10-11 ITG Heroes and Prospects Number Black Brett Connolly /6

I have loads of Brett Connolly NHL stuff and very little from his junior days. Given he was a solid prospect during his time in the WHL, ITG has a few things out there from his time with the Prince George Cougars. A while back I was bidding on two, lost the one and landed one. This is a pretty cool one if you ask me and another good addition to my BC PC.

10-11 ITG Heroes and Prospects Number Black Brett Connolly /6

 Great swatch from the back of his jersey back when he wore number 8. You can see a little white of the jersey and then three solid colours which are Red, White and Black. Not sure why the red in the card came out a little salmon like but still a nice swatch nonetheless.

Here's the back, again my pet peeve is with a low print run of six, why not number them? If not by factory, then by hand? Still, as long as ITG keeps their website going I can prove it is numbered out of 6 but if the internet ever shuts down when the Machines decide to rise up then I am screwed with a nice looking card.

Good news for me is Brett is set to be an RFA after this season so hopefully if TB isn't going to use him for good then they will trade him somewhere so he can get a legit shot or at the very least get signed to an offer sheet elsewhere and choose his own destination.

TTM Success - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

While I typically like to share my TTM success via  Dirty Dangle, I decided to just fire off a quick one on my own blog of a success I got a while back. Since I moved (and paid for mail forwarding) I was very fortunate to have done so because I have received about 4 or 5 returns that were out for well over a year and were ones I really really wanted. Here is an example:

10-11 ITG Heroes and Prospects Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

Here is an awesome return! Ryan signed and returned this back after I had sent it out about 14 months previously. I am going to be honest, I wasn't sure if I would see the one back after failures with Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall. But, when it arrived I was really happy and gracious for its arrival. Ryan signed it with a blue sharpie and he included his Red Deer number 9 which is pretty awesome. Since Glenn Anderson had his number 9 retired with the Oilers, Ryan switched to number 93 which he currently wears with the club. I hope to add another RNH auto with his  number 93 to my collection someday,  but this one is certainly an amazing addition to my collection and I am very grateful for the signing. Thanks Ryan!

Brett Connolly Heroes and Prospects Auto

As part of the lot deal with McCollum, I landed three other cards two being the main focus of the lot deal and two being deals that are just too cool to pass up. One of the centerpieces is this great auto of Brett Connolly. This kid is doing pretty decent in the AHL this season with 28 points in 31 games thus far including 12 goals. This total is good enough for second on the Syracuse team in points and a tie for 17th in the league scoring race. With that being said, another PC of mine Jordan Eberle is just running away with the scoring title as he leads in both goals (23) and points (47).

10-11 Heroes and Prospects Brett Connolly Auto 

I love this card because it features an auto of Brett when he was a junior and his interesting auto seems to not have changed much since then. I also like he numbered it with his player number from junior which compliments my collection well since my other Connolly autos have him signing with 14 (his NHL number).
This card is a welcomed addition for a cost of a pack of OPC.

Closer look at 10-11 Heroes and Prospects

Here is a look at the base cards from the 10-11 set. There are three types of cards in the set and they are Heroes, Prospects and Rookies. The layout of the set is to start with Heroes, then International Prospects, then Prospects from each league with rookies at the end of the CHL portion and rookies at the end of the AHL portion.

The complete checklist can be found here:

http://www.itgtradingcards.com/products/1011_hp/1011_hp_c_base.html

I was a little disappointed to see Hall and Eberle missing from this year's set but then again they have been included in the past and it is time to move on for ITG.

I like the look and design of the set, my wife on the other hand hates them. She actually felt the 10-11 Victory set looked nicer. The photography is no match for UD series 1 and 2, but I feel the design is clean and the backs are great giving it more of a meat and potatoes kind of set.

The heroes cards are simple, photos are a little grainy likely due to the fact that the source is likely from the 80's and samples of these guys in their younger days are not plentiful.

The back of the heroes give a little story about the player before they were an NHL'er.

Here is a typical prospect card. I really like this kid and I think Couturier has star potential. I know he won't be making it out of the top 10 in this draft which sucks because I was thinking he would have looked great as a NJ Devil.

As you can see on the back, his status is listed as draft eligible and there is a summary of last season's totals and a small blurb about him.

Omark is pretty exciting to watch and as you can see on his card it is identified as a rookie card. I think ITG gives this designation to any players that have never had an ITG card before. (that reminds me of the old FTC days!) I know they will never be recognized as true RC's but again that really isn't the reason why someone would collect Heroes and Prospects.

So what do you guys think? Is this set poorly designed? Where does it fit with other sets? At 90 bucks a box there are some expectations about base cards but does ITG make up for it with their hits?

10-11 ITG Heroes and Prospects Box Break

This is the first time I have ever bought a box of an ITG product. Here is hoping I would get some first-timer's luck!

The box has 18 packs and there are 8 cards and 1 points card per pack. The box cost 89.99 plus taxes. I think the cost in the past is one of the reasons why I never purchased this product but seeing the quality of the hits in comparison to other products; I am looking to try something different.

Here were my hits in order.

Pack number 2 produced this gem. Matt Puempel is currently ranked #29 of the North American Skaters at this upcoming draft. He has 34 goals and 69 points in 55 games this season with the Pete. A hip injury has hurt his stock slightly as it will more than likely require season-ending surgery. These are limited to 120 copies.

This was an insert I was definitely hoping to pull. If you have seen my C56 post then you will know I love these little tobacco cards. After watching the Don Cherry Story I must say I will never look at Eddie Shore the same. If the movie has any accuracy at all, Eddie was a pretty sadistic guy. I will never forget him tying a noose around his goalies neck to keep him from dropping to his knees to make a save.

I am pretty excited about this card. Brendan Gaunce is going to be a high draft pick in the 2012 NHL draft. He was the 2nd overall pick in the OHL draft in the 2010 draft and is only going to turn 17 later this month. His brother Cameron is considered to be a strong prospect with the Avalanche. Not bad for my first autograph.

Here was my second game-used hit. These cards are limited to 100 copies each instead of the 120 of my previous game-used hit. Boone Jenner is an interesting name to say the least, but as a prospect he is a 17 year old who is eligible for this coming draft. He has 56 points in 55 games with the Generals which is a little lower than expectations going into this season but he should likely go in the 3rd round in the upcoming draft.

My second autograph is of Carolina prospect Zach Boychuk. With 2 WJHC gold medals to his resume, it is safe to say this kid is a winner. The Hurricanes are slow bringing this kid up but I think like wine he will age well and could very likely be a strong 2nd line centre.

Then in my second last pack I find a nice surprise. An Ethan Werek game-used gold jersey. These are limited to just 10 copies and the swatch is the nicest I have ever pulled myself. It is a three coloured swatch which bulges out of the card.
Ethan Werek was drafted by the Rangers in the second round of the 2009 draft. He currently is still with the Frontenacs and is averaging a little more than a point a game with them for the past 2 seasons. I have trouble gauging Rangers prospects because one minute they can be challenging for rookie of the year and the next minute they are buried in the AHL. Here is hoping he finds himself a home and makes a nice name for himself!

In all I would say it was as successful break.

Here is the summary

139 of 150 base cards

15 point cards

2 autographs

3 game used mem. cards

1 100th anniversary card

1 75th anniversary card (Jim Anderson)

1 Calder Cup Champions Card (Francois Bouchard)

If you can help me with my missing 11 cards please let me know I would like to try and finish this set.