This story begins with a stereotype: Where might one find the best selection of hockey cards at Fanatics Fest?
At the Canadians’ table, obviously.
Tucked into a corner of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center’s main floor over the weekend, Toronto’s Total Sports Cards had on display a plethora of rare, valuable hockey cards from the NHL’s top players.
Many dealers carried a select few hockey items — mostly of the sport’s valuable players, Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, and Alex Ovechkin — but no other booth displayed the same depth or variety of hockey cards, which played second fiddle at the American sports convention, where football, baseball and basketball reigned supreme.
“We try to travel to the states and get as much hockey in here as possible,” said Total Sports Cards owner Grant Paterson. “I think there’s a lack of representation of hockey in the U.S. So we try to come over and bring some cool cards for everyone to shop and get an option of it, and sort of supply hockey to the U.S. that might be lacking here.”
There’s no deep or complicated explanation of why the hockey selection was limited at Fanatics Fest, compared to other sports. Research shows that hockey, while a growing sport in the U.S., doesn’t come remotely close to the popularity of America’s sporting giants. A 2025 CEOWORLD Magazine poll found that football is by far the most popular sport among adults in the U.S., with 36% of respondents indicating as such. Baseball (12%) was second, followed by basketball (11%), soccer (4%), and then ice hockey at 3%.
These findings were corroborated by a 2024 Gallup poll, which reported similar findings: hockey was the fifth most popular sport, behind football, baseball, basketball, and soccer.
During this year’s Stanley Cup Final, The Athletic reported that viewership of the series in the U.S. was down 25% this year, compared to a season ago.
It’s easy to see how hockey, despite the NHL being classified as one of the big four sports leagues in North America — which also includes the NFL, MLB, and NBA — feels niche at an event like Fanatics Fest.
That didn’t stop organizers from catering the festivities to the hockey fans who did show up. The New Jersey Devils’ Jack and Luke Hughes, and Vancouver Canucks’ captain Quinn Hughes signed autographs on Friday. Several current and former New York Rangers — Henrik Lundqvist, Mike Richter, Matt Rempe, and Jaromír Jágr — appeared on Saturday. The first-ever Fanatics Games featured a washer-dryer puck shooting competition, and former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Rob Gronkowski had the high score.
The once-in-a-lifetime pull
Like most hobby shops, Total Sports Cards hosts regular group breaks. In a recent 2023–24 Upper Deck The Cup break, the shop pulled a Connor Bedard black foil rookie shield autographed 1-of-1 — which Paterson called “the biggest card in the last 10 years for hockey.”
Howard Ritchlin, who bought the Chicago Blackhawks spot in the break, had flown in from Sarasota, FL, to pick up the card, which had just been graded a perfect 10 by PSA Grading. The card’s value will fluctuate depending on the trajectory of Bedard’s career. Paterson estimated that it was likely worth around $200,000 to $300,000.
Ritchlin has been collecting cards for 50 years. His late father got him into the hobby. He grew up in Rochester and collected Wayne Gretzky cards. Ritchlin had gotten away from hockey in the years since — he’s a big Patrick Mahomes collector — but got back into the sport when Bedard broke into the NHL in 2023.
Ritchlin had Guillain-Barré syndrome and was paralyzed for a year. Every day is a good day, he said. He bought the Blackhawks spot chasing hits. He was hoping to land rookie patch auto (RPA) cards, numbered to 99.
The Cup is one of hockey’s most prestigious products. Each hobby box, which sells for over $1,300, has one pack, containing six cards. The base set of cards contains only 200 players. Each box is guaranteed one rookie autograph, one base card, one autograph, jersey or autograph booklet card, and two base set, insert, memorabilia, printing plate or redemption cards.
The rookie autograph shield black foil is one of the most sought-after cards in the set, especially with a generational talent like Bedard.
The card was pulled over a livestream. Over the phone, Ritchlin gave his live reaction: “I’m going to have a heart attack.”
“I couldn’t get air in my lungs,” he said. “I couldn’t speak, if you listen to the video, you’ll see it was just, I don’t know, all emotions. I watched the video again myself a couple times, and couldn’t believe that was me, because I don’t remember any of it, just euphoria.”
“Life-changing card,” Paterson said.
Now, Ritchlin faced a new dilemma. Would he flip the card now, or hold onto it in anticipation of its value increasing over Bedard’s career?
“I think I’m going to enjoy it for a while,” he said.
Hockey sights around Fanatics Fest
The NHL’s activation featured game-used memorabilia from this season’s 4 Nations Face-Off and Alex Ovechkin’s skates and gloves from the game in which he scored his 895th career goal to become the NHL’s all-time goals leader — April 6 between the New York Islanders and the Washington Capitals at UBS Arena.
Artist Justyn Farano had on display his 2012 painting of Ovechkin, long before he became the greatest goal scorer in NHL history.
“Wouldn’t have thought at the time that anyone was going to break that record,” Farano said.
Several Rangers fans had shown up on Saturday to get autographs from the club’s current and former players in attendance.
Rick Koester, who wore a camouflage Chris Kreider jersey, was attending Fanatics Fest with his daughter for the first time. They were going to meet Rempe, he said. They had brought a hat to be autographed.
“It’s awesome,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun.”
Nicholas Della Valle, who stood in line for the washer-dryer puck shooting challenge, had brought a replica Lundqvist mask.
Anthony Sissons, an Islanders fan, had been getting autographs throughout the weekend. He’d gotten the Hughes brothers and planned on getting Jágr.
“It’s a really fun event so far,” Sissons said. “Too many Ranger fans. But you got everything here represented pretty well. It’s been a lot of fun.”
PWHL representation
On the bottom floor of Javits Center, alongside the other New York teams’ activations, the PWHL’s New York Sirens had a small booth set up, complete with autographed jerseys, cards, and mini sticks. Being at Fanatics Fest was important for the Sirens, said Daria Iglow, the team’s director of business operations, who was at the booth throughout the weekend.
“For us, it’s a lot about brand visibility,” Iglow said. “We’re a brand new league, brand new team. It’s only our third season, so we want to make sure everyone knows who we are.”
“It’s amazing,” said Grace Candiotti, who works for the Sirens. “Seeing all these fans here with so many different affinities to different teams and leagues, even learning about the Sirens and being in this New York market is something that’s really special to us.”
