Hockey Cube Break

I was at my local Target yesterday and I have been pretty good about staying away from blaster boxes. But I always look for hockey card “repacks” that contain an autographed card. I found this–something called a “Hockey Cube.” For $19.99 plus tax, you get 2 autographed cards and a bunch of other cards you probably don’t want. So, I weighed the pros and cons of buying it:

Pro:: It has 2 autographed cards. I like autographed cards

Con: It probably has tons of Pro Set.

Pro: It has a Score Rookie and Traded Set that is still sealed.

Con: I already have two Score Rookie and Traded Sets (one for TTM purposes)

Pro: I want another Jeff Skinner from that set. Plus, I might get some good Gold Parallels.

So, the Pros narrowly outweighed the Cons. Here is what was inside the Hockey Cube:

One Score Rookie and Traded Set.

One pack of 2006-07 Fleer Hot Prospects. one pack of 2006-07 Beehive, one pack of 1997-98 Pinnacle Be A Player and one pack of 2008-09 MVP.

A shrinkwrapped stack of 1990-91 Western Hockey League trading cards by Seventh Inning Sketch. Notice that the top card is of a convicted pedophile.

A shitload of 1990-91 Bowman cards. Thirty-one to be exact. Not only are they worthless, but the Dave Lowry (left) is way off-center, and the Dan Quinn (second from left) has a crease. So, those two are worth less than worthless.

Somehow, 5 non-Bowman cards managed to find their way into this Hockey Cube. Two 2005-06 Upper Deck cards, one 1990-91 Upper Deck Star-Rookie checklist and a 1990-91 Score card.

I then went back and opened the sealed packs:

I got 4 cards in my 2006-07 Fleer Hot Prospects set–the best card being Joe Sakic. I might try and put this set together, as I have about half of it now.

The 2006-07 Beehive pack also had 4 cards.I already have the complete base set from this year.

The 2008-09 MVP pack had 8 cards, including this short print rookie of Boris Valabik. All duplicates to me, as I also have this set (with all RCs).

The 1997-98 Pinnacle Be A Player pack had 7 regular cards and an autograph of Jaroslav Svejkovsky. He played 113 games in the NHL, mostly with the Washington Capitals.

The shrinkwrapped stack of cards actually turned out to be a complete 28-card  team set of 1990-91 Swift Current Broncos. The best card is of Geoff Sanderson, who played 1104 games in the NHL from 1991 to 2008.

I saved opening the Score Rookie and Traded Set for last.

The autographed card was of Cory Emmerton. I don’t know if he is any good, but I’m just glad it wasn’t of Travis Hamonic (who I got twice in two of these sets).

The next 99 cards were just the regular ol’ base set. I wanted an extra of Jeff Skinner, and some extra Blackhawks. The rest of the cards are for trade.

Here are the 5 Gold Parallels I pulled:

Blake Wheeler Gold Parallel

Matt Taormina “Hot Rookies” Gold Parallel

Jake Muzzin “Hot Rookies” Gold Parallel

Michael Frolik Gold Parallel

Kyle Clifford “Hot Rookies” Gold Parallel

So, was it worth $20 plus tax?

To me–no, as I had most of these cards already, so really I was just in it for the autographs (and the chance of finding something random and cool).

But to a new collector–or someone who doesn’t already own the 2010-11 Score Rookie and Traded Set–then the Hockey Cube is actually worth picking up. The Score Traded Set is nice, and sells for around $10 to $15 on its own.