Edward Pasquale: 6 Autographed Cards

After sifting through the (amazing) backlog of last week's deliveries, I'll be up-to-date with this terrific Edward Pasquale return:

Pasquale is the epitome of irony: he has been as consistent as can be, but because his teams haven't been, his statistics look like a roller-coaster ride through the highest peaks and the lowest valleys, regardless of the level he played at.

What he does is play a positional style, using his 6'3'' frame and 215 pounds to cover a lot of net and lets the puck hit him, and with playoff save percentages like his .940 rating in the OHL in 2008-09 and .923 at the AHL level in 2011-12, one can assume it works wonders for him. He leaves a bit of open net on purpose on the glove side and anticipates shots heading there to swiftly grab them out of thin air. I'm not sure how that'll translate to better shooters at the NHL level, but only time will tell.

Only once has he lost less games than he's won, and that was with the lowly St. John's IceCaps in 2012-13, going 15-23-4 in 43 games, making 1109 saves in the process. He has had seasons of 1821 and 1677 saves with the OHL's Saginaw Spirit, as well, prompting the Atlanta Thrashers to draft him in the 4th round in 2009.

He's still with the organization despite their becoming the Winnipeg Jets, though his contract expires at season's end. When young goalies lose patience, they tend to move on to Europe these days; I don't know if Pasquale is considering it, but I hope he gives the AHL another season, perhaps as the official 50-plus-game starter and impress the team enough to give him an NHL contract for 2015-16.

I had sent Pasquale these six custom cards from my own Hell's Kitchen 2013-14 Series 2 set (all variants - A, B, C, D, E, and F - of card #39), first showing him with the IceCaps' white uniform:

Also, three featuring him in the IceCaps' prettiest - particularly on the upright card - dark blue uniform (yes, I tried a few colour combinations for the background), showing him covering a lot of net from the wide side:

There's also one of him wearing the Jets' training camp practice jersey:

All six were sent to him along with a fan letter on March 11th, 2014, and all were signed in thin blue sharpie, with his AHL uniform number (40) tagged at the end, and received last Monday, April 28th (2014) - a 48-day return from the 2009 CHL Prospects Game MVP.

David Aebischer: 5 Autographed Cards (Part 2)

(continued from the previous post)

I had sent Aebischer these 4 cards on April 11th, 2012, with a fan letter telling him how we might have needed his services this season, and he got them all back on May 31st (2012), signed in black sharpie - the white Avs one didn't ''stick'' so well to the card - and he included a fifth card:

It's from the 2011-12 IceCaps Team Set (#1), manufactured by Choice Sportscards, which is fast becoming the leader in AHL team sets.

It is rumoured Aebischer will move back to Switzerland next season, so I was quite happy to get this amazing return.