Hockey Headlines for April 1, 2014

video-game-april-fools-2014-2Here are today’s top headlines in the world of hockey:

Players from Metal Universe wear gold logos, silver skates

Crosby-April-fools-2014A hockey player claiming to be Sidney Crosby from the Metal Universe, a parallel dimension to our world, visited yesterday and claimed that hockey in our dimension was relatively flat and boring when compared to shinny in his dimension.

“In the Metal Universe, we wear silver skates and glide upon sheets of emerald ice,” explained the mirror-universe Crosby, who irradiated an eerie red color.. “All logos are embossed gold, and every player from my world wears 1/1 on their uniforms. Truly, they are iron warriors!”

Despite several offers from NHL teams, Metal Universe Crosby declined offers to join any NHL teams, citing the players here as “worthless commons.”

New O-Pee-Chee “Carte Blanche” inserts to feature blank fronts and blank backs

Carte-Blanche-April-Fools-2014Responding to the popularity of their blank-back parallel cards, Upper Deck unveiled plans to insert new “Carte Blanche” cards in their 2014-15 O-Pee-Chee hockey sets. The inserts, which will be seeded in in every 32 packs, will be completely devoid of printing on either side of the cards.

“Since 2006, hockey collectors have enjoyed the different insert sets that Upper Deck has brought to the O-Pee-Chee name, including Micromotion, Black Rainbow and Retro,” said an Upper Deck press release. “Now, collectors can collect Carte Blanche inserts of all their favorite players, including Jonathan Toews, Carey Price and Alexander Ovehckin. These cards are truly unique, as they are blank on both sides — a first for hockey cards!”

Also in next year’s OPC set will be super-rare “Retro Blanche C55″ parallels, which will also be blank on the front and back, but measure 1.5″ by 2.5” inches like the old C55 set from 1911.

EA Sports to produce “NHL ’85” throwback video game

video-game-april-fools-2014-2Electronic Arts knows that hockey fans can’t get enough old school video games. Last year, they released NHL ’14 with a built-in “NHL ’94 Anniversary Mode” that gamers loved. This fall, the video game giant plans to push the envelope further and celebrate the 30th anniversary of 1985’s Real Sports Ice Hockey for the original Atari 2600.

“What gamer from 1985 could ever forget the imaginative graphics of Atari’s Real Sports Ice Hockey,” said a press release from EA. “It’s all here, just like you remember — the four-bit color, the boop-boop-beep sound effects, the square puck, and no ability to stick handle, pass, or do anything other than whack that square puck forward. And true to the original, you won’t be able to save your game or season, either.”

The game, titled Real Sports Ice Hockey ’85, will be available for XBOX One, Playstation 4 and Nintendo Wii U on October 15. Fans who pre-order the game from GameStop ($54.95) will get exclusive codes to unlock Murray Bannerman, Rick Kehoe and Reijo Ruotsalainen.

In other news…
Happy April Fools Day!

Further reading:
Hockey Headlines for April 1, 2013
Hockey Headlines for April 1, 2012
Hockey Headlines for April 1, 2011

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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

4 thoughts on “Hockey Headlines for April 1, 2014”

  1. I think I am going to be a major player on the “Carte Blanche” inserts this year. Haven’t really been intothe blank-back parallel cards in the past, but I am a real fan of where they’ve gone on this new insert.

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