About us:
Canadian Hockey Cards has been on the web since
1996. However our collecting and dealing goes back even farther.
1970 is where it started when Esso released their Power Player's
collection. Every kid in school was collecting them. That started
the interest in hockey cards in the years that followed.
We started doing card shows in the Vancouver area in 1990, and when
the internet was accessible in 1994, trading and selling online
began.
Our first website was launched in 1996. We've
specialized in Canadian issues for over 25 years and aim to keep
McDonalds, Tim Hortons, Canadian Tire, and Upper Deck Young Guns
cards in stock. See "our story" for
our full history.
Hockey Card History:
Hockey cards have been around since 1879, predating baseball and
football cards in Canada. The first vintage cards appeared as
illustrated drawings of "Ice Hockey" or "Eishockey." By 1910-1913,
cigarette packs included the first named-player cards (C-55, C-56,
C-57), featuring stars like Georges Vezina, Fred Cyclone Taylor, and
Art Ross.
During World War I, hockey cards paused. Post-war, Victoria and
Vancouver led the revival, followed by sets in Western Canada and
the U.S. In 1923, the first NHL set (William-Patterson) introduced
Howie Morenz, Aurele Joliat, and King Clancy.
By the late 1920s, food and candy companies joined the market.
O-Pee-Chee became dominant, producing cards until World War II
halted production. Notable names like Eddie Shore, Charlie Conacher,
Ace Bailey, Turk Broda, Toe Blake, Elmer Lach, and Syl Apps graced
these cards.
Hockey cards like this did not reappear until 1951 when Parkhurst
Products was the lone issuer for the next three years. Topps and
O-Pee-Chee rejoined the hockey card promotions, and again due to
having more interesting and colourful cards which became more
popular, Parkhurst backed out of hockey card production in 1964. By
1968 Topps and O-Pee-Chee were the dominant supplier of hockey cards
in North America. Topps supplied the U.S. market while O-Pee-Chee
supplied cards across Canada. O-Pee-Chee continued as a major
supplier of hockey cards until 1995 when they announced they were
discontinuing production and distribution and handed over the
responsibility to Topps. Many issues faced Topps such as competition
from other brands, and an overall destruction of the hobby market
due to overproduction in the early 1990's by all brands. Some of the
other brands that appeared in 1990 were primarily Upper Deck, Pro
Set and Score. Poor quality, superior competition, and a host of
card errors caused Pro Set to back out by 1993. Of the new brands,
Upper Deck achieved the most success with their white stock paper
and interesting photography. Other brands came and went through the
1990's, but Upper Deck was the one brand that remained constant. Read full hockey card history
