The Upper Deck Tim Hortons NHL hockey card promotion is the largest grass roots trading card program in the sports card industry, and nothing is more grass roots than their Trading Card Nights.
After a successful debut a year ago, the trade nights are returning across Canada on Thurs., Nov. 7 and Thurs., Nov. 14 from 6-8 PM. American collectors are known to cross the border to partake and the first trade night coincides with one of North America’s biggest card shows.
Hockey Card Trade Nights were introduced as a unique program designed to connect the community over their shared love of hockey and to help collectors complete their sets. Collectors come together to celebrate the upcoming hockey season, talk hockey, and trade cards with one another.
Trade Night attendees will receive a ballot to enter for a chance to win framed autograph of Sidney Crosby. There is a limit of one entry per guest. The winner will be drawn during the second Trade Night on November 14.
“I went with my son and my grandson to the trading card night last year, and we had a great time,” said Johnny Fulton, who lives in Eastern Ontario near the Quebec border. “I grew up in Nova Scotia, and all of us collected hockey cards. There was only the O-Pee-Chee set back then, and everyone brought their cards to school. Every recess and lunch hour was spent playing flip against the wall, or trading our doubles. Most of us were Montreal Canadiens fans so we all wanted Jean Beliveau, Yvan Cournoyer and then Guy Lafleur and Ken Dryden.
“We spent hours looking at everyone’s doubles, saying ‘Got’em, got’em, got’em, need’em.’ I think every kid who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s is very familiar with that phrase, even though the Gen Z kids today would have no idea what that reference would mean.”
Fulton said that collecting and trading hockey cards helped ease the harsh winters in Atlantic Canada, and it also brought his group of friends closer together.
“We all loved hockey, and collecting hockey cards was a part of that,” he said. “When my son was born, we were collecting hockey cards together, but there were so many different companies and different sets that he missed out on the experience of trading with his friends to finish a set. If they were ever going to trade cards, they would have to look the values of the cards up in Canadian Sportscard Collector or Beckett before they would make the deal.”
The 2024-25 Upper Deck Tim Hortons hockey card promotion began in early October.
Like last year, the trading card night also falls on the eve of the Sport Card and Memorabilia Expo in Toronto.
“We live close to the border to New York state, and I was surprised that some American collectors came up for the trading night,” Fulton said. “We had a lot of fun meeting other collectors, and exchanging email addresses and following each other on social media. Even though it was a trading night, a lot of collectors were giving cards to kids to help them fill out their set or to give them a player from their favorite team.
“One of the things I liked was that everyone was wearing a jersey or a hat of their favorite team,” he added. “It’s just like a hockey card show but on a much smaller scale. Since our family roots are in Nova Scotia, my grandson loves Sidney Crosby and he wears his Crosby jersey all the time. Because he is so involved in the promotion, it’s exciting. He is also in his second year of Timbits Hockey, so the card Crosby shows of himself as a kid playing Timbits Hockey in the TV commercial is the one he really wants.”
Fulton said the trading card night is a great kickoff to the Expo, Canada’s largest show.
“We did the trading card night last year, and the next morning, we drove to Toronto and got there by the early afternoon,” Fulton said. “We made a weekend of it and stayed over Friday night and came home Saturday after the Expo. It’s about a five-hour drive. My son and I listen to NHL games on Sirius XM on the way home, and my grandson really wants to, but he is usually sound asleep by the time we get out of the parking lot from the Expo.”
Asked if his grandson sleeps the entire way home, Fulton smiles.
“We stop for gas and then a bathroom break at Tims on the way home,” he said. “Don’t tell him, but we will likely get some Timbits and a few packs for the little lad to open up until he falls asleep again.”
View the interactive map linked here to see if your local restaurant is hosting Trade Nights.
Check out 2024-25 Tim Hortons cards on eBay here.
