Blaster Box Break - - 2010-11 Donruss Hockey

I already have a ton of these and am down to three cards for a complete base set.  As for the Rated Rookies, well that's another story.  But the point is, I need more Donruss like I need a hole in the head.

Well I'm starting to think I have a hole in my head.  I just couldn't help myself.  I have already hit my Du-Point on Upper Deck and O-Pee-Chee and since the only other hockey on the shelf at the store was Certified, Donruss won out on the "calling my name" war.  In case you were wondering what's Du-Point...that's the temperature where water vapor condenses into water or in my case, the point in time when every box/pack/blaster etc. that I open is filled with nothing but duplicates and crap.  I don't know if I invented the term but I like the way it sounds.

So again, to recap.  I have a load of these now so if anyone else is collecting the base, let me know what you need and I may have it.  But hindsight is always 20/20 and I am glad I picked this one up.  The first reason is that I generally use the box logos to "decorate" the plain cardboard boxes that the larger sets are housed in.  It mixes it up from the standard sharpie writing that is usually found on these.  Since everything I had obtained up to this point was from rack packs, I had nothing to adhere to the box.  Second reason...this:

In case you may not be able to see the scan, this is a Die-Cut Gems Autograph redemption.  Why is this exciting?  These are supposed to be case hits.  Case hits in hobby boxes.  1 per case.  Did I mention this is a case hit?  I didn't know cases also included retail blasters.  I'm not complaining though.  Off to the interwebs to find out who exactly is Card #1 in this set is.

I already knew who it was in the regular base set but wasn't sure on the autos.  The Die Cut Gems Auto's are supposed to be numbered /25 and according to Panini's website (which I have been on way too much lately) there are 140 (maybe 141 if I miscounted) autos available. So my thoughts were confirmed.  This was a redemption for the true Great 8, the future Hall of Famer (in my opinion), The Finnish Flash...Teemu Selanne.

I haven't decided what I want to do with this one yet.  I checked Ebay for sales on the Die-Cut autos and it is a mixed bag on the finished auctions.  They have some that have gone for as little as $.99 and others that have pulled upward of $27 (Mike Modano) to $33 (Jonathan Toews).  My other option would be to scratch it and redeem it.  A Selanne autograph would be a very cool addition to the collection.  Although, I could use a few bucks in the PP account.  What to do, what to do?

At this point, it would be a little anti-climactic to talk about anything else that might have been in the box but since I committed to the break, I'll finish.  We have all already seen our fair share of the base cards.  Here are some now:

The rest of the box was typical of a normal retail blaster.  There are only 8 packs per box with 10 cards per pack (80 cards for the numerically declined).  The non-base cards come in about 1:2 packs.  I pulled 1 Rated Rookie and 3 inserts.  Here they are:

 Jay Miller - Tough Times

This is a 10 card set that features players known for their "extra grit" on the ice.  Also available in autographed version.  Most collector's seem to want this set so traders should be hard to come by.  I think I have only 3 or 4 so far.

 Pamela Anderson - Fans Of The Game

Another subset that I really see no need for.  I can't complain about this one but the purpose and idea of the set is kind of lame.  It's only 5 cards and can also be found in the autograph form.  Apparently Pam is a Canucks fan but that's to be expected since she is from B.C.  I have Willa Ford too from another pile I obtained at some point.  I don't know if she counts as a fan since she's married to a hockey player.  I'm still happy I have not obtained a Bieber.  Very happy.  If I get one, it gets burned.

 Jamie McBain - Rated Rookie

The "other" Hurricane rookie.  I'm not doing to well with any of the top 10-12 guys in this year's rookie class.  Maybe my luck will change soon.  There are 50 of these and unless you plan on picking up hobby boxes, good luck finding them from busting wax.  At one per blaster, you will need another mortgage on your house to afford them.  I'll get them eventually.

Braydon Coburn - The Ultimate Draft

Everyone hates these cards but I kind of like them.  It is sort of a rip-off of Upper Deck's Draft Day Gem set from last year but the design of these with the stats on the front and the color combination just seem to work for me.  I know, that's amazing considering my hate/hate relationship with Panini.

Again, if anyone needs some base for a set or two, let me know and I can check my piles.

Trade Post - - More set help

One of my readers hit me up on email the other day and let me know that there would be a little something on the way in the mail.  Michel, another set collector from Texas, decided to help me out with a couple sets and also threw in a few surprises as well.  If anyone has ever traded with Michel, then you know that he is one of the great traders out there and will always surprise you with what he sends.  Let's take a look.

As you can see by the picture, there are some 2010-11 Score and Donruss Hockey in this mix.  You can also see part of my 3 year old's face in the corner there.  He is always curious when new cards come in.

First, the 2010-11 Score Hockey.  I had 145 cards left to complete the set.  This set overall has been a bit of a disappointment for me.  When the original sneak peeks were released earlier this year, I had some high expectations for this set.  Yes it is a low-end product.  Yes it is probably meant for the kids because of the low price point.  But, with a design reminiscent of the 1990-91 set, this was sure to be a hit with 30 something year old collectors that remember the "good ole' days" of collecting. 

Then the set was released and after some quick buzz, a lot of set collectors, including yours truly, realized that this was falling a little flat in a few areas.  The biggest issue for me was the sheer size of the set compared to the collation in the pack out.  At 550 base cards, a box will only net you 252 cards.  With each pack containing a glossy parallel - 36 (just like the football counterpart) and every two packs containing an insert or rookie, it is a bit tough to put together since most boxes are only going to get you 195-200 base cards.  The other issue was the lack of the rookie redemptions to which Panini later scraped their plans without telling collectors and included the cards in the pack out, but short printed the top players instead.  I've already addressed my enthusiasm for that idea.

Now, I'm not saying I don't like the set as a whole.  It has that epic 90-91 design that helped launch many collector's down their hoarding, I mean collecting, path 20 years ago.  There are also some nice inserts for a low end product including the Snow Globe Die-Cut cards, the Net Cam cards which feature a photo from the net cam angle, and the Canada/USA Greats cards.  After 10 rack packs, 2 hobby boxes (although I don't think there is a distinction between hobby or retail), 2 blasters, I still don't have a complete set.  So, Michel sent me 21 from my list. 

The next few were from the 2010-11 Donruss Hockey set.  I am down to 9 on this set because of some great deals on rack packs at Meijer.  I am going to go out on a limb here and say that despite the low-end nature of this release, this might be my favorite Panini set so far this year (that isn't saying much).  The design is simple, the photography is good, and the backs actually attempt to mix it up a bit, departing slightly from the typical Panini-esque card back.  I think I have already reviewed these before and said that I wasn't too thrilled by them.  For some reason, however, these have continued to grow on me.  I think that is due to the insert sets.  The Les Gardiens set, the Ice Kings, Tough Times, and Elite inserts are all well done.  At any rate, Michel sent me 6 from my list so I am down to 3...Nick Lidstrom, Evander Kane, and Kyle Okposo.

Finally, the surprises were once again, a plethora of Pittsburgh Steelers for my team collection.  Did I mention they were in the Super Bowl?  Did I mention it was for the 8th time?  Did I mention that...nevermind.  Here is what was in there...

2010 Topps Chrome Maurkice Pouncey and Rashard Mendenhall

2010 Topps Platinum Mike Wallace, Troy Polamalu, and Rashard Mendenhall

2010 Topps Prime Troy Polamalu and 2010 Panini Threads Rashard Mendenhall

2009 Finest Hines Ward

Thanks for all the good stuff, Michel.  I will be searching thoroughly for some stuff off your lists.

The Last Post of 2010 For Real - - My Continued Review of 2010-11 Hockey Cards

1As promised, I felt like sending 2010 out with one last post on my opinions of this years crop of hockey card releases thus far.  As you have probably surmised by the last post, with few exceptions, I have been less than thrilled with what we have had available to us.  With new blood on the scene, that being Panini, I think there were some expectations by many collectors that were just simply unattainable.  Anything short of genius would have been considered a failure and Panini has, in this blogger/collector's opinion, done just that...failed.

But this post isn't supposed to be a "shame on you, Panini" post.  I will save that for the other doom-sayers out there in the blog-o-sphere because they do it much better than I.  This is the follow up to my review of the 2010-11 hockey card releases that I have had the privilege (um, yeah that's a good word) of adding to my collection.  I have already expressed my thoughts on Victory, Score, Certified, and Upper Deck. 

Black Diamond has always been one of those sets that kind of sits on the outside looking in.  What I mean is that unless you buy a hobby box of this stuff, you are only going to find those three-pack blisters or an occasional 5-7 pack blaster in a retail store.  It isn't the kind of set that you are going to build by purchasing retail.  In fact, this isn't really a set builders set at all.  It never has been.  Black Diamond is traditionally known for its multi-tiered cards that range from the basic single diamond up to the quad diamond which feature many of today's superstar players.  Because I have been shying away from my LCS as of late, I figured one blaster couldn't hurt.  These cards don't scan very well since they are covered in silver foil so I didn't bother.  Needless to say, I pulled 4 cards that weren't single diamond...a double diamond Chris Pronger and Jordan Staal, a Nick Palmieri Rookie Gems (triple diamond), and a Steven Stamkos quad diamond.  So if anything, at least I got one Penguin card to go into my PC.  Other than that, I don't know why I keep giving this release the time of day.  Unless I see some great discounts on boxes, I don't see myself building this or buying anymore.

Donruss.  I could have just stopped after that period there but in the spirit of full disclosure, I figured I would give the old Panini one more chance to disappoint and anger me.  These haven't been out that long and while returning some items from Christmas, I happened upon some freshly displayed rack packs.  40 cards for $5 comes out to a really cheap per card ratio so I figured it was worth a shot to see what the revival of Donruss would unleash on the world.  I am going out on a limb here but I have to say that I don't hate them.  The cards themselves are by no means the best looking cards out there but they aren't awful.  They feature nice action shots of the players bordered on the right by a stripe of the team colors that extends from top to bottom.  The player name, team, and Donruss logo, despite being a little large, are mostly unobtrusive to the cards themselves.  That backs, on the other hand, look just like every other Panini release and leave a bad taste in your mouth considering how the fronts had offered up something different for a change.  I don't remember how many packs I got but I pulled almost the same "hits" as I would have from a hobby box.  I got 2 Boys of Winter instead of 3, 1 GU instead of 2, 2 Ultimate Draft cards, 1 Tough Times which feature enforcers, 4 Rated Rookies instead of 6, and after seeing the Justin Bieber Fans Of the Game cards floating around Ebay, I am glad I didn't pull any of those.  Overall though, I was pretty happy with this set and once I get around to it, I may try to put this one together.

Artifacts is usually a set that I put together every year since the base cards number to 100 and it is usually fairly easy to complete.  Plus, these always look good in an album.  This year is no different.  The design theme is essentially the same with the player on the front surrounded by some type artificial background.  One year was Greek columns, another year was some gold foil that gave it an antique look.  They have also used a sort of horseshoe design that looked almost like a pattern you would find on some ornate marble architecture.  This year is smoke, or fog.  It reminds me of player introductions before a big game with all the lights out in the arena and only a single spotlight on the ice where the player emerges from the tunnel through a cloud of smoke.  The effect works 10 fold on the Stars and Legends subsets.  I have only picked up a few packs of these so I am no where near being able to put a set together but ultimately I will.  Did I mention they look good in an album?

Last but certainly not least, is O-Pee-Chee.  This is always my white whale set.  Every year I set off down the path of trying to complete this monster but I have yet to do so.  Despite the almost impossibility of completing them, I still have fun trying.  This years set toned down the technicolor, Fruit Stripe gum style from last year and went with a more subtle black and grey border.  Unfortunately, they once again took up too much of the card with the logo.  It takes up 20% of the bottom of the card.  It is written in about a 26 point size font, while the player name is in a 10 point.  It also means the player photo is smaller and because of this, they look like they are all taken from a distance and then cropped to make them look closer.  This is Upper Deck.  The company known for vibrant, full-color, full-action shots that fill most of the card.  I realize there is a different concept applied to O-Pee-Chee but this is starting to get ridiculous.  Each year, it seems like more and more of the photo is being cropped away in favor of the design border.  The card backs look just like the other O-Pee-Chee cards from the last three years...plain grey/brown cardboard with a few player stat lines and the team logo in the background.  Regardless of some of the shortcomings, I still love this set.

The Retro variations are stellar this year as they look kind of like the 73-74 All Star cards and the Marquee Legends and Rookies share the same feel of design with the 76-77 set.  The Stat Kings, Trophy Winners, and Team Leader cards have all been toned down too as they are now on heavy glossy stock instead of the foilboard from last year.  The only foil I have seen so far from what I have pulled are in the parallels of the the Retro Parallel set...the parallels of the parallels.  My only mystery is whether or not there are Retro back variations or not.  I pulled a Sidney Crosby and Marty Turco retro parallel with different player stats on the back.  The Crosby features Niklas Backstrom and the Turco features Jack Johnson.  If anyone knows about these or can send me a link to some info, I would appreciate it.  I can't honestly believe that these were printed in error.

So that's it for the new additions to the collection for this years releases.  You may have noticed that there are a few issued sets missing from this list.  Famous Fabrics Inks is one that comes to mind.  I have no intention of purchasing a product that features 1 card for $100.  Even if I knew what the card was, I wouldn't buy one card for $100.  That's just insane.  Another set is ITG's Ultimate Memorabilia set.  I love ITG's releases but this one will set you back about $550 for 15 cards.  Again, why?  I don't want to be hosed with a $5 card that I paid $100 for.  Panini Limited is out there.  1 pack, 7 cards for about $70.  Considering their train wreck so far with releases, you would have to be smoking something illegal in all star systems to risk that.  So for now, I'm biding my time until ITG puts out Heroes & Prospects, whatever Retro set they are working on (if any), and Between the Pipes.  I also will pick up Series II Upper Deck and probably scold myself 100x's over after the fact but still pick up SP, SP Game Used, or SPx (or all three).  Oh, and let's not forget the return of Pinnacle and Crown Royale (Panini, you better not screw these up). 

And with that, I bid you all adieu.  Happy New Year.