I started collecting hockey cards just after the pandemic — probably the worst possible time from a pricing standpoint. My goal seemed simple enough: collect a rookie card for every goalie who has ever played an NHL game. How hard could that be?

At first, I bought inexpensive cards. Then the collection grew into bigger cards, rarer cards, and eventually something much more than a collection—it became a research project.

As the years went on, I discovered that many NHL goaltenders never received a traditional rookie card. That led me down the rabbit hole of team-issued postcards, signed index cards, AHL and minor league issues, junior cards, college releases, and just about any card collectible that represented a goalie's earliest appearance. Every time I thought the archive was complete, another obscure goalie surfaced, and the hunt started all over again.

Along the way, I've made just about every mistake a collector can make. I've bought cards that turned out to be overgraded, overpaid for cards simply because they almost never appear, made money on some purchases, and lost plenty on others. I've even spent more than $125 on a card that might only be worth fifty cents—because sometimes the only way to convince someone to dig through a forgotten box is to make it worth their time.

One of the biggest lessons this hobby has taught me is that rarity doesn't always equal value. Most of the rarest goalie collectibles are worth very little, while a few others command incredible prices. Collecting isn't always logical, and that's part of what makes it fun.

I'm constantly upgrading, replacing, and occasionally even downgrading cards in my personal collection. The archive continues to grow every season as new goaltenders make their NHL debut, and I'm always interested in learning about a player or collectible I may have missed.

There are still two items I'm searching for:

• 1969 Robbie Irons St. Louis Blues postcard

• 1940s J.D. McCarthy Julian Klymkiw Detroit Red Wings postcard

If you know of a goalie who played in the NHL and isn't listed in the archive, or if you have information about one of the cards I'm still chasing, I'd love to hear from you. The search is never really over and you can be part of it!