Double Pack Rip – 2012-13 Score Hockey

Might as well strike while the iron is hot!

I was finishing up my Christmas shopping in Albany yesterday.  As is the usual case when I’m in Albany, I found myself at Target.  Out of the big box stores, Target is my favorite.  Not only do they have the best selection of toys, they also have a pretty decent selection of trading cards as well.

Which brings us to today’s post.

Just as you’d suspect, there’s a lot less of a selection compared to the other “major 4 sports”.  It’s almost a miracle we have any hockey cards at all, with this b.s. lockout that’s been plaguing us.

But were here to talk about cards.

At 99 cents a pack, these were by far, the least expensive option.  I knew what I was in for, having bought a blaster of last year’s offering.  They are reminiscent of the 1990 set, just glossier, with a better color scheme.

Unlike last time, I scanned them from left to right, in the order that they were pulled.  I like the Stanley Cup Champions logo on the Willie Mitchell card.  It something small, but it makes a otherwise common card a lot cooler.  I also got a “Season Highlight” card of Luke Adam.  Who, before I pulled this card, have never heard of.  I also got a “Hot Rookie” J.T. Brown, whose “Young Guns” card I pulled in my last pack rip.  Rounding out the pack, is a “Goldrush” parallel of Cody Eakin.  I believe the “Goldrush” cards are inserted at 1 per pack.

With the second pack, it was more of the same.  No real star power, or inserts.  I don’t think the “Hot Rookies” are in every pack, so that’s a plus(if they are in every pack, I take that back).  It’s Jordan Nolan, who I have not heard of.  But who knows, he may turn out to be awesome.  The “Goldrush” parallel is of Erik Gudbranson.

Update : From what I’ve read, the “Hot Rookies” odds are 1:2

I can’t say anything bad about these.  They call back to one of the first sets I started collecting, and at 99cents, I think they’re a great value.  It’s nice to see that kids aren’t priced out of every set.  😉

Pack Rip – 2012-13 Upper Deck Hockey Rack Pack

While out shopping at the local Wal-Mart on Thursday night, I decided to take a look in the trading card area near the front registers.  I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, or if I was “looking” for anything at all.  But it’s something I normally do whenever I go to a big box store.

I knew I had nowhere near enough for a box of cards, but they did have these.

For $4.99, I couldn’t pass them up.  I’m usually pretty late to the game when it comes to buying packs of current cards.

Originally, I wanted to show the cards in the order in which I pulled them.  But I forgot this when I scanned them.  So, if we look at them from right to left, you will see the order I saw them in.

Oh.  And I started from the bottom portion of the pack(that’s where I started).

Not a bad start!  As usual, Upper Deck has a pretty decent photo selection.

  I would say that the Michael Del Zotto is my favorite of the first group(a Ranger will always win my favor).  A Jerome Iginla doesn’t hurt either.  The Phil Kessel is an MVP insert, falling at 1:6.

While Eric Staal and Daniel Sedin are great players, Lidstrom would be my favorite of the group.  He was one of those players I grew up collecting in my early teens.  And being that he retired last year, the photo selection couldn’t be better!

Of course, the stand out of this group is the J.T. Brown(no offense to Kovalchuk).  “Young Guns” card  Young Guns fall 1:4.  I’m not sure if he’s any good, but I’ll guess we’ll have to wait and see.

And as you can clearly see here, there is no shortage of horizontal shots.

I guess I did okay.  A couple of inserts, and a decent player selection.  I’d say I got my money’s worth, and I’ll probably will buy a few more packs as I see them.

I know I’ve been on a hockey tear here, but I do have plenty of non-sports cards as well(I’ve just been on a hockey kick, due to the lock-out).  But here’s a preview of some non-sports pack rips you can expect to see somewhere down the line.

Pack Rip – 1991 Topps Stadium Club Hockey

These aren’t anything special, but I wanted to rip a pack tonight, and this was the only sealed pack I had on me at the time.

When these came out, they had one thing going for them.  And that was the Kodak “Imaging Technology”.  The technology used for these cards basically made these cards photo-quality.  I had started collecting hockey cards about 2 years earlier, and at the time these were released, I would buy packs of any new hockey cards when I would see them.  And I bought plenty of packs of these!

This is a card that was in every pack of these cards, and I’ve always thought it was pretty funny.

By todays standards, these seem really dull.  Dave Andreychuck is the star of this group.  Tim Kerr wasn’t too shabby either.  When I was a kid John Ogrodnick was a favorite of mine, just because I thought it was fun to say his name(it still is!).

On the back of the cards, we see the Topps rookie card of the palyer depicted on the card.  This is a neat concept, especially for kids who were younger.  Like myself at the time.  As they are today, rookie cards of the stars were always popular, so this was helpful.

And I’ll end this psot with my favorite 3 cards of the pack.

Mats Sundin is onviously the best card in the pack, but that’s not the reason why he’s one of my favorites from the pack.  It’s for the Nordiques jersey.  The same goes for the other 2 cards.  I am still a fan of the old-school teams and jerseys, from the 80’s and 90’s.  Seeing these old jerseys takes me back.