2020-21 Upper Deck Series 1 Hobby Box Break

So much hype surrounded the release of 2020-21 Upper Deck Series One Hockey. The season hadn’t started yet, but that didn’t stop hockey card collectors (as well as speculators) from wanting to buy the latest release from Upper Deck — mainly in the hopes of finding a Young Guns rookie card of first-overall pick Alexis Lafreniere. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping to get a Lafreniere rookie card — or three — as I opened numerous retail packs from blasters and “mega boxes” that I purchased at my local Target.

Unsuccessful with retail packs, I decided to try my luck with hobby boxes. While the odds of getting a Young Guns card are the same (1 in every 4 packs), there are more inserts in hobby packs, better odds at getting jersey cards and the chance of finding an autographed card. The price of a hobby box is higher, but the trade off is you get more inserts and a jersey card. 

A hobby box of 2020-21 Upper Deck Series One Hockey has 24 packs. Each pack has 8 cards. Here are the results of my first hobby box break of this set. 

Oh, and I must apologize in advance for the sheer amount of Rangers in this box break; it seems like practically every insert card I got was of a Rangers’ player. 

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Puck Junk Podcast: Interview with Billy Celio of Upper Deck

Episode #84: March 3, 2021

What goes into creating a set of hockey cards — from concept to design to everything in between? Billy Celio, the Senior Product Manager for Upper Deck, joins Sal and Tim to discuss how a set of hockey cards is created. Billy also gives details about the new 2020-21 Upper Deck Extended Series and 2020-21 Skybox Metal Universe sets. Plus, he talks about the inspiration behind the Portraits, Dazzlers and Puzzle Back insert sets. It’s one full hour of hockey goodness. 

Show Notes, Links and Images:
Info about 2020-21 Upper Deck Extended Series (Cardboard Connection)

Billy Celio poses with the Hart Trophy, Stanley Cup and Norris Trophy.

2020-21 MVP Patrick Marleau – no one is sure why Marleau is pictured with the Sharks, even though he was with the Penguins when it was released. (Listen to Episode #71 for a review of 2020-21 Upper Deck MVP.)

 Preview image of the upcoming 2020-21 Upper Deck Extended Series: 

Kirill Kaprizov 2005-06 Upper Deck tribute set.

Dylan Cozens HoloGrFX  tribute set. Note that “Sabres” is misspelled. 

Tim Stutzle UD3 Tribute set.

The photo that was used on the Hughes’ Brothers “Sibling Sensations” card (right) was a riff on the Step Brothers movie poster (left).

1996-97 Fleer Metal Universe Curtis Joseph card – hands down, the best Metal Universe card ever made. (Listen to Episode #14 for a review of 1996-97 Fleer Metal Universe.)

Follow Sal Barry on Twitter @PuckJunk.
Follow Tim Parish on Twitter @TheRealDFG.
Podcast opening and closing music by Jim “Not the Goalie” Howard.

Subscribe to the Puck Junk Hockey Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Podchaser, PocketCasts, Castbox , Castro,
Overcast, TuneIn and SoundCloud.

Love hockey? Join the new Puck Junk Facebook Group and subscribe to Puck Junk on YouTube. 

Support this podcast and buy a shirt from the Puck Junk Online Shop. ■

Blake’s Takes: Kane Scores 400th Goal

Last week was an eventful one in the NHL. The only hard thing for me to do was to chose which five topics I wanted to cover. I tried my best to touch on a variety of things. Perhaps the two most important stories were Patrick Kane scoring his 400th career goal and the drama surrounding Artemi Panarin.

Happy Monday!

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1991 NHL All-Star Game Goalie Mask

This cardboard goalie mask was given away at the 42nd NHL All-Star Game, hosted at the Chicago Stadium on Saturday, January 19, 1991. I believe these masks were not handed out upon entry, but instead put on all the seats at the Stadium ahead of time. However, my memory of 30 years ago is kind of fuzzy now. It’s a good thing I blogged about this game in 2011, as I remembered more back then. Now, if only my blog had existed in 1991. 

Anyway, it is somewhat of a miracle that this mask survived in my collection the past three decades. What is even more amazing, though, is that I managed to get this goalie mask out of the All-Star Game in one piece and without any tears or creases. Continue reading “1991 NHL All-Star Game Goalie Mask”

Puck Junk Podcast: New Hockey Cards for February 2021

Plus, Upper Deck Extended Series! 
Episode #83: Feb. 25, 2021

After a three-week hiatus, Sal and Tim are back to talk hockey cards! This time, they discuss the latest releases from Upper Deck, Leaf, Topps and President’s Choice Trading Cards. Plus, a look ahead at the upcoming Upper Deck Extended Series — and how “Event-Used” jersey cards could be better! It’s two hours of hockey goodness.

Show Notes and Links: 
Sal’s “Hockey Card” from his youth hockey clinic. (Puck Junk)
Sal talked about writing the text on the back of “Bloodlines” cards, but he really meant the “Sibling Sensations” set from 2019. (Upper Deck Blog)
Adam Pardy knocked into audience at a Blackhawks game. (The Real DFG)
President’s Choice Game-Used Number cards. (PCTC)
President’s Choice Game-Used Rocket Richard Trophy Cards. (PCTC)
President’s Choice Game-Used Vintage Memorabilia cards. (PCTC)
Topps Now Hockey Sticker print runs. (Topps)
Tampa Bay Lightning Stanley Cup Champions 6-card set (Upper Deck Blog)
Review of the 2013 Blackhawks Stanley Cup Set (Puck Junk)
Dragon Ball Z: “It’s over 9000!” (YouTube)
2020-21 Upper Deck Rookie Box Set (Cardboard Connection)
Michigan J. Frog, a.k.a. “The Singing Frog” (YouTube)
2020-21 Upper Deck Series 2 Young Guns Checklist (Upper Deck Blog)
Upper Deck addresses Game Dated Moments problems (Upper Deck E-Pack)
2021 Leaf In The Game Used Hockey Checklist & Info (Beckett)
2021 Pro Set Football Trevor Lawrence rookie card (Leaf Trading Cards)
Ways to Improve Upper Deck Series 1 & 2 (Puck Junk)
Upper Deck Answers My Burning Questions (Puck Junk)
2020-21 Upper Deck Extended Series Info (Beckett)

Jeremy Roenick “Fight Strap” card by President’s Choice Trading Cards

Here are some of the 2021 Leaf In The Game Used cards:

2020-21 The Cup John Marino rookie card with the “wrong” patch on it:

A Dino Ciccarelli North Stars card with a Red Wings swatch. Just awful! 

A 1999-2000 HoloGrFX card. HoloGrFX will return this year. 

Follow Sal Barry on Twitter @PuckJunk.
Follow Tim Parish on Twitter @TheRealDFG.
Podcast opening and closing music by Jim “Not the Goalie” Howard.

Subscribe to the Puck Junk Hockey Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Podchaser, PocketCasts, Castbox , Castro,
Overcast, TuneIn and SoundCloud.

Love hockey? Join the new Puck Junk Facebook Group and subscribe to Puck Junk on YouTube. 

Support this podcast and buy a shirt from the Puck Junk Online Shop. ■

Blake’s Takes: Outdoor Games at Lake Tahoe

Last week was perhaps the most exciting week of the NHL season. The league hosted two outdoor games at Lake Tahoe. The broadcast was incredible and the league might have created one of the most-attractive made-for-TV sporting experiences we’ve seen yet. I’ll share my thoughts on the Lake Tahoe experiment in this week’s column.

In addition to the outdoor games, the past week wasn’t short for headlines. New Jersey named their newest captain and a few other milestones were achieved. As usual, I’ll also share with you one of my favorite plays of the week.

Happy Monday!

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Blake’s Takes: Power Moves in Pittsburgh

Football season is over, which means hockey season is officially in full swing. Last week we saw a major front-office move. With the lack of other major storylines, I’m bringing you some of my favorite highlights I saw across the NHL last week. Buckle up because you’re in for some fun.

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How to Organize Your Ticket Stub and Pocket Schedule Collection

I loved saving the ticket stubs from the Chicago Blackhawks hockey games I went to when I was a kid. Each time I went to a game, I was sure to bring my stub to school the next day to show off to my friends and prove that I was there.

Sometimes the games were important – all-star or playoff games – and sometimes it was just a Tuesday night regular season game. Regardless, it was cool to just go and then have that small, visual reminder that I could look back at.

Over the years, I have also saved pocket schedules, rosters, lineup cards, score cards and any other piece of game or team-related memorabilia I could find. I even saved concert ticket and movie ticket stubs. After a while, all of that started to add up, so I had to get it organized. BCW makes many different sizes of pocket pages that will fit almost any “non-card” collectible you may have. Read the rest of the story at the BCW Supplies Blog. 

Rookie Cards of Every NHL Head Coach for the 2020-21 Season

Although head coaches are an important part of an NHL team, they are usually not included in most hockey card sets. So while Upper Deck may never make a card of John Tortorella — snarling at a referee from behind the bench — that doesn’t mean he wasn’t on a hockey card once upon a time. All of the 31 men who are NHL head coaches played hockey at one time or another in their lives — so that usually means they’ve appeared on at least one hockey card. 

For the past four years, I’ve managed to track down a rookie card for each and every NHL coach who had one. For you non-collectors out there, a “rookie card” is usually understood as that player’s first card in a mainstream set, like Topps, O-Pee-Chee or Upper Deck. 

However, because many NHL head coaches never actually played in the NHL — or if they did, it wasn’t very long — they never got an official rookie card. In those cases, I show off that coach’s first-ever trading card, be it from their minor or junior league playing days, or from a little-known team-issued set. 

As a bonus, I’ve also indicated the value (in US $) and how rare each card is, on a scale of ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ to ★ ★ ★ ★ ★. Some of these cards are ridiculously-easy to find — I’m looking at you, Rod Brind’Amour —  while others are tough. 

So, kick back and enjoy this trip down memory lane, when these bench bosses weighed less and got paid less, but had more hair.

Continue reading “Rookie Cards of Every NHL Head Coach for the 2020-21 Season”