Geneviève Lacasse Autographed Card

I couldn't let International Women's Day go by without featuring another lady from Team Canada, so I decided to go with the losing goalie from the Clarkson Cup final pitting Les Canadiennes de Montréal against last year's winners, the Calgary Inferno, Geneviève Lacasse.

Lacasse has been with the Canadian National Team since 2009, usually suiting up as third goalie behind Charline Labonté and Shannon Szabados; her medal count reads as follows: gold at the 2012 World Championships, silver at the 2013 Worlds, and Olympic gold in 2014.

In College, she played for the Providence Friars, pretty much writing the team's record book and captaining it in her final season, as can be attested by this spectacular picture:

Following her collegiate career, which saw her earn her Master's Degree in marketing, she was drafted by the Boston Blades, winning the Clarkson Cup twice in a three-year span, as well as goaltending titles in both her rookie 2012-13 season and 2014-15. She was acquired by the Inferno late last August in a trade that sent Tara Watchorn to Boston, and finished third in the CWHL in save percentage and fourth in goals-against average:

From CWHL.com

Here she is sporting Canada's #31 red and black jersey on card #71 from Upper Deck's 2015 Team Canada Women set, which she signed in blue sharpie:

Of note that as a child of a military serviceman, she was born in Montréal and mostly raised in Ontario; she went to six different high schools spread across two provinces and two states: École Secondaire Catholique Marie-Rivier in Kingston (Ontario), Collège Charles-Lemoyne in Ville Ste-Catherine (Québec), École Secondaire de Mortagne in Boucherville (Québec), Kingston Collegial and Vocational Institute in Kingston (Ontario), Lake Forest Academy (Chicago, IL), and Marian High School (Detroit, MI).

Marie-Philip Poulin Autographed Card

Earlier tonight, Les Canadiennes de Montréal won the Clarkson Cup, the CWHL's championship title, by defeating last year's winners, the Calgary Inferno, 3-1 at the Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata (Ottawa).

Scoring the winning goal was captain Marie-Philip Poulin, who has been called the Sydney Crosby of women's hockey. She kind of has a knack for that, as she scored both goals in Team Canada's 2010 Olympic 2-0 gold medal win against Team USA and the tying goal (with 55 seconds left on the clock) and overtime winner at the 2014 Sochi games as well.

And yet, upon scoring the game-winner again tonight and being given the Cup by Commissioner Brenda Andress, she got down on one knee to hand it to Caroline Ouellette, the first player in league history to reach 300 career points:

.@pou29 handing @couellette13 the cup pic.twitter.com/sVwV2jcHeB

— Women's Hockey Gifs (@CWHLHighlights) March 5, 2017

Indeed, if Poulin's the sport's Crosby, Ouellette is its Mario Lemieux, possibly the best to ever play the game, and Poulin's childhood idol dating back to Ouellette's and Canada's 2002 win at the Salt Lake City Games.

But the 25-year-old Poulin, 2007-08 Rookie of the Year and current perpetual league scoring leader and MVP is quickly becoming one to watch out for, as her knack for padding up the stats sheet is becoming the stuff legends.

Here she is on card #63 from Upper Deck's 2015 Team Canada Women set, sporting the country's red uniform with the captain's "C" featured prominently on her chest:

She signed it in blue sharpie, adding her uniform number (29).

Curtis Lazar Autographed Card

To say this has been a trying year for Curtis Lazar would be selling it way short...

First, he battled mononucleosis in the summer, then he struggled to find his game, posting just a single assist in 33 games with the Ottawa Senators before they sent him packing to the Calgary Flames at the deadline.

Though he only stands at 6'0" and 210 pounds, he seems larger and plays bigger, which is why the Sens made him a first-round pick (17th overall in 2013) to begin with. That, and leadership skills that saw him lead the Edmonton Oil Kings to the Memorial Cup in 2014 and captain Team Canada to World Juniors gold in 2015.

I know, a single point in half a season is awful, pretty much a waste of a roster spot, I get it. But when a guy is unanimously called a cross between Milan Lucic and Mike Fisher, perhaps he's worth more than a defenseman who'd been on waivers the day prior (Jyrki Jokipakka) and a second-rounder, especially if AHLer Michael Kostka is following him to the Flames organization.

I usually tend to give power forwards until ages 24-26 to prove their worth, but in the age of UFAs and RFAs, I get that teams don't want to overpay for future potential nor use a roster spot to not lose someone on a technicality. Essentially, however, the current rules favor smallish, quick forwards, not the big boys (defensemen or forwards) or goalies, who usually tend to require further seasoning in the minors.

Here is Lazar sporting the Sens' red (home) uniform, on card #NHCD-10 from Upper Deck's 2015 National Hockey Card Day (Canadian Edition) set:

He signed it in blue sharpie in the 2014-15 playoffs, in which the Sens faced my hometown Montréal Canadiens.

Ciara Price Autograph Card

Happy Valentine's Day!

To get there, here's card #RB-CP from Benchwarmer's 2015 Signature Series set, featuring none other than Ciara Price, the Maine-born model-turned-DJ:

It features a black-sharpied on-card autograph (with a heart tagged at the end of it) and a superb gold/black/red design and colour palette.

Here's the back:

If I remember correctly, she now has a tattoo on the left side of her back where her bikini top is, and another on her right butt cheek.

Formerly linked to rugby player Mitchell Pearce, UFC fighter Sean Loeffler and the Dallas Stars' Tyler Seguin, she usually likes her men built and slightly bearded - and her sports tough and physical.

She was Playboy's Playmate Of The Month in November 2011, and also graced the cover two more times after that.

Cliff Floyd Autograph Card

Last year, I traded for this Cliff Floyd card (for three football jersey cards) but stashed it away for no good reason:

It's card #SCA-CF from Topps' 2015 Stadium Club collection and Certified Autograph Issue sub-set.

I fell upon it when unpacking from my eleven-day Canadian tour (seven days in B.C. - Vancouver, Burnaby, and Victoria - and four in the Ottawa region) last weekend and decided I should feature it right away, as it shows him wearing the Montréal Expos' final away (grey) uniform, swinging and hitting a ball.

Floyd had two stints with the Expos (1993-1996, plus an awful 15-game showing in 2002 where he had a .208 batting average) but had his best seasons with the Florida Marlins, including his two 20/20 summers and three straight seasons where he batted over .300; that includes his All-Star Game season in 2001, where he hit 31 home runs, his second-highest career total.

He hit 34 homers with the New York Mets in 2005. He has also briefly suited up for the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays and San Diego Padres. He appeared in one World Series game with the Rays in 2008, with one hit in three at-bats.

He only suited up for more than 125 games in four of his 17 MLB seasons, suffering a multitude of injuries throughout his career.

Nowadays, he is a baseball analyst on TV and Sirius XM Radio.

Nicole Loum Autograph Card

Ealier this summer, I received Benchwarmer's 2015 Fathers' Day set with a few added inserts, and this was one of them:

It's card #60 from BW's 2015 Signature Series set featuring Canadian model Nicole Loum (it also acts as her de facto "Rookie Card" seeing as it's her first presence in a full set, but she'd appeared in special-edition mini-sets prior to this one); she signed it in black sharpie and appears to have made a mistake in doing so, judging by the smudge in her signature.

Loum hails from Sainte Catharines, Ontario (currently actually lives in Toronto) and burst onto the modeling scene in 2014 with a bunch of photo shoots of very proud photographers and onto a few red carpet events with Benchwarmer CEO Brian Wallos, as well as a few card collectors' events in Las Vegas.

I anticipate her popularity to blow up in the coming years, as she's quickly becoming a BW staple and will soon grace magazine ads and covers.