in 1986, so the design here is appropriate.

Craig Anderson

2009-10-28T00:14:00.002-05:00

Another card for my "Inspire" set, Craig Anderson seemed to be an appropriate choice. Anderson has two shutouts thus far in the season, and the Colorado Avalanche is currently in first place in the NHL.

Mike Zanier

2009-10-27T23:43:00.004-05:00

Mike Zanier played 3 games for the Edmonton Oilers during the 1984-85 season. Today, just appearing in one game--even as a backup goalie--would be enough to earn a player a hockey card.

But the rules were different back then. Had things been like they are today, then Zanier would have appeared in the 1985-86 set.

Al Kawamoto

2009-10-26T02:01:00.001-05:00

Back in June, I made a custom card of my friend Al Kawamoto based on the 1970-71 design. Someone jokingly suggested that I make I high-end, gold foil embossed, autographed version of Al's card. So I did.

It's hard to do "gold foil" in digital graphics (that requires an actual print press), but I still had a lot of fun with putting Al on an "All Time Greats" type card. The translucent oval is where his "autograph" would go.

Patrick Kane

2009-10-23T02:01:00.001-05:00

This design is based on the 1984 Topps Football set, which I thought was one of the best looking pigskin sets made. I tweaked the design a bit and used it for a set of custom Chicago Wolves cards.

The design works particularly well for portrait shots. Although I did this card of Kane a while ago, for some reason I never bothered to post it until now.

Derek Sutton

2009-10-22T02:01:00.001-05:00

Last year, I made a hockey card of Dean Youngblood for Beckett Hockey's custom card contest. It did not win, but it was one of the twelve finalists.

After Patrick Swayze died last month, I made several more custom cards of characters from the film "Youngblood." This one of Swayze's character, Mustangs' team captain, Derek Sutton is based on the 1984-85 design. I know that the movie came out in 1986, but for some reason the '84-85 design just "feels" right for the film...perhaps because it was filmed in '85?

Chris Chelios

2009-10-21T02:01:00.001-05:00

The playing career of Chris Chelios is going to last a little longer. On Tuesday, he signed with the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League. Chelios' rookie card was released 25 years ago in the 1984-85 O-Pee-Chee set. Here I made a card of him with the Chicago Wolves, but based on the '84-85 design.

Joel Quenneville

2009-10-20T02:01:00.000-05:00

One thing I wish hockey card sets did these days was make cards of NHL coaches. Obviously, a great coach is a big part of any team's success, but many of these guys are ex-players themselves. Despite their going gray, it is fun to see these guys we grew up with still involved in the game.

Peter Zezel

2009-10-19T02:01:00.000-05:00

Peter Zezel had a bit part in the film "Youngblood". He is referred to as "Rossini" by the coach, and wears an "A" on his jersey as the other alternate captain for the Hamilton Mustangs.

John-Michael Liles

2009-10-16T02:01:00.000-05:00

Another card from the "Inspire" set. I was originally making custom cards of Colorado Avalanche players for someone to get autographed...but then the guy stopped talking to me online (one of those "internet friends"). I guess he didn't like this design...

Derek Sutton

2009-10-15T02:01:00.000-05:00

After Patrick Swayze passed away last month, I made a bunch of custom cards of him as Derek Sutton, his character from the 1986 hockey film "Youngblood". I did this card in the style of the 1981-82 Topps Hockey set.

Kris Versteeg

2009-10-14T11:50:00.000-05:00

This card is from a set that I am calling "Inspire"--partially because it was inspired by a 1990s set design. Can anyone guess which one? But I'm also calling this series "Inspire" because hockey players are inspiring to many of us. It's a hard game to play, and yet many of the players are humble.

Kris Versteeg seems to be a friendly guy, but he does like to talk about himself. He's young, and I think he's still a bit overwhelmed with making it in the NHL. Here is a video from the 2009 Chicago Blackhawks Convention, where Versteeg talks about how he made it in the NHL.

1972-73 Goals Leaders

2009-09-03T11:52:00.000-05:00

Another custom card I made of my peeps from Cornwall, Ontario. Since it took me forever to finally make these guys their custom cards, I also made one more, with the three of them on a Goals Leaders card.

I tried to replicate the look of a "blank wall" behind them, taking care to add some sort of light source and a shadow. Whereas the regular cards from that set superimposed players in front of a brightly-colored background, the league leaders cards did not bother to "cut away" the player from the bland wall they stood in front of when posing for the shot.

Jarrett Racine

2009-08-26T22:18:00.000-05:00

This here is a custom card of my friend Thom Racine's son, Jarret. Thom, Jarrett and his friend Brett all wanted to appear on 1972-73 OPC cards, so I made one for each of them. I also put the three of them on a Scoring Leaders card, which I'll reveal in a few days.

Marian Hossa

2009-07-03T02:01:00.001-05:00

Marian Hossa just signed a 12-year contract with the Chicago Blackhawks, hence this custom card.

During the 2008-09 season, many sets showed Hossa in a Penguins jersey, but used the Red Wings logo on the card front and back (along with Red Wing "border colors" if applicable).

Here, I've made a card of Hossa "showing" him with his new team. I based the design on the 2008-09 O-Pee-Chee card design.

Al Kawamoto

2009-06-27T18:40:00.000-05:00

Al Kawamoto is a friend of mine from Ontario. As per his request, I made a custom card of him using the 1970-71 card design. Of course, there were no Florida Panthers back then, but that's part of what makes this card cool.

1985-86 Joe Sakic

2009-02-24T22:47:00.000-06:00

I've wanted to work on a 1985-86 design for custom cards, but use modern players. This card is kind of neat because it features an Avalanche player--and back then, they were called "Nordiques".

1989-90 Wayne Van Dorp

2009-02-21T09:32:00.000-06:00

Well, it's been about nine months since I last posted a custom hockey card. Of my three hockey sites, this one seems to get the least amount of attention. So, let's see if I can add a new custom card once a week.

Today is a card of former NHL tough guy Wayne Van Dorp. He played 1 1/2 seasons for the Chicago Blackhawks after playing a handful of games for the Oilers and Penguins. Van Dorp got a card in the 90-91 OPC set, but I would have loved to see him in the 89-90 set too.

Brett Michaud

2008-05-07T01:12:00.000-05:00

This guy here is a friend of my acquaintance Thom Racine--or more specifically, a friend of Thom's son. I think he was pretty happy with the way his custom card turned out.

Craig Kowalski

2008-05-06T01:06:00.000-05:00

Kowalski has been the Wolves backup this season since Fred Brathwaite left the team earlier this season.

Angelo Esposito

2008-05-05T00:57:00.000-05:00

Angelo Esposito was singed to a tryout contract with the Wolves, but was held scoreless in one game and subsequently released. Esposito was the first round choice of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, but was traded to the Atlanta Thrashers at the trade deadline in the Marian Hossa deal.

Riley Holzapfel

2008-05-04T00:54:00.000-05:00

Riley Holzapfel played only one game for the Chicago Wolves. Since I was able to find a picture of him in a Wolves uniform, I made this card. Next season, I will try to get it signed by him.

Bryan Little

2008-05-03T00:53:00.000-05:00

Bryan Little has split time between the Wolves and the parent club, the Atlanta Thrashers.

Matt Anderson

2008-05-02T00:49:00.000-05:00

Another card for my Chicago Wolves custom set. Matt Anderson has split time between the Chicago Wolves (AHL) and the Gwinnett Gladiators (ECHL).

Joel Kwiatkowski

2008-04-26T00:08:00.000-05:00

An All-Star defenseman in the AHL, Joel Kwiatkowski scored 50 points in 59 regular-season games during the 2007-08 season.

1972-73 Patrick Kane

2008-04-18T02:05:00.000-05:00

I made this card with the intentions of getting it signed (back in December, when I went to the Kane & Toews autograph session at the Blackhawks team store). Instead, I got an 8" x 10" photo signed. Maybe I'll get this custom card autographed at the Blackhawks Convention this summer.

Notice that, for this card, I modernized the design. The 1970's version used some weird, pink-faced Indian head logo. Here, I opted to use the real deal. Also, back in the day the team name was spelled "Black Hawks"--two words. It has been one word--"Blackhawks"--since 1986, as you see on the card here.

Judd Sirott

2008-04-17T02:05:00.000-05:00

Judd Sirott was the play-by-play announcer for the Chicago Wolves for their first ten years. Now, he is a rink side commentator and interviewer for the team. Guys like Sirott--who aren't players, but still are a big part of the team--should get their own card too.

1989-90 Vincent Riendeau

2008-04-16T10:16:00.000-05:00

Vincent Riendeau played 32 games in the 1988-89 season...that *could* have been enough to merit him a card in the 1989-90 hockey sets.

Ondrej Pavelic

2008-04-16T00:21:00.000-05:00

I liked this close-up of Wolves goalie Ondrej Pavelic. I wonder what he's thinking...

1990-91 Pro Set Jean Pronovost

2008-04-14T23:55:00.001-05:00

What can I say? I like the 1990-91 Pro Set hockey set. I thought it would be cool to use the 1970s Penguins colors on a 1990s card.

Brian Sipotz

2008-04-08T02:02:00.000-05:00

Brian Sipotz is a hard-working defenseman for the Chicago Wolves. He has played with the team for four straight seasons. Hopefully, he can crack the Atlanta Thrashers lineup next season.

Dean Youngblood

2008-04-07T02:01:00.000-05:00

Dean Youngblood, as played by Rob Lowe in the film Youngblood, done 1984-85 O-Pee-Chee style. This card was one of the twelve finalists in Beckett Hockey Magazine's Custom Hockey Card contest. There were some really awesome entries in that contest, so I don't expect to win. But it was still cool as hell to be one of the finalists. As a side note, the card you see above is the corrected version--on the one I emailed to Beckett, the head shot of Dean was inversed, and facing his "name".

The 1984-85 Topps/O-Pee-Chee design is hands-down the best hockey card design of the 1980s. While putting Youngblood on an '85-86 card would be more appropriate (since the movie came out in 1986), this card design is just so much better.

My only regret is that I had to take screen shots from the DVD. If it was an HD-DVD, or some sort of "high resolution" version of the film, then I might have been able to get a better-quality screen capture--and hence create a card that is higher resolution than the one I submitted. But I think it would be a cold day in hell before a high-quality, collector's edition of Youngblood comes out. Then again, the Blackhawks are now showing home games on TV, so I guess anything is possible.

Kari Lehtonen

2008-03-24T19:24:00.001-05:00

Kari Lehtonen played two games with the Chicago Wolves this year. He was a regular with the Wolves from 2003 to 2005, and has since been the number one goalie for the Atlanta Thrashers.

1989-90 Alain Chevrier

2008-03-21T02:05:00.000-05:00

Alain Chevrier was traded from the Chicago Blackhawks to the Pittsburgh Penguins at the 1990 trade deadline. This card is sort of like a "What if OPC made an Update Set for the 1989-90 series".

Eventually, I plan on doing a complete 66-card set "1989-90 Update Set", which will feature rookies from that year, as well as traded players and oversights--guys who should have been included in the set but were not.

Chevrier was a favorite player of mine. He had a lot of heart and a lot of energy. I also think he was a good team player. He got hot in the 1989 playoffs, but cooled off by the time the 1989-90 season was underway. He began the season as the starter, then ended up alternating games with Jacques Cloutier before getting sent to the Penguins at the trade deadline.

I dig this photo because it is action-oriented, and you can still see that his equipment is in Blackhawks colors (well, his glove anyway). You can also prominently see a "Body Glove" advertisement on the back boards--so nineties!

Jason Krog

2008-03-14T02:01:00.000-05:00

Jason Krog is leading the Chicago Wolves in scoring this season. I like this photo because he looks so intense. In fact, in almost every picture of Krog, he is gritting his teeth.

1984-85 Jim Kyte

2008-03-13T02:01:00.000-05:00

Jim Kyte played for four full seasons in the NHL before he was "granted" a hockey card by O-Pee-Chee. His first season was 1983-84, but he would not appear on an OPC card until the 1987-88 set.

Since I always found Kyte interesting for being the first legally deaf hockey player, I decided to make the rookie card that he should have had. Having played 58 games for Winnipeg in '83-84, he *could* have had a card issued in the 1984-85 set.

Fred Brathwaite

2008-02-25T02:01:00.000-06:00

Fred Brathwaite played last season for the Chicago Wolves, and played in 13 games with the team this year. He has since left the team to go play with Omsk Avangard in the Russian Super League. I hope he plays well there. I might write to him and send him one of these custom cards to get signed.

Thom Racine

2008-02-18T23:58:00.000-06:00

Thom Racine is a journalist who lives in Ontario, Canada. Sometimes, he also submits an article for Puck Junk. To show my appreciation for a really nice hockey-card related trade Thom did for me, I created some custom cards of him, his son Jarrett and Jarrett's friend Brett.

Thom asked that I use the 1972-73 design for these custom cards. The '72-73 set has an unmistakable look to it--the classiness of the wood-grain border that clashes so noticeably with the loud, solid-colored bright backgrounds. To be a bit of a smart ass, I also made a card of Thom as a California Golden Seal (right)--airbrushing his Kings jersey in true O-Pee-Chee fashion. Though I think he liked the Kings card better.

Darren Haydar

2008-02-13T14:44:00.000-06:00

Darren Haydar lead the AHL in scoring last season (2006-07), and was voted the League MVP.

1984-85 Ken Solheim

2008-02-07T02:01:00.000-06:00

Ken Solheim had one hockey card, and it sucked. It said he was with the North Stars, and yet his Stars jersey had been airbrushed over to look like a Red Wings jersey. Quite confusing. So, I decided to make him a card. He did return to the North Stars for the 1984-85 season, and wore #31. So, I made the card in the 1984-85 design. Unfortunately, it is low-res, because I could not find any high resolution images of Solheim online.

I also have to give a shout out to Dave who helped me with this template...expect to see many '84-85 customs.

Nathan Oystrick

2008-02-02T02:36:00.000-06:00

I thought this photo of Nathan Oystrick fighting would make for an interesting card.

1986-87 Joel Otto

2008-01-31T02:59:00.000-06:00

Joel Otto's rookie card got messed up, as his photo was put on Moe Lemay's card, while Moe Lemay's photo was up on Otto's card (shown at right). That annoyed me, because Otto was a player I liked; so it stunk that his rookie card had someone else's photo on it. And who at O-Pee-Chee was asleep at the wheel? Otto is 6-4, while Lemay is around 5-11. Not to mention that one was a Calgary Flame while the other one was a Vancouver Canuck.

Anyway, I made this in Photoshop, and printed it out to put over Otto's card (I have the set in pages). I also revised Lemay's card.

1986-87 Moe Lemay

2008-01-30T12:07:00.000-06:00

The 1986-87 O-Pee-Chee set flip-flopped the photos of Vancouver Canucks left wing Moe Lemay with that of Calgary Flames center Joel Otto. This was Lemay's last card, and Otto's first card. Every time I would look at my set--which is in pages-- I would get annoyed that these two cards were messed up. At the right you can see what the erroneous Lemay card looked like--it even says "Now with Canucks", trying to justify why a Flames player is on a Canucks card.

Using Photoshop, I scanned both cards and digitally put the correct photo on each one. I then printed them out on high-quality glossy photo paper, and carefully cut them out. Finally, I put these "corrected cards" over the "error cards".

Well, it's not like O-Pee-Chee was going to correct this mistake 20 years later.

I have also revised Joel Otto's card.

1989-90 Jeremy Roenick

2008-01-26T02:01:00.000-06:00

When I first started making custom hockey cards--way back in early 1997--the first thing I tried to do was make an "Update Set" for the 1989-90 O-Pee-Chee set. The first card I made was of Jeremy Roenick.

I have since tweaked this card, so it looks better now than it did ten years ago (thanks to Dave for your much needed Illustrator assistance).

Here, I used a photo of Roenick from his "emergency call-up" at the beginning of the 1988-89 NHL season. He played 20 games for the 'Hawks, netting nine goals and nine assists, before being returned to the Hull Olympiques of the QMJHL. Notice that he is wearing number 51 and not his familiar number 27. During his first games in the NHL, Roenick wore 51, and later switched to 27 when he became more of a fixture on the team.

I really thought Topps (or O-Pee-Chee) would have made a J.R. card in their 1989-90 set. But I guess they were not as adventurous back then in their player selection. You really had to "earn" getting a rookie card back in the day.

Update: I added the O-Pee-Chee logo to this card on 2/7/2008, because I think it looks better with one.

Brett Sterling

2008-01-23T02:01:00.000-06:00

The second card in my Chicago Wolves custom set is Brett Sterling. Last year, Sterling led the American Hockey League in goals, and was named the AHL rookie of the year.

1990-1991 Pro Set Martin Havlat

2008-01-22T18:43:00.002-06:00

This is one of my three entries for the Beckett Hockey Magazine Custom Hockey Card contest. I've always been a fan of Pro Set's trading cards during the early 1990s, so I decided to take a modern Blackhawk player--Martin Havlat--and use a neo-classic design.

Why do so many people hate the 1990-91 Pro Set set? I like it--always have, always will. Sure, the cards are worth next-to-nothing...but my reasons for collecting are different than others.

1979-80 Dale McCourt

2008-01-22T01:17:00.000-06:00

Ex-NHL player Dale McCourt was supposed to play for the Los Angeles Kings when he was awarded as compensation for the Red Wings signing of Rogatien Vachon. But he refused to play for L.A., getting a court injunction to prevent the trade, and so he ended up being retained by the Red Wings (full story here).

This all happened prior to the 1979-80 season, so when Topps issued a card of McCourt that year, he was wearing an L.A. Kings uniform--the result of some airbrushing and a pasted-on Kings logo (shown at right). Topps had anticipated that McCourt would go to the Kings (as he was supposed to do), and so figured they'd be ahead of the game by putting him in a Kings jersey.

When the O-Pee-Chee version of the card came out (a few months later than the Topps card), it used the same photograph, but reverted back to the Red Wings layout, along with the phrase "Now with Red Wings".

McCourt is a player I became interested in because of his refusal to be "compensation" for his team trying to better himself. Those old free agency rules were totally messed up back in the day, even more so than today. So, I thought it would have been cool to give him a "proper" 1979-80 trading card--one that doesn't depict him as a King. The photo of McCourt spraying ice while he stops, along with the "Not with Kings" text kind of makes fun of both Topps and the Kings--kind of like "in your face"!

Wendell Young

2008-01-21T00:25:00.000-06:00

I am currently creating a set of Chicago Wolves trading cards to send out for autographs. The design of this set is based on the Topps 1985 Football set, which utilized a horizontal layout with vertical text at the right side. While I will be focusing the set on current Wolves players such as Jason Krog and Brett Sterling, I will make cards of some of the all-time Wolves greats, such as Wendell Young.

Sal Barry self portrait c.1999

2008-01-19T23:59:00.000-06:00

This is a custom card made from a photo of me from 1999. I thought my hair looked kind of "seventies", so I had a relative take a picture of me wearing an old Islanders jersey. The gloves I am wearing are relics from the 70s too.

I was always fond of the 1976-77 card design, which is why I used it here.

Another hockey site by Sal

2008-01-19T00:55:00.000-06:00

Back in November of 2006 I established Sal's Hockey Autograph Blog to share my new acquisitions in hockey autograph collecting. Since launching that Blog, I've added hundreds of autographs to my collection, and have made some new friends around the 'net.

In October of 2007, I launched Puck Junk, which focuses on hockey card sets and collectibles. In the short time that I've run that site, I've made a few more acquaintances, and learned a heck of a lot from some pretty knowledgeable collectors (namely Thom R. and Al K.--thanks guys!!!)

Today, I am launching my third hockey-related website: Sal's Custom Hockey Cards. Maybe I don't have enough things to do (false), or maybe I don't have a life (also false)...but this is something I've kicked around for awhile. Way back in 1997, a whole new world was opened up to me when I went to art school and learned Photoshop. The first thing I did was make custom hockey cards; I made a bunch of cards styled to look like the 1989-90 Topps/O-Pee-Chee set. I took a new technology and applied to something I was passionate about.

A few years later, making custom hockey cards seemed like a silly waste of time. Why do that when you can do real work and get paid for your talents? So, making custom hockey cards kind of fell by the wayside. I guess I saw no need for "creativity for creativity's sake".

But then I saw people around the internet were making their own custom hockey cards, and I thought "No fair! I did that first! I did that ten years ago!"

So, I was kind of envious of other people, applying their technical skills to the worlds greatest game (hockey, in case you were wondering).

And while I was doing that too--I am a professional web designer with a few hockey-themed websites--there is something just cool about making custom cards...it's a blend of do-it-yourself and creativity, as well as that little part of us that drives us to collect things; now we can create the very things we collect.

Plus, making static graphics is so liberating compared to making web sites. A web site might take you days to build; a custom hockey card might take you an hour or two, and you don't have to worry if it will work in Internet Explorer 7, or what resolution the viewer's screen is set at.

This blog will be used to showcase the custom hockey cards that I have created in the past, as well as cards that I will create moving forward.

If anyone would like to share some of the custom hockey cards that they've made, I'd be happy to post them on this site. Plus seeing others work will just inspire me to try harder myself.