Alex Iafallo Autographed Card

Fargo, ND isn't the biggest city by any means, but it is big enough to have a couple minor league and junior league teams. Our home hockey club is the Fargo Force of the USHL. It may not be as big as the Canadian junior leagues, but it is the most prestigious in the States, and there are quite a few who find success in the NHL

One of the more recent former Force players to make a permanent home in the NHL, is Alex Iafallo. After playing two seasons in Fargo, he played all four years of college hockey at Minnesota-Duluth, before signing a contract with the Kings in 2017. 

Of course, I had to get something of his from his rookie year, so I picked up this 2017-18 SP Authentic Future Watch autographed card, numbered 55/999.

Iafallo has done well in the NHL so far, and seems to be more productive each season. 2019-20 was his best so far, scoring 17 goals and 26 assists in 70 games. He also scored his first career hat trick that season, getting all three of LA's goals on January 30, 2020 in a 3-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes.

Redemption Returns from 2017-18 Artifacts

Now here's a blog post that is WAY overdue. 2017-18 Artifacts came out three years ago, but I am just now getting around to posting about the redemption returns. I am always good about scanning cards in to the computer, and uploading them to a drafted Blogger post, but sometimes they just stay there, totally neglected, almost never to be revealed. 

Anyway, I'll get to it. I pulled two rookie redemptions and a jersey patch redemption from the box. You don't know who these players will be, since the product is released before the NHL season begins, and the before the players have a chance to play in their first NHL game. 

The big hit was n Emerald jersey patch card of New Jersey Devils defenseman Will Butcher, numbered 59/99. The card looks great, and even though the jersey piece is plain white, the patch piece is perfect, showing three colors and is perfectly centered in the window. Butcher is the most successful of the three redemptions, playing for the NHL club full time for the past three seasons.

My basic rookie was a Wild Card, which could be from any team. This one turned out to be Filip Chlapik of the Ottawa Senators, numbered 502/799. Chlapik spent the last three seasons with the Senators organization, with 2019-20 being his most productive, scoring 3 goals and 3 assists in 31 games with the NHL squad. 

Lastly, is an Emerald rookie of forward Nick Merkley, numbered 30/99. Merkley was with the Arizona Coyotes for one game during the 2017-18 season, and played four games for the New Jersey Devils before Covid shut the season down.

I'm not quite buying boxes like I used to, or even at all, really, but it is fun to go back and look at past successes. None of these would qualify as epic pulls, but I was happy with what I got back.