2014-15 Upper Deck Series 1 box break #3

box_3I finally got around to opening my third (and final) box of 2014-15 Upper Deck Series One Hockey. This was singularly both the best and worst box of the three. But…how is that even possible?

 169 Base Cards

base_huttonAfter sorting three boxes worth of base cards, I was able to build myself a complete 200-card base set, and a second base set that needs two cards. I am very satisfied with the collation of this product.

6 Young Guns Rookie Cards

yg_tvrI’m three-for-three, so far as getting no doubles on any of my Young Guns. In box three, I got Ty Rattie, Brandon Kozun, Christian Folin, Teemu Pulkkinen, Tyler Wotherspoon and Blackhawks defenseman Trevor Van Riemsdyk. Yes, he is related to James. Trevor was also having a great rookie season until he injured his left knee, sidelining him for three or four months.

2 Shining Stars Insert Cards

ss_hallPatrice Bergeron and Taylor Hall.

1 Shining Stars Legends Insert Card

ss_orrBobby!!!!! These are seeded one in every 48 packs, so I did good here.

1 Shining Stars Royal Blue Insert Card

ss_giroux_blueThese parallels are also seeded one in every two boxes, so either the stated odds are wrong, or I’m killing it.

2 Hockey Heroes 2000s

heroes_lidstrom

These are two per box, and I got Martin St. Louis and Nicklas Lidstrom.

4 UD Canvas Cards

canvas_varlamov

For those of us who like bumpy cards. This time, I got Ondrej Palat, Phillipp Grubauer, Jaromir Jagr and Semyon Varlomov. The Varlomov photo is pretty bad-ass.

2 Game Jersey Cards jersey_coburnjersey_carlson

And here’s the disappointment. Both jersey cards had major defects. I know Upper Deck will replace them — they always do — but wow, this is just terrible. At least this happened to “junk” jersey cards and not some 1/1 auto/patch parallel from The Cup.

But there was a definite upside to this box, too…

1 Signature Sensations Autographed Card

auto_rynnas

Every now and then, you can get an autographed card in Upper Deck Series One, and I got one of Jussi Rynnas of the Toronto Maple Leafs. I really don’t know if this player is any good.  I don’t even know if his name is pronounced “Juicy” or “Jus-see” or whatever. Maybe someone from Leaf Nation wants to help me here. Regardless, this is a fine example of how to do a sticker autograph RIGHT. The autograph fits entirely on the sticker, which in turn is neatly placed on the card. To me, a card doesn’t need to be “hard signed,” so long as it looks good.

What I like about 2014-15 Upper Deck Series 1: The base cards look great, and have great collation. The 200-card base set can usually be completed from buying two boxes. You get six Young Guns per box. Enough people tend to collect the inserts, so you can easily sell or trade off what you don’t want. Every now and then, you get a nice surprise like the autograph I pulled.

What I don’t like about 2014-15 Upper Deck Series 1: The insert cards are not all that inspired. Shining Stars? Canvas? Hockey Heroes? And the 25th buybacks (see previous box) are just laughable. Plus, this year’s jersey cards seem to have a quality control issue, with three of the six having defects (these two, and one from my first box).

Rating 5 out of 5The inserts are redundant, and the jersey cards found in UD Series 1 are never really worth much. And frankly, I thought any 25th Anniversary insert card would be way cooler than just re-purposing a card from 25 years ago. But I like the base card photography and the range of Young Guns offered. And while half of my jersey cards (three out of six total) were defective, mistakes happen and I know that Upper Deck will replace them. Overall, this continues to be one of my favorite breaks each year.

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Author: Sal Barry

Sal Barry is the editor and webmaster of Puck Junk. He is a freelance hockey writer, college professor and terrible hockey player. Follow him on Twitter @puckjunk

6 thoughts on “2014-15 Upper Deck Series 1 box break #3”

    1. Lol I was going to say – I was pretty sure I saw him take over from Lehtonen the other night when I caught the last half of the Stars game…..

      Odd Upper deck would have him with the Leafs as he signed in the summer with Dallas and Uncle Google just mentioned to me that he left the Leafs as a FA the summer of 2013 to play in Europe.

  1. I was starting to think I’d made a mistake by only buying 1 box of these cards. Now I’m kinda glad I didn’t! Do you think they rushed these out?

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