Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Reliving the One-on-One Hockey Challenge Card Game
by Jes
Over a decade ago, 1995 to be exact, Magic: The Gathering, was an uber-popular CCG (Collectable Card Game) among my teenage schoolmates and I. Just like nowadays with Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, kids spent most of their pocket money on these addicting games. Other companies tried to cash in this bonanza, only to end up deep in the red.
One such company was PLAYOFF, which produced the One On One Hockey Challenge card game. This game involved cards (like Arturs Irbe, pictured) that had statistics and actions, and rolling special dice (With pucks, logos, and whistles). Using a 50-card deck, and 3-6 dice, you and one opponent could have a nice little game of card shinny on any flat surface. It's a very simple game that takes about 40-45 minutes to play.
Unfortunately, this game never caught on anywhere, despite an expansion set the following year, and fell into the graveyard where unplayed card games go to die. Most people who play CCG's aren't into sports, and vice versa. Not even Wikipedia has an entry for this card game, which shows you that nobody cares enough to even make an entry.
My friend recently found some very cheap packs of cards ($.20 each or less!) on Ebay and we recently resurrected this little game. To think I spent like $3 a pack back in my kiddie years on this game, and now I can buy a crate of these cards for the same price as a Starbucks venti latte *hmph*.
Ahh, the memories. The most powerful cards? Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Paul Coffey, Dominik Hasek, Kevin Stevens, Jari Kurri, Alex Mogilny, Bernie Nicholls, and Brett Hull. Oh, the pain when I turn up a Bob Corkum rare or have to make a line change with Ken Baumgartner as my LW (2 card line changes are mandatory at each 'whistle').
Now that the cards are so cheap, it's very easy to build an uber-powerful deck (Phil Housley auto-goal, ftw). If you are ever looking for a cheap hockey-related diversion, go hunt on EBay and you could score some sweet deals.
If anyone in the Vancouver area wants to challenge the champ, you know where to go ;)
Over a decade ago, 1995 to be exact, Magic: The Gathering, was an uber-popular CCG (Collectable Card Game) among my teenage schoolmates and I. Just like nowadays with Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, kids spent most of their pocket money on these addicting games. Other companies tried to cash in this bonanza, only to end up deep in the red.
One such company was PLAYOFF, which produced the One On One Hockey Challenge card game. This game involved cards (like Arturs Irbe, pictured) that had statistics and actions, and rolling special dice (With pucks, logos, and whistles). Using a 50-card deck, and 3-6 dice, you and one opponent could have a nice little game of card shinny on any flat surface. It's a very simple game that takes about 40-45 minutes to play.
Unfortunately, this game never caught on anywhere, despite an expansion set the following year, and fell into the graveyard where unplayed card games go to die. Most people who play CCG's aren't into sports, and vice versa. Not even Wikipedia has an entry for this card game, which shows you that nobody cares enough to even make an entry.
My friend recently found some very cheap packs of cards ($.20 each or less!) on Ebay and we recently resurrected this little game. To think I spent like $3 a pack back in my kiddie years on this game, and now I can buy a crate of these cards for the same price as a Starbucks venti latte *hmph*.
Ahh, the memories. The most powerful cards? Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Paul Coffey, Dominik Hasek, Kevin Stevens, Jari Kurri, Alex Mogilny, Bernie Nicholls, and Brett Hull. Oh, the pain when I turn up a Bob Corkum rare or have to make a line change with Ken Baumgartner as my LW (2 card line changes are mandatory at each 'whistle').
Now that the cards are so cheap, it's very easy to build an uber-powerful deck (Phil Housley auto-goal, ftw). If you are ever looking for a cheap hockey-related diversion, go hunt on EBay and you could score some sweet deals.If anyone in the Vancouver area wants to challenge the champ, you know where to go ;)
Labels: Arturs Irbe, CCGs, games, Mario Lemieux, One-on-One Hockey Challenge, Phil Housley, Wayne Gretzky
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Arturs Irbe Lives!
by Jes
Not too long ago... well 2001-02, Arturs Irbe's great goaltending helped lead the Carolina Hurricanes to a surprising Stanley Cup Finals birth. The little Latvian, who is more likeable than chocolate ice cream, was almost on top of the world.
Unfortunately, the next two years saw him fall off of a cliff, eventually landing in the ECHL in 2003-04 after putting up a horrid 87.7 SV% in 34 games in 2002-03. Even Dan Cloutier was better than that! (barely...)
The NHLPA bigwig faded into obscurity quite quickly, landing in Austria after the lockout, where he played for Salzburg, and then for Riga, in his home country.
Irbe, now 40, made big waves in Slovakia a few months back when he signed with HK Nitra. Obviously, Irbe is one of the biggest foreign names ever to play in the fledgling Slovak Extraleague.
Doesn't he look so cute? awww...
Well, it's too bad that his skills have continued to deteroriate, as he provided some of the worst goaltending in Slovak history.
My friend Daniel reports:
Yep, in 6 games, Irbe put up a stinking 5.31GAA and 81.35SV%.
Don't expect a comeback any time soon.
Not too long ago... well 2001-02, Arturs Irbe's great goaltending helped lead the Carolina Hurricanes to a surprising Stanley Cup Finals birth. The little Latvian, who is more likeable than chocolate ice cream, was almost on top of the world.
Unfortunately, the next two years saw him fall off of a cliff, eventually landing in the ECHL in 2003-04 after putting up a horrid 87.7 SV% in 34 games in 2002-03. Even Dan Cloutier was better than that! (barely...)
The NHLPA bigwig faded into obscurity quite quickly, landing in Austria after the lockout, where he played for Salzburg, and then for Riga, in his home country.
Irbe, now 40, made big waves in Slovakia a few months back when he signed with HK Nitra. Obviously, Irbe is one of the biggest foreign names ever to play in the fledgling Slovak Extraleague.
Doesn't he look so cute? awww...
Well, it's too bad that his skills have continued to deteroriate, as he provided some of the worst goaltending in Slovak history.
My friend Daniel reports:
Irbe definitely left Nitra yesterday. Arturs was huuuuuugest disappointment of this season. All fans especially Nitra's ones expected elite preformances from him. But if you check his stats you realize the Save Percentage 81.35% compared to (teammates) Konrad 92.44% or Racko 90.3% is real disaster. Nitra needed elite goalie for the playoffs but he wasn't able to fullfil their expectations.
Yep, in 6 games, Irbe put up a stinking 5.31GAA and 81.35SV%.
Don't expect a comeback any time soon.
Labels: Arturs Irbe, Latvian Hockey, Slovak Extraleague
