Fleer Showcase picks up where 2012-13 Fleer Retro left off. Showcase is your typical mid-range Upper Deck hockey card set, with 100 base cards to collect. But 2013-14 Fleer Showcase also has inserts designed after 1990s Fleer sets — just like Fleer Retro did two years back, making it a spiritual successor to Retro.

For those who don’t know, the Fleer Showcase brand was used on baseball, football and basketball trading card sets from 2000 until around 2005. This is the first time that the Showcase name has been applied to hockey cards.

A box costs around $130 and gets you 15 five-card packs. What goodies could be lurking inside? Continue reading “Box Break: 2013-14 Fleer Showcase”

Earlier this year, Upper Deck released a team-centric set called the Edmonton Oilers Collection. The set focuses on the greatest players in Oilers’ history — even including some players from the team’s WHA days. A box contains 10 packs, and each pack has 10 cards. The front of the box boasts that you will “get a full base set in every box!”

Spoiler Alert – I did indeed get a full base set in this box, and a few other goodies too. Continue reading “Box Break: 2013-14 Upper Deck Edmonton Oilers Collection”

It’s goalies, more goalies and only goalies. Between the Pipes is back for its 12th year, and is poised to please fans of old school ‘tenders, current players and NHL hopefuls. A box contains 18 pack, and each pack has nine cards. Here’s what I got in my recent box break. Continue reading “Box Break: 2013-14 Between The Pipes”

Initially, I thought that 2013-14 Prizm would be another clunker from Panini. The cards are printed on shiny foil stock, look like pretty much every other Panini set out there and originally cost $100 for a 20-pack box (each pack contains six cards). But I found a box at a recent show for $50, so I took a chance and was pleasantly surprised.

Prizm cards are printed on a silver, mirror-like card stock. Whereas Upper Deck’s Black Diamond are shiny but dark, Prizm cards have bright, vibrant colors that jump out at you. The cards are also printed on heavy stock. After opening a box, I totally understand why baseball card collectors go nuts over sets like Bowman Chrome: they just look so cool. Of course, I was a sucker for “chromium covers” back in my comic book collecting days in the 1990s, so enjoying “chromium” hockey cards isn’t much of a stretch for me.

Anyway, onto the break. Continue reading “Box Break: 2013-14 Panini Prizm”

Heroes and Prospects, by In The Game Trading Cards, celebrates its tenth season this  year. The set focuses mainly on players who were drafted by NHL teams, players eligible for the 2014 NHL draft, or players eligible within the next few years. There are also “heroes” cards, of former hockey legends, that use  illustrations instead of photographs. Rounding out the 199-card set are 49 short-printed lenticular “Class of 2014” cards that have a cool, 3-D effect. Like all In The Game products, you can also expect autographed cards and game-used jersey cards in every box.

Without further ado, here are the results of the box I opened:

Continue reading “Box Break: 2013-14 Heroes and Prospects”

Another hockey season, another Upper Deck Hockey set. This season’s Upper Deck Series One Hockey set came out in mid-November, and is loaded with quality rookie cards. Whereas the 2012-13 Young Guns class had to scrape the bottom of the rookie barrel, the 2013-14 set features the “Double Rookie Class,” meaning that Upper Deck can pick and choose the best new players from 2012-13 and 2013-14.

I recently bought a box of 2013-14 Upper Deck Series One. Here’s what I got: Continue reading “2013-14 Upper Deck Series One Hockey Box Break”

Eight years ago, during the 2006-07 season, Upper Deck “leased” the rights from Topps to make O-Pee-Chee brand hockey cards. Wow, has it really been eight years? Where does the time go?

This year’s set feels like it could have been made in the 1980s. It features a basic design and many cards: 500 base cards of current and retired players and 100 “Marquee Rookies.” A box of 2013-14 O-Pee-Chee consists of 32 eight-card packs. Here are the results of the box I opened: Continue reading “Box Break: 2013-14 O-Pee-Chee Hockey”

Upper Deck Trilogy — or TRILO3Y as it is spelled on the box — was released almost three months before the 2013-14 season started! Lately, Upper Deck has divided their hobby boxes into three smaller “mini-boxes.” A 9-pack box of Trilogy is actually split into three 3-pack mini-boxes. This move was to address that collectors were reluctant to shell out $200-plus for an entire box, but also hesitant to buy a single pack since it may not have a hit. This way, a collector buying a mini-box is guaranteed to get a hit without committing to a full box.

Recently, I opened a mini-box of 2013-14 Trilogy. Here is what the three packs netted me: Continue reading “Mini-Box Break: 2013-14 Trilogy”

In The Game released their inaugural Enforcers trading card set during the 2011-12 season. Amid the silly controversy over the “blood-and-bandages” design was a pretty good set. Those who like fighting and the enforcer role in hockey no doubt enjoyed the first Enforcers set, which was chock full of hits (no pun intended); each box contained five autographs and two jersey cards featuring hockey’s unsung heroes.

Knowing a good thing when they see it, In The Game released Enforcers II last week. Like their first set, a 12-card box costs around $65. However, Enforcers II includes three jersey cards, but reduced the amount of autographed cards from five to four per box.

Here is the result of this box break: Continue reading “Box Break: ITG Enforcers 2”

Fleer Retro Hockey is meant to appeal to collectors who fondly remember the 1990s: a time where gold and silver foil, holograms and chromium ruled the day. Each box contains six autographed cards and tons of 1990s-themed insert cards. A 20 pack box (5 cards per pack) costs around $115. Here are the results of the box I opened:

Continue reading “2012-13 Fleer Retro Hockey Box Break”