Hockey postcards hold a unique place in the hobby, especially for goalie collectors, because they often represent the earliest—or only—collectible featuring that goalie. Many goaltenders, particularly those from the 1940s through the 1970s, never received a traditional hockey card during their playing careers, leaving regional postcards, team-issued photos, and promotional releases as their closest equivalent to a rookie card. As a result, I I turned to collecting these postcards as rookie card replacements. Postcards have a small but mighty group of collectors who want the first collectible appearance of a goalie.