Upper Deck ICE 09 /10: 2 Box Break

Upper Deck Ice had been one of my consistently favorite hockey card products because of its beautiful design, rare and uniquely designed rookie cards, and generally fantastic hits. The boxes also have a reasonable price tag, which allows everyone to afford a few boxes. The 09 /10 Ice product is perhaps the weakest of the product's line due to the ghastly looking base set and what seems to be poor hits per box. The lineup of rookies in the 09/10 season was also not extremely strong, and while beyond the control of UD it did not help the attractive value of the Ice product as their main selling point are their rookie cards. As it would turn out, the 09 /10 Ice would be the last year this product would be sold in boxes as the 10 /11 season would see individual packs of the products inserted into the UD SPX boxes as a bonus.

What I pulled:

Rookies: The reason why Ice is an attractive product to invest in is because of their rookies. You average around 6 per box, each embossed with a serial number. There are a few levels of rarity in the rookies cards, ranging from print runs of 1999 to 99. The cards feature great looking silhouette photographs of the players on top a clear acetate card, which is a feature not found in any other product. Another positive note is that a small bio is presented on the back of the cards. While I prefer to see some stats, a bio is nonetheless appreciated as so many other rookie cards in other products do not list anything at all. From the two boxes I did not manage to pull any low numbered rookies, but did pull a couple solid names such as James Reimer and Cody Franson.

Materials: I pulled two Fresh Threads jersey cards; one card in each box. These are the same idea as the rookie jersey cards from the series 2 UD products, except with slightly larger jersey swatches. My problem with the 09 /10 design is that the backgrounds are far too dark. While the blue motif is logical and easy on the eyes, they should have used lighter shades of the color and perhaps one other color (sparingly) to add a bit of contrast. The cards are also not serial numbered, which is a shame because the rookie cards are. For these cards I pulled a Sergei Shirokov and Jakub Voracek Fresh Threads.

I also pulled two Frozen Fabrics jersey card, and again these were found 1 per box. This line of jersey card features classic or current star players instead of rookie players like the Fresh Threads. The Frozen Fabrics cards are similar to the Fresh Threads in that they have a similar sized swatch of jersey and are not serial numbered. However unlike the Fresh Threads, the Frozen Fabrics have a better design because a contrasting color to the blue was used here (that being red). Also, the background to the player's photo is ghosted, allowing the player himself to pop forward while still retaining the context of the shot. Very nice cards, in which I pulled a Pavel Datsyuk and Steve Shutt. Two very good names to pull.

Autographs: From each box of Ice you can average 2 material cards and 1 autograph card. Off E-Bay I scored two very cheap autograph cards to add to my meager collection of 09/10 Ice. These two auto cards belong to the Glacial Graphs series, which are an absolutely beautiful set of autographed cards. First off the autos are hard signed; no stickers here! The cards are made of acetate like the rookies, which has a great look for showcasing an autograph. The photos are crisp and silhouetted atop a geometric background and ghosted background image from the original photograph. Further, the autos themselves were signed in blue ink, which is always more interesting than the generic black. The only downside is that again no serial number was provided for these cards. It seems that Ice is very reluctent to provide serial numbers except for their rookie cards.

Notice how the auto blends into the blue of the flag?

I pulled 'The Champions' auto from the first box I had picked up of Ice. This series of autographs feature hard-signed autos from Olympic Athletes that are not serial numbered. Some card fans were upset about pulling these autos as it frequently featured people who did not play hockey. Personally, I think it's a pretty neat idea as the Olympics occurred the year before and provides you with an autograph of someone you would rarely obtain one of. That being said, I do wish that these would be a bonus autograph because I do agree that if UD says you will receive at least one autograph per box then at least one of those autographs belong to an NHL hockey player. From this box I pulled a Natalie Darwitz auto, who is the captain of the US women's hockey team (not bad at all really). The auto looks great, but I do wish they had provided a larger light colored space for the auto as it could be much more prominent in comparison to the background.

The final hit I have came from the second box. This is a mammoth, case break hit of a Signature Swatches of Mario Lemieux. This is an absolutely beaut of a card with a huge black swatch of Lemieux's jersey with his autograph in silver laid over top. The card design is perfect  and I couldn't be happier. On second thought there are two things that would make me happier. One is that again there is no serial number which is completely unacceptable for a case break hit. Second is that the auto has a small smudge on the 'L', which shows a lack of care in UD's part during packaging. Nonetheless, this is a beautiful card that is one of the best in my hockey card collection.

In sum, the UD Ice 09/10 product is a solid product that has a few problems. While not shown here, the base card design is poor in comparison to previous years. The lack of serial numbers are also frustrating but become more so on the case hit. On the positive side I received some good hits from my two boxes, and the rookie cards again deliver some of the best looking and most unique looking cards out of any product on the shelves. The rookie cards are the reason to pick up the Ice product, and for that reason alone the 09 /10 Ice product is worth putting some cash down on the counter for. Ice is still a cold and crisp pickle!

Between the Pipes 2010-11

Between the Pipes (BTP) by In the Game has always been a fun product because it highlights goalies. It showcases the art of their masks, delves into the history of goal tending, and spotlights up & coming and current stars. In the past, hobby boxes of BTP has offered a few great box and case breaks, but the hits have been somewhat lack luster in comparison to other products. The price tag has always been fair (at or below 100) and a box gives you 90 to 100% completion of the base set. The problem with the hits has been sticker autos, and hits of players few people have actually heard of. That and the hits were few, with most boxes offering basic hits per box (jersey & an auto); however the 2009-2010 did seem to be a generous year for this product in providing great hits (I'll talk about this in a future post).

The 2010-11 BTP is a great product and noticeably improved from previous years.

Base Cards: Design pretty much the same as previous years. You have the standard array of cards such as Future Stars, Stars of the Game, Immortals, and so on. Nonetheless, I still enjoy seeing who they include in the base set, even if it is getting tiresome. The standout for me is that they included female goalies this time, which oddly is what was not included in my box! I got almost the entire set minus the female goalies! Weird...

Non-Hit Subset: Here I'm referring to the cards without material or autographs. For BTP the highlight of the subsets are the Masked Men cards, which have foil fronts. This years cards look great, but watch out for the typo, the garden variety masked men have a green front and the backside calls them an emerald version 1/1. These are not 1/1, but rather a dime a dozen. Regardless I love the masked men design (see photo below)!

I picked up two other subsets in the box. One subset is called Guarding The Blue and White Net. I pulled one card from this subset, and ITG says there are a few different types of the 'Guarding' series, each with a name referring to the team's colors. I'm not a fan of this subset as the design is too dark and has little balance. The idea is OK, but nothing that spectacular. Plus, as per usual with BTP the cards are not serial numbered. The other subset is a much better concept, which is called Deep in the Crease. This series highlights all the goaltenders from one NHL team. The front depicts all the goalies, which is rarely shown in other sets. It's also just plain cool to see all the goalies lined up like that. The downside is that the design again is really dark and uninspired. Looking even to the text, the font is commonplace and doesn't stand out at all.

Maxime Clermont

Dwayne Roloson

Autographs: I pulled 2 autos from the box. The first is a Future Stars auto of Maxime Clermont. Not exactly a stellar name, but the card design is nice with a large photo of the player next to the auto. Both the autos I pulled are stickers, but with how the design is shaped around the auto you really don't notice the sticker. The font of the text is again boring, and the colors are muted. The second auto is a Stars of the Game Dwayne Roloson auto. This was a great hit as he is a staring goaltender for the Tampa Bay Lightening. The design is almost identical except for a change in background colors, which is a pretty cheap move by BTP.

Jonas Hiller Jersey

Materials: I pulled 2 material cards from the box, and this is what made the box really worth it! The first was a Game-Used Jersey Black. Going by the production run of the 2009-10 BTP, the print run on the Jersey Blacks should be 130. I pulled a Jonas Hiller jersey, which is definitely an A list goalie! The card has a seam break at the top right corner, which makes the jersey really pop! The seam also breaks into the second color -white. The placement of seams on the jerseys is something I've found that ITG does fairly frequently, and I love it! It makes the jersey card really stand out from those produced by UD.

The second material card I pulled was a Game-Used Emblem Black of Sergei Bobrovsky, and again going by last year's print run there should've been 6 made. The card has 3 breaks, with the top two being patch breaks of black & white, and the bottom third is orange jersey. Personally I don't like it when there is jersey material on a patch card, but in this case it looks pretty good. This was also a great pull because while Bobrovsky didn't have a great season in 10-11, he is a break-out rookie goaltender and is a name that most hockey fans know well, much like Hiller!

Sergei Bobrovsky Between the Pipes 2010-11 Game-Used Emblem Black

Final Thought: This is a great product but I am curious if what I pulled would be repeated in future boxes. I pulled two memorabilia and two auto cards, three of which featured prominent names. The product design is definitely tired and needs to be redone, but the content is still fun if somewhat stale. The presence of three different non-hit subsets also adds a little bit more excitement to opening the packs as well.