Mystery Pack from Dollarama

What a game last night! On to Washington or Pittsburgh, and cards.

Every time I find myself in Dollarama for something, I tend to grab a pack or two of their repacked cards. They come in either $1 packs which contain 15 cards from a variety of sets and decades, and also $2 'Mystery Packs' which could contain a number of things ranging from a Memorabilia card to a pack of 1990-91 Pro Set, and everything in between. When I first started getting back into collecting Senators cards, I primarily bought these since I had so much ground to cover. I tended to go with the $1 packs because it comes in a clear pack and you can make out two of the cards that are included. So if I saw something I needed, I grabbed it, and if there were other Sens players in the pack, bonus.

   Now that I am sitting at over 8,300 cards for my Sens Collection, the majority of which are base cards, I have shifted away from these, unless I see something I know I need. But as I said, if I happened to be visiting Dollarama for something else, I'll grab a pack.

  Today it was a $2 mystery pack that included 4 'Goalie' cards, of which two former Sens showed up. As I said before, I collect Sens players, even if they are not in a Sens jersey on the card. This is primarily due to the fact that when I first started collecting cards at a 9-10 year old, the Sens were an Expansion team and no cards existed that had players in Sens jerseys yet. So, I'm sure at the behest of my dad, I went about collecting the cards of guys that had been picked in the Expansion draft as I waited for 'Sens' cards to come out. For whatever reason, that habit did not stop when Ottawa finally hit the ice at the Civic Centre, and with the big turnover in players those first few years, it kept me busy trying to find cards for all the players.

2015-16 Upper Deck Brian Elliott #416

Elliott was the second last draft pick (291st overall) in 2003 NHL Entry Draft. Not too many guys that get drafted that high wind up in NHL for even a cup of coffee, let alone a 10 year NHL career. After 4 years in NCAA, he began playing for the Sens, and showed himself to be a competent goalie. The only knock against him was that he did not seem capable of being a full time starting goalie, and seemed more suited to be part of a tandem like Rhodes-Tugnutt had been for Ottawa sometime before. Elliott was traded after 4 seasons with the Sens to Colorado for some other goalie named Craig Anderson. I already have this card, so this will get put away with my traders

1990-91 Upper Deck Daniel Berthiaume #381

'The Bandit' was signed as a free agent mid way thru the Sens inaugural season in 92-93 after back up Goalie Steve Weeks was having a hard time dealing with the 50 shots (or so) a game the expansion team was allowing. Berthiaume had been around the NHL since 1986-87 and had bounced around with stops in Winnipeg, LA, Boston and Minnesota, usually as a back up. He wound up in 25 games for the Sens, winning 2 games (Ottawa only won 9 games the whole year) and a tie, coupled with 17 losses. He was around briefly the following year, playing just 1 minute in just a single game in 1993-94, allowing two goals on two shots for a GAA of 120.00. Despite a trade to Detroit, that was the last action he would see in the NHL. Another duplicate to trade

2013-14 Score Matt Gilroy #343

Former Hobey Barker Award winner who came to Ottawa from Tampa to help the Defense for the playoffs in exchange for former first round pick Brian Lee in 2011-12. The hope was that he would add some much needed offence, as he had shown signs of being a good puck moving defenceman in Tampa and with the Rangers. He never seemed to click with Ottawa, and was not brought back the following year. He wound up back in New York, followed by a stint with the Panthers, but never regained his point producing prowness. After come time in the AHL he decided to head out to the KHL, where things have turned out a lot better for him finishing this past season as the 2nd best Defenceman in scoring. Yet another duplicate.

2011-12 Score Ben Bishop #410

The towering 6'7 Bishop was acquired by the Sens from the Blues in 2011-12 for a 2nd round pick (Tommy Vannelli). Craig Anderson was injured after losing a knife fight with a chicken breast while preparing dinner. Ottawa had Lehner as the back up, who was also touted as the Sens Goalie of the future, but the Sens wanted another solid net minder so not to throw too many minutes at the young Lehner. Bishop was a highly touted goaltender prospect, so there was also hope amongst the fans that he could turn into an asset that we could trade, or swap Lehner with if the Swede wasn't able to cut it in the NHL. He got into 10 games his first year in Ottawa, and showed promise on a bad team. The next year he seemed to take a step forward, posting a .922 Save %. However, mid way thru, the impending UFA was deemed the odd man out from Ottawa's three headed monster in nets, and was shipped off to Tampa for Cory Conacher and a draft pick (Tobais Lindberg, since shipped off to Toronto in the Phaneuf Trade). That trade still remains a pretty controversial trade amongst Sens fans, as many felt that Ottawa overpaid for a forward who was benefiting from lining up with Stamkos. Bishop went on to be a solid starter for Tampa, having a standout year in 2016 where he was selected to the All Star game, named a 2nd Team NHL All Star and a runner up to the Vezina. The only card from the mystery pack that I did not already have in my collection.

If you are interested in what kinda stuff you can get from the Dollarama backs, I suggest you follow the awesome blog (and a fellow Sens collector) over at Sportscards From The Dollarstore