2013 Phungo Cards #68 Scott Hartnell

NHL Hockey is back unfortunately nobody botherered to tell the Philadelphia Flyers who are off to a rough 2-4 start and are a goal allowed shy of leading the conference with 18 (19 for FLA and the Caps)

2013 Phungo #68 Scott Hartnell

Similar to A&G I like to toss a few oddball cards into the Phungo set.  This includes other sports and some minor stars in those sports like Scott Hartnell - who fills that odd combination of enforcer with scoring ability.

At press time the NHL remained in lockout mode - consequently I listed Hartnell as an actor - for at the time he basically was.  Apparently he has a cameo in the Judd Apatow comedy "This is 40" which I have yet to see, but am certain I will see repeatedly on some pay cable channell this summer.

Indeed today Hartnell remains an actor sort of - he basically got on the ice for about a shift - long enough to break his foot (friendly fire he was hit by a shot by a teammate) - He is out for about a month.

Regardless Hockey is back, I don't care that much about the lockout and have watched bits and pieces of the Flyers so far. Hopefully they will be playing a little better by the time Hartnell returns.

2010 Phungo Cards - Sidney Crosby

2010 Phungo #09 Sidney Crosby

ugh.

I am mostly over yesterday's game. Hockey is Canada's game and Canada is the 2010 Winter Olympics Host Country - and for those reasons it was good to see the Canadian team win.

I think it is time that we stop looking at USA Hockey as perennial underdogs. The Canadian and American squads were the only teams to be entirely made up of NHL players. I don't know a lot about hockey but while other countries may have professional leagues, I am not sure that they quite measure up to the caliber of hockey played in the NHL.

Going forward I would think that in the 2014 Solchi Olympics that team USA should come in as one of the favorites in Hockey, along with Canada and the host country, Russia. The Russian Federation perhaps had the most disappointing showing in the 2010 Olympiad and I would .

As with the past year, we have included some non-baseball subjects in the 2010 Phungo Set. I believe this is the first Phungo Hockey Card. I took this photo prior to a Pens Flyers game last January. If you ever get to the chance to go to a Hockey game, definitely try and check out the pre-game skate. It is the Hockey equivalent to Baseball BP. In Philadelphia they let you go down to the rows just off the ice. Just try and stand behind the net and not flinch as the pucks fly against the glass.

I have given Crosby card number '09' to mark the Penguins 2009 NHL Stanley Cup Championship. His position is 'c' for center and I suppose Captain also.

Congratulations to Team Canada and looking forward to 2014. USA! USA!