Matt Duchene Jersey Card

One player that I was really happy to see leaving Sochi with a gold medal - other than P.K. Subban - was without a doubt Matt Duchene, the young Colorado Avalanche leader who filled in John Tavares' skates admirably on a defense-first Team Canada.

He has worn the maple leaf 5 times internationally, all of them resulting in gold medals; in addition to his 2014 Olympic medal, he is also golden from the 2012 Spengler Cup, the 2008 U-18 championship and 2008 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament (Junior U-18) as well as the 2008 U-17 World Hockey Challenge.

He has 50 points in 55 games so far this season with the Avs, leading the team, and his 19 goals fall only behind Nathan MacKinnon's 22 and Ryan O'Reilly's 21. His point total of 43 points (in 47 games) were also tops on the Avs last season, and his 17 goals were second only to Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau's 18.

He also had 19 points in 23 games overseas during the lock-out, so it's safe to assume his sub-par 2011-12 season (14 goals and 28 points in 58 games) was just a statistical anomaly brought on by bad luck, a string of injuries and a poor supporting cast.

Growing up a Québec Nordiques fan, my allegiances moved to Colorado with them in 1995, so I'm extremely happy with the franchise's turnaround under the watchful eye of Joe Sakic (mine and Duchene's favourite skater) and the masterful coaching of Patrick Roy.

So when a pack of Upper Deck's 2010-11 Ultimate Collection provided me with this card, I was giddy:

Like my previous jersey card of his, it bears a burgundy swatch, but this time the picture on the front of the card is from the Avs' current third jersey, mostly a beautiful shade of dark blue with burgundy shoulders and lines. It's card #UJ-MD in the set (the Ultimate Jerseys sub-set), and is numbered #80/100.

Great player, great design, great card.