First Box Break of the Year - - 1997-98 Pinnacle Hockey

Yeah, that's right people. 1997-98 Pinnacle Hockey!! I figured for the first box break of the year I would travel back in time to last decade when all thing were pure and clean. We used to have these things called cars back then. They had four wheels and took us from place to place on these things called roads. We even had to fill them with this fuel substance called gasoline...what's that you say? We still have those? Oh, but I thought this was the future!!

At any rate...where was I? Oh, yeah. 1997-98 Pinnacle Hockey!! Don't ask me how I came about these (I say these because I have 2 boxes) because it is not a very interesting story. Regardless, I have them now. In going over my inventory, it would appear that I don't really have much in the way of Pinnacle from the late 90's (I think I have the 93-94 set, that's it), let alone cards in general from 1997-98. Now 98-99, that was when I blew up the wax packs. So here we go with a box of late 90's fun. This may be a long post. As an added bonus, I can win a chance to get NHL '98. SWEET!

1997-98 Pinnacle Hockey

10 Cards/Pack
20 Packs/Box
200 Card Base Set (so barring no double or inserts, I could get the whole set in 1 box)
Inserts include: Rink Collection 1:100, Epix 1:24, Artist's Proof 1:39, Masks 1:89 Team Pinnacle 1:99, Authentic Press Plates 1:2,250, Certified Souvenir 1:3,888

--First pack reveals a Joe Thornton "Rookie"? I don't think that one is really considered a rookie card. Either way, it is stamped that way. Also, I got an ad for a Pinnacle Branded Screw Down holder for only 5.99 plus 2.00 S&H. What a deal.

--Pack 2: Dan Cleary "Rookie". Again, don't think this is really considered a rookie.

--Pack 3: Team Pinnacle Koivu/Forsberg. I can't really tell if this is the mirror version or not. The front is glossy white/blue, the back (Forsberg side) is shiny mirror foil/blue. Either way, nice card!

--Pack 4: Erik Rasmussen Rookie and a Pinnacle Trading Card Survey. Hilarious.

--Pack 5: Robert Dome Rookie

--Pack 6: Marian Hossa, Boyd Devereaux, and Sergei Samsonov Rookies. I think the Hossa is probably the key rookie in this set.

--Pack 7: Kevyn Adams Rookie

--Pack 8: Terry Ryan and Patrick Marleau "Rookies"

--Pack 9: Donald Maclean and Olli Jokinen "Rookies". I forgot about Olli, he is probably the other key rookie other than the Hossa in this set.

--Pack 10: Brad Isbister and Magnus Arvedson Rookies

--Pack 11: Mattias Ohlund and Alexei Morozov Rookies

--Pack 12: Robert Dome Rookie...another one.

--Pack 13: Terry Ryan and Chris Dingman Rookies. The second Ryan. It's safe to say at this point there is no chance at a complete set of these.

--Pack 14: Chris Phillips Rookie and...Brendan Shanahan Epix Play Orange. It's shiny. I don't have any others like this. I like it.

--Pack 15: Alyn McCauley Rookie

--Pack 16: Espen Knutsen Rookie and Donald MacLean Rink Collection. More shiny. So far thats a 1:100, 1:99, and 1:24 hit. Not bad. Could be better, but not bad.

--Pack 17: Marc Savard and Jaroslav Svejkovsky Rookies

--Pack 18: Jan Bulis Rookie

--Pack 19: Nothing except 3 Keith Tkachuk's. 3 in the same pack.

--Pack 20: There is no pack 20!! The audacity!! What happened to quality control? That's it. I wasn't going to but now I'm filling out that customer service survey that I got in pack 4.

So now it looks like I am going to have to break the other box. I will spare my readers the boring details and post only the good stuff next time as well as some of my favorite photography. I think if the photos are bad, they should be considered error cards. Stay tuned.