What Was the 2022 Collectors EXPO Like?

Once again, the event welcomed more than 500 visitors, who could buy or trade cards for their collections in the friendly atmosphere of Pardubice’s legendary arena. Hockey cards naturally dominated the offering, but football cards and cards from other popular sports, including UFC, were also available. Collectors could find cards of Czech stars such as Pastrňák, Krejčí, Palát, Jágr, Hašek and Francouz, as well as global superstars such as Makar, McDavid, MacKinnon and Matthews or legends including Roy, Lemieux and Gretzky. Lucky collectors could pull Ronaldo, Messi and other stars from football card packs, or even cards of Czech UFC light heavyweight champion Jiří Procházka. Yes, there really were treasures like these at the show!

This exceptional Central European collectors’ event traditionally has a charitable dimension as well, supporting Sofinka Petrovická, who suffers from spinal muscular atrophy. Through a packed programme that regularly includes autograph sessions, mini-auctions and a ticket raffle, a wonderful CZK 31,000 was raised and handed over to the family. In addition to the aforementioned Nagano Olympic champions Reichel and Čechmánek, this year’s guests included Filip Zadina and Kristian Reichel. Milan Nový, the all-time leading scorer in Czech hockey history, also attended for the second time in the event’s four-year history. Another welcome guest was goaltender and Beijing Olympian Viktorie Švejdová, who happily signed autographs and brought her Olympic jersey to show visitors. We should also mention three goaltenders from the 1970s, who arrived in the afternoon and enthusiastically signed cards featuring their masks. Among other items, visitors could also buy the book “Maska” from Marken, documenting the history of goaltender masks.

Many exhibitors and dealers prepared special surprises for visitors, including free promotional packs and cards. Show discounts were available, and children under 12 enjoyed free admission. MK Cards also released special EXPO packs featuring completely new Czech national team cards. The main series commemorating the successful bronze-medal season was expected in September.

Countless stories unfolded on the show floor. It is impossible to catch them all, but we would still like to share a few of them – including some that made us smile.

Stories from the Show:

80 Cards for One Hašek Chicago Card
Julián Záhorovský – a finalist from the first season of SuperStar, a heart-throb and above all a musician – hosted this year’s show. Like many of us, Julek experienced the golden age of trading cards around the turn of the millennium and collected them as a youngster. True to form, he brought around 80 cards to the show in a plastic bag, showed them around and wanted to trade the entire lot for just one card: Dominik Hašek in a Chicago Blackhawks uniform. That would not normally have been too difficult – except that every card in the bag was completely battered and therefore almost worthless. Did he manage it? He did. Milan Lohnický stepped up as his trading partner.

Červík Pepík and 50 Raffle Tickets
As you know, our accompanying activities at the show help support Sofinka. One of them is the ticket raffle, a popular feature supported by event partners, exhibitors and, increasingly, collectors themselves. One example was a signed JJ68 card from The Gamers donated by David Hamrlík – but that is another story. Host Julek Záhorovský kept announcing new records for the number of raffle tickets bought by a single person: first five, then eight, then eleven. Suddenly he announced that a man in a Detroit Red Wings shirt had bought 50! The hostesses could hardly believe it. Apparently, he simply said something along the lines of, “I have children too, and fortunately they’re healthy,” and bought all 50. We later found Červík-Pepík, as he calls himself on Instagram, and took a family photo together. Moments like these make you stop and appreciate how other people think. Inspiring – quite literally. Another visitor then donated a commemorative Jaromír Jágr “50” banknote, Series B. We were amazed and agreed to put it into a mini-auction, where it sold for around CZK 5,000. Simply wow! 

“The Kid Keeps Asking Me How Card Trading Works”
When a friend visits the event with his son, a sixth-grade hockey goaltender, and tells you: “It was great. If we didn’t have to go to the cottage, I’d have stayed there with the kid all day. And yeah, he keeps bugging me about how trading cards works!” – you know the event has made an impression. The youngster’s name is Mates, and until then trading cards had only been on the edge of his radar. Judging by the spontaneous text message afterwards, he was captivated by the atmosphere, the cards and the photos with hockey legends. And he is no ordinary young goalie either – he is impressively agile and one of his saves even appeared on TV Nova’s “Borec na konec” segment. Best of luck, Mates. For you – and not only for you – we will prepare a dedicated trading corner for younger collectors next time.

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