Maine Black Bears Projects

[mallowciraptor]

Thought it would be cool to use my design skills to lay out visual trackers for a few University of Maine projects I'm working on completing.

This started as just me hunting down all the Young Guns Exclusives/HG of UMaine players that I could and as I got closer to completing the YG Exclusives I decided to expand my chase to include one of each of their base exclusives as well.

All the full color photos are ones I've acquired, faded images are ones I've at least found an image of, and blank are ones that have eluded me completely. Hoping to eventually replace all the photos with nicer scans once I'm closer to completing these other projects.

If anyone has any of the cards I'm missing from my chase and want to sell/trade I'd be interested! Would definitely settle for photos at the very least. Some of these are on eBay/comc and I'm sure I'll keep slowly adding them.

UMaine - Young Guns Exclusives


UMaine - Young Guns High Gloss


UMaine - Base Canadian Exclusives


UMaine - Base Exclusives


Also before someone points it out: I know the Howard Canadian Fall Expo is currently sitting in for the missing HG (because I don't know if one will ever surface) but I'm content with this one in its place.

I'll keep adding to this thread with new additions to these builds and some other one-off UMaine stuff from my PC as I find time to grab photos.

[creasecollector]

Now that is a super cool project, and these visuals are nice! Well done, keep it up!

[mallowciraptor]

UMaine - Base Canadian Exclusives


UMaine - Base Exclusives


Since the initial post in July I've gotten 19 of these spaces filled in on my Base Exclusives grid and 1 Base Canadian Exclusives, so some really great progress over the last couple months!

Unfortunately this is where this project officially slows to a crawl as most of the remaining missing ones are older and much harder to find.

There are a couple I'll be able to snag off eBay in the short term and the missing Hutton I'll snag off ePack most likely when Extended drops (unless I find a cheap one on eBay in the meantime).

If anyone has any of these and wouldn't mind selling or trading, I would definitely have an interest. Please reach out!

[KeltonB]

Great looking layouts and a very cool project! My wife went to UMM. We just bought a summer place in Ellsworth!

[Tallguy1991]

As a UNH alum, I’m obligated to boo maine....but this is pretty cool man


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[mallowciraptor]

Originally Posted by Tallguy1991

As a UNH alum, I’m obligated to boo maine....but this is pretty cool man

Been a few years since I've been down to the Whit for a game but might talk the wife into going down for the series in February.

[Tallguy1991]

Originally Posted by mallowciraptor

Been a few years since I've been down to the Whit for a game but might talk the wife into going down for the series in February.

I was in school from 09-13 and was actually in charge of procuring and throwing the fish-a tradition which I’m assuming as a big college hockey guy you know about-for my final couple years (also threw it quite a bit during the first two-I believe the first time I did it was a UNH-UMaine game on NESN!). The UNH hockey program has suffered quite a bit from Umile hanging on too long, loyalty to the inept successor Umile was allowed to hand pick, and the overall decline of public school hockey in New England but especially in MA. I’m not sure how souza still has a job. When I was an undergrad we had multiple teams that hit #1 overall, elite players that went on to NHL and Olympic success (the van riemsdyks, most notably) and as a result the whit was always a crazy atmosphere-especially on the white out nights when Maine would come down for games. Being the fish guy was a huge coup because we got allotted will call tickets, meaning we never had to camp out to get seats for the UNH-UMaine games. Let me know if you end up deciding to head to Durham for a game, would love to meet a fellow collector and I could definitely arrange for some really good seats! I’m Boston based but the Amtrak Downeaster stops about 100 yards from the front entrance of the Whit so getting up there is simple on my end.


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[mallowciraptor]

Originally Posted by Tallguy1991

I was in school from 09-13 and was actually in charge of procuring and throwing the fish-a tradition which I’m assuming as a big college hockey guy you know about-for my final couple years (also threw it quite a bit during the first two-I believe the first time I did it was a UNH-UMaine game on NESN!). The UNH hockey program has suffered quite a bit from Umile hanging on too long, loyalty to the inept successor Umile was allowed to hand pick, and the overall decline of public school hockey in New England but especially in MA. I’m not sure how souza still has a job. When I was an undergrad we had multiple teams that hit #1 overall, elite players that went on to NHL and Olympic success (the van riemsdyks, most notably) and as a result the whit was always a crazy atmosphere-especially on the white out nights when Maine would come down for games. Being the fish guy was a huge coup because we got allotted will call tickets, meaning we never had to camp out to get seats for the UNH-UMaine games. Let me know if you end up deciding to head to Durham for a game, would love to meet a fellow collector and I could definitely arrange for some really good seats! I’m Boston based but the Amtrak Downeaster stops about 100 yards from the front entrance of the Whit so getting up there is simple on my end.

I was actually covering the Black Bears as a local newspaper columnist up here in Maine from 09-12 so I used to travel to every Hockey East game during that time. The Whiteouts were always a blast (definitely more fun any time I wasn't up in the press box trying my best to be impartial). Always got a kick out of the fish toss tradition though so very cool that you got to be a big part of that!

Kind of feel bad for Souza because Umile left the cupboard very dry sticking around as long as he did when it as clear he needed to be gone. Would love to see UNH figure it out and get back to being in the national picture because Hockey East is better when they're relevant (same goes for Maine).

I'll keep that invite in mind for the Feb games and extend the same to you if you ever venture up to the Alfond for a game. My season tickets are around the area they stick the all the visiting fans so it's kind of fun to talk to parents and other visitors during intermissions.

[mallowciraptor]

UMaine - Young Guns Exclusives


UMaine - Young Guns High Gloss


UMaine - Base Exclusives


UMaine - Base Exclusives (Missing)


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Been a while since I've given an update on these various projects so lets dive back in.

The biggest additions to these are a Greg Moore YG HG and finally pulled the trigger on a Swayman YG Exclusives! Nice to finally have that one added to the collection and finish off all the YG Exclusives (at least until Bradly Nadeau gets one). Swayman's YG HG will likely never be in my price range but I do have an AHL Star Rookie HG of him that will suffice in it's place.

I've been able to track down 8 Base Exclusives since the last update, the biggest being a 99/00 Kariya. I also realized in my original compiling of this checklist that I missed one: a 14/15 US S2 Checklist card featuring Jimmy Howard.

Added a separate graphic to the mix with just the Base Exclusives I'm missing. Truly realizing just what a pain it is to track these late '90s / early '00s Exclusives because they just never pop up at all.

Haven't put one of these graphics together for any Base High Gloss that I've added to my collection but so far I've gotten 5: 03/04 Kariya, 03/04 Dimitrakos, 03/04 Snow, 17/18 Darling & 19/20 Howard.

As always if you have any of the cards I'm missing, I would love to buy or trade for them. Any help is greatly appreciated!

[mallowciraptor]

We had our nephew over this weekend and my wife busted out her art markers so he could color.

It always bummed me out that Kariya never got an official PMG so I just ended up coloring one myself for my PC. Turned out pretty cool*

*As long as you don't look too closely to see that even as a 35 year old I still can't quite color inside the lines lol

[onenineeightsix]

Whereabouts in Maine are you? Wife and I recently moved back from Hawaii.

[mallowciraptor]

Originally Posted by onenineeightsix

Whereabouts in Maine are you? Wife and I recently moved back from Hawaii.

I live in the Bangor area.

Feel like if I made the move to Hawaii I'd never want to come back here. Miss the seasons that much?

[onenineeightsix]

Originally Posted by mallowciraptor

I live in the Bangor area.

Feel like if I made the move to Hawaii I'd never want to come back here. Miss the seasons that much?

Haha no, family related move back. If I had my druthers I’d still have my toes in the sand! That being said though, I’ve been around the whole country, and there’s a lot worse places to be than Maine!

[mallowciraptor]

UMaine - Young Guns Exclusives


UMaine - Base Exclusives


UMaine - Base Exclusives (Missing)


UMaine - Future Watch


Been a while since I've given an update on my UD Exclusives chase. Since the last update I've managed to fill in just a few spots on the grid. Added 23/24 Nyquist, 23/24 Hutton, 06/07 Kariya, 99/00 Weinrich and 98/99 Dunham.

The older exclusives are still proving tough to locate. Had found and purchased 98/99 Kariya #31 on eBay but the seller quickly refunded as the card was out of stock. That was a pretty massive gut punch thinking I had landed one of the more difficult older ones.

Since 24/25 S1 released I was able to add a space for Bradly Nadeau on the YG Exclusives grid. Was also able to land the #082/250 (his jersey number at Maine) for his YG Deluxe so that was a cool find.

Also added another grid for a different side-project I've been working on to pass the time: SP Authentics Future Watch. Never been a big fan of the product so I've always kind of ignore it when released, but figured I might as well start knocking off all the Black Bears. Need to update a few of the images with scans of mine, but happy with the progress so far.

[GKG51]

Very cool

[mallowciraptor]

UMaine - Base Exclusives


UMaine - Base Exclusives (Missing)


UMaine - Future Watch


Some updates since the start of the year.

Was actually able to land the 98/99 Kariya #31 after the previous attempt fell through. Also finally saw a 00/01 S2 Pellerin pop up recently and picked up 24/25 of Swayman (S2 & EXT), Nyquist, and Lomberg. Added a Purcell FWA as well for that set build as well.

Imagine I'll either trade for a Nadeau 1st RR via ePack or just buy one from eBay over the next couple weeks to knock that one off the list as well. As always if anyone has any of the 13 Exclusives I am missing available for sale or trade please reach out!

Didn't post the YG Exclusives image on this update because there is no change but keeping an eye out for 25/26 UD to see if Victor Ostman gets a YG now that he made his NHL debut.

I have also have been working on something I've always wanted to do, which is a custom Maine Black Bears team set for this upcoming season. Went with a pretty simple design, added stats/bio/etc. Planning to do a small print run of these with a few different numbered parallels to give out to friends. Here is a preview render of what those cards look like:

[creasecollector]

Nice presentation in this thread!

And those custom sets look really nice!

[Soxrule111]

Love the Project, but love the outlines

[meriksson193]

Originally Posted by mallowciraptor

I live in the Bangor area.

Feel like if I made the move to Hawaii I'd never want to come back here. Miss the seasons that much?

im in bangor area as well!