Mathias Niederberger Autograph Card

After three seasons on this side of the pond, goalie Mathias Niederberger went back home to Germany, playing for his hometown Duesseldorf Eislauf-Gemeinschaft (EG) for the last three years to boot.

He had been named the OHL's Goalie Of The Week in 2012 when he posted two consecutive shutouts for the Barrie Colts, then was given an AHL contract with the Manchester Monarchs, but opted to move back to Germany after playing in the ECHL more often (9 games) than the AHL (6 games) in an injury-plagued 2013-14 season.

He was named the DEL's Goaltender of the Year in 2015-16. Chances are he'll represent Team Germany at the 2018 Olympics, like his father has done four times.

Here he is wearing the Colts' white (home) uniform, on card #A-MN from In The Game's 2012-13 Between The Pipes set and Authentic Goaliegraph sub-set:

It features a black-sharpied on-sticker autograph with his uniform number (35) tagged underneath.

Anthony Stolarz: Two Autographed Cards

When the Philadelphia Flyers selected Anthony Stolarz with the 45th overall pick (second round) in 2012, the plan was to let the first New Jersey-born NHL-quality goalie slowly develop into a #1 goalie. Whether it was going to take seven years to become a top-level puck stopper (Carey Price) or nine (Jake Allen), GM Ron Hextall was not going to throw him to the wolves sooner than necessary.

Five years in, he saw his first 7 games of action in 2016-17, winning the first one, earning a shutout in the second, ending up with a 2-1-1 record, .928 save percentage and 2.07 goals-against average, easily the tops on the team ahead of Michal Neuvirth and Steve Mason.

That being said, his season in the AHL had its ups and downs, with a 2.92 GAA and .911 save percentage that ranked him behind Alex Lyon. So when Hextall extended both Lyon and Stolarz earlier today, it sent a clear message that Stolarz is not ready to be an NHL backup yet in his general manager's eyes. He'll need to dominate consistently in the AHL before getting that chance, which explains why Hextall also signed free agent on-again, off-again starter Brian Elliott for two years on July 1st.

I look forward to watching the 6'6" goalkeeper's development throughout the years. For now, however, here's a look at the uniforms he wore with the OHL's London Knights, starting with the black "away" one, with a throwback to the team's 1970s logo, on card #33 from In The Game's 2012-13 Between the Pipes set and CHL Prospects sub-set:

And here he is wearing the white alternate home uniform with the KNIGHTS downward wordmark, on card #12 from ITG's 2013-14 Heroes And Prospects set:

He signed both in blue sharpie, tagging his jersey number (43) at the end, during the 2014-15 AHL season, after a Lehigh Valley Phantoms game against the Hamilton Bulldogs.

The cards show his goaltending stance very well: he's a tall, butterfly goalie who hasn't learned to keep his stick blade stuck to the ice and uses the "patting glove hand" method that cuts out some of the angles but reduces occurrences of reflex stops, particularly the middle two feet of the left post. I usually prefer when my students extend their hand outwards a little more to the left and not so much to the front - I'd rather their stance say "try me" than show fear and play safe, which I also call "play dead". But I've never played in the NHL, and Stolarz will one day star in it.

Fun fact regarding the cards: they do not agree on where he was born:

For the record, he was born in Edison and raised in Jackson.

Matt Murray Autographed Card

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I had plans, a New Season's Resolution of sorts; it was easy: boycott the Montréal Canadiens and the Bell Centre for at least a year and follow the other teams I like: Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, and Florida Panthers. And attend games at the Ottawa Senators' Canadian Tire Center.

Why? Because of the P.K. Subban-for-Shea Weber trade.

Well, I'll revise that to "no Habs games", because I went to the World Cup pre-tournament game tonight:

My takeaway from the game between Team Europe and the North American U-23 Team?

Jaroslav Halak still has it, and he may be the difference between a projected seventh-place finish (only Team Czech Republic is worse on paper) and, say, a fourth place if one of Russia, Canada, Team USA, Finland or Sweden slips up.

Zdeno Chara, however, cannot keep up. Marian Gaborik has a bit of a temper but can still score.

Johnny Gaudreau is no one-hit wonder; he was dominant (as much as Jonathan Drouin and Aaron Ekblad) on a team that also features Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel and Auston Matthews - you know, the last four "next Sidney Crosbys".

John Gibson was in net for the kids, and he hasn't reached peak form yet, which just reinforces the impression that Matt Murray - who along with Phil Kessel may have been robbed for the Conn Smythe Trophy in June - will be the team's goalie of choice for the tournament.

And Murray happened to sign this card in blue sharpie:

It's #67 from In The Game's 2012-13 Between The Pipes set and CHL Prospects set, showing him in the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds' red (away) uniform.

Ironically, sitting right in front of me was the Concordia Stingers' head coach, meaning I got to talk about their new goalie, Philippe Cadorette, in person tonight.

Philippe Cadorette Autograph Card

It's been a roller-coaster 15 months for goaltender Philippe Cadorette, who went from leading the Baie-Comeau Drakkar to the LHJMQ Final to signing a contract with the Norfolk Admirals - the Edmonton Oilers' ECHL team - to going back to Juniors as a 20-year-old after four sub-par games to setting the Q's career regular-season (17) and total shutouts (22) records to getting traded for the first time (to the Shawinigan Cataractes).

He got his chance at Norfolk on a Quebecer-heavy roster because the head coach there was Éric Veilleux, who was the held the same position with Baie-Comeau during much of Cadorette's tenure.

Not feeling ready to try his hand in the lower-tiered pro leagues as of yet and wanting to pursue his education, he has enrolled in university in Montréal for the next year and will be suiting up for the Concordia Stingers in 2016-17.

The Stingers usually pale in comparison to their natural rival McGill Redmen (the oldest organized hockey team in the world, having been founded in 1877 - a whole 31 years prior to the Montréal Canadiens, the oldest/longest-standing professional team); however, having an established goalie with a pedigree like Cadorette's should give them a fighting chance, at least.

Here he is wearing the Drakkar's white (home) uniform, which would be fine if it was devoid of the Reebok Rbk Edge stripes and piping on the chest:

That's card #A-PC from In The Game's 2012-13 Between The Pipes collection and CHL Prospects and Authentic GoalieGraph sub-sets, and features an on-sticker signature, in black sharpie.

Jason Spezza Jersey Card

Should a team losing its #1, league-leading goalie (Craig Anderson), its top Norris trophy-winning defender (Erik Karlsson) and its top center, the second-best passer in the league (Jason Spezza) trade away its short-term assets (Milan Michalek) and hope for the best the following season - or should it keep at it, build on the success and cement team chemistry and keep the ship steady?

The Ottawa Senators have chosen to see what's behind Door #2 and it's paying off dearly: not only are they still in a good playoff position, they're also still leading the Jennings trophy race thanks to the stellar play of future star goalies Robin Lehner (who isn't winning as much as his 2.07 GAA and .944 save % should allow, going 1-0-4 so far but getting the team points in each start) and giant Ben Bishop (the ''worse'' of the Sens' goalies at 4-4-0, 2.54 and .925, which still makes him a top-10 goalie, stats-wise).

It's unclear whether Spezza will return this season, but one thing is for sure: the longer the Sens play and the deeper they get in the playoffs, the better the chances of a comeback this season. I've been seeing the Senators as contenders for a couple of seasons now, and although I'm liking how they're playing minus any of their stars (save for venerable captain Daniel Alfredsson), a team is still better with its best elements present, particularly when they're just added to an already-working mix.

This awesome swatch card is from Upper Deck's 2000-01 CHL Prospects set (card #JS, the Game Jersey sub-set) and features a white swatch of a game-used Mississauga IceDogs jersey in its center.