For the first time in three years, Upper Deck Ice is back. Ice was last released for the 2019-20 season, then was cancelled for 2020-21. The 2021-22 Ice set came out at the end of the 2022-23 season. So, it is the first Ice set in two seasons, but took three years to come out.

Anyway, now that Ice has been out for a while, the price of a box has gone down a bit, from $130 to $110. A hobby box has 12 packs, with each pack containing six cards. A box also includes a “Bonus” pack of 2020-21 Ice – so if you really want to build the cancelled Ice set, you could, though it would be tough.

One selling point of Ice is that all autographs in the set are “hard-signed,” meaning that the autographs are on the card itself and not on a sticker later applied to the card. A box of Ice also contains at least two Ice Premieres rookie cards, which are printed on acetate (clear plastic). 

I opened a box of 2021-22 Ice, which was also the subject of the Puck Junk Podcast recently. But I thought it would be nice to show off what I got in my box. So, let’s take a look at what my 12 packs of 2021-22 Ice – plus the 2020-21 Ice bonus pack – had inside. 

32 Base Cards

Cards 1-100 comprises the base set. My box of 2021-22 Upper Deck Ice had 32 base cards. None were doubles of each other. I like this particular design. The silver lines and frozen tundra behind the player makes it appear as if the player is breaking through a wall of ice. 

The card backs are very clean looking, with one line of statistics plus the player’s career totals, a team logo, and vitals. The card fronts are exciting, while the card backs are calming. 

12 Ice Rookies

The next 50 cards (101-151) are the Ice Rookies. You get one Ice Rookie per pack. With only 50 to collect, it will not be too difficult to build the Ice Rookies subset. 

Most of the Ice Rookies do not have prior NHL experience (obviously), so their line of stats is from their most-recent club before playing in the NHL. 

12 Green Parallels 

Every pack of 2021-22 Ice also had a Green Parallel card, with 8 of them being veterans and the other 4 being Ice Rookies. 

I really like the look of the Green Parallels; they give new meaning to the term “Emerald Ice,” although that’s not what they are really called. At one per pack, I am tempted to try and build the Green Parallel set. 

2 Orange Parallels

The Orange Parallels are also eye-catching. The two I got were Ryan O’Reilly (whom I now collect cards of, so yay!), and Brad Marchand. 

1 Gold Parallel

The one Gold Parallel in my box was of 2021-22 rookie Benoit-Olivier Groulx of the Anaheim Ducks. 

By the way, there are a ton of other parallel colors, including Blue, Royal Blue, Red,  and Lavender, as well as Black Parallels numbered 1/1.

3 Crystals

Crystals insert cards are die-cut and printed on shiny, prismatic foil. The three Crystals I got were Connor McDavid, Jamie Oleksiak, and Peyton Krebs. 

3 Premieres Rookies

Cards 151-250 are “Ice Premieres” rookie cards, which are printed on acetate. Ice Premieres are serial-numbered anywhere from 99 to 1299. You get at least two per box, but I beat the odds and got three: Filip Gustavsson (352/799), Sean Durzi (0643/1299), and Scott Perunovich (311/399).

1 Shrines Insert

“Shrines” is my favorite insert set in 2021-22 Ice. It kind of resembles a puck and card holder. The mini-card has a facsimilia autograph and is printed on shiny foil board, while the die-cut puck is printed on matte stock. Both are affixed to a clear plastic backing. making for a very cool-looking insert. 

1 Subzero Rookies

This purple Tyce Thompson Subzero Rookies card is serial-numbered 491/999. 

1 Subzero Rookies Autograph

Aliaksei Protas of the Washington Capitals was the autographed card in my box. The 22-year-old center scored 15 points (4G, 11A) in 58 games for the Capitals in 2022-23. 

1 Premieres Jerseys

Sigh…a white swatch. Yes, I know; they all can’t be three-colored watches, so the white jersey pieces have to end up somewhere. Fortunately, Logan Thompson of the Vegas Golden Knights is an exciting young player. He played in the 2023 NHL All-Star Game, but an injury kept him from appearing in the playoffs during the Knights’ Stanley Cup Championship. 

2020-21 Bonus Pack

But wait! There’s more! Upper Deck included a bonus pack of 2020-21 Upper Deck Ice, which was cancelled but lives on as a quasi-insert set in 2021-22 Ice. There are five cards in the 2020-21 Ice bonus pack. 

3 Base Cards

The three base cards in my bonus pack of 2020-21 Ice were Seth Jones, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Ty Dellandrea. 

1 Gold Parallel

The bonus pack also had an Orange Parallel of Alexander Alexeyev of the Capitals. You get one Orange Parallel in every 10 bonus packs. 

1 Ice Premieres Rookie

The last card in the bonus pack was an Ice Premieres rookie card of Ty Dellandrea. The card is printed on clear acetate and is serial-numbered 453/499. Dellandrea played his first full 82-game season in 2022-23, scoring 9 goals and 19 assists for 28 points for the Dallas Stars. 

I really enjoyed my box break of 2021-22 Upper Deck Ice. Yes, the product is already two years old – though it was released  less than three months ago, so it feels new.. Autographs are signed on-card and you get at least two Ice Premieres rookie cards per box. The base set design looks great, and is not too difficult to build. The Ice Rookies, at one per pack, is not too difficult of a subset to build should you chose to. The colored parallels look great, and insert sets like Crystals and Shrines makes Ice a lot of fun to break. 

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