09-10 Upper Deck Series 1 Retail Box Break

Last summer I picked up a couple boxes of retail hockey. Two 09-10 and one 14-15. The 14-15 was epic-ally awful. So bad I didn't want to spend any time scanning the cards to share them let alone rehash the experience. The one 09-10 was equally bad. Thankfully there was gone good box in the lot and I will share some of those with you wonderful folks today. If it had been the only box, then I would have called it a success. Sadly it needs to carry the weight of its crappy brethren so that in itself also diminishes the success here.

Without further ado, the top 4 Guns out of 6 I got and one game used card.

09-10 Upper Deck Dmitry Kulikov Young Gun

First up is Dmitry Kulikov. Kulikov is a pretty steady defenseman who currently is apart of a pretty solid blue line group in Winnipeg. Having grown up in Lipetsk, I am sure living in Winnipeg isn't as painful as some seem to find it given they get cold weather on occasion in that part of Russia.  

09-10 Upper Deck Artem Anisimov Young Gun

Artem hit a milestone this week scoring his 300th career point. It took him 600 games which is pretty decent, at that pace he'd be good for 41 points in an 82 game season. Playing 82 games in a season has been a challenge for Artem given he hasn't reached that total in the past 7 seasons. Still, he's a very dynamic player and can often surprise defenders with a great move or a superb pass.

09-10 Upper Deck James van Riemsdyk

Oh boy, back in 2009 this was a pretty coveted card. Second overall pick, loads of talent and potential and the sky was the limit. James in now in his 9th season, he's managed some great numbers including a career high in goals of 30 and he's cracked 60 points twice. This year he's on pace for 32 goals and 49 points. However, if we were to look at the 2007 draft class as a whole, he'd likely still be a first rounder but guys selected behind him (Voracek, Couture, Shattenkirk, Pacioretty, Subban, Simmonds, and Benn) may all get some consideration before JVR. With that being said, given the 50 Young Gun cards I could have hit, this is one of the better ones. 

09-10 Upper Deck Jamie Benn Young Gun 

The biggest hit of the box without a doubt is this one. Jamie was a 5th round steal for the Dallas Stars and as of today, ranks second in points from those selected in 2007 with 569 just behind Patrick Kane (805). Jamie has scored 20 goals or more in every season he's played except the lockout year and this season is on pace for 30 goals and 75 points. He's definitely an elite talent and this was one YG I was missing from my collection so in all a very nice hit.


The Game Used Card!

All retail boxes back then came with a single game used card and I think I did pretty well with Anze Kopitar!

So there you have it, been a while since I shared a box break but given how bad my luck has been in this department, you can probably understand how I didn't want to use up too much of my limited blogging time on some pretty spectacularly awful boxes. This was definitely a success but far from my best too.

How about yourselves? Any box luck lately?

12-13 Artifacts Box Break - UD made me nearly the perfect box!

I can honestly say when it comes to boxes, I love opening them. It really doesn't matter what the product is, or if there are hits or not. However, a rare thing happened to me a little while ago and that was I think I found the "perfect" box just for me. Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and nothing is truly perfect, but this box that I opened I think was one of the best I could ever realistically hope for and though not everyone would think the box is amazing, I certainly did and do. I want to warn you that there are no hits here that will have collectors bidding 100's of dollars on or anything like that. Instead, it is a box when the sum of the parts are added, I feel like I had a huge success. So here we go...

This is a bit of a review at the same time so here is what the 12-13 Artifacts base cards look like:

The front

I am a huge fan of these cards. I love the ice surface background, the silver foil and the crisp player action shots. Definitely a set I want to complete, even if it means buying the whole base, non-sp set.

The back side

Love the design on the back too. The horizontal layout, a second photo, partial stats and a little write-up. Upper Deck, this is what Artifacts should look like, well done. 

Now time for the hits...

Hit 1: Jordan Eberle Gold Parallel /25

What a start. A low number parallel hit of one of my favourite players in the NHL and  is players I collect. 

Hit 2: Team Canada Dustin Tokarski /999

I love that UD included Team Canada players and once again I landed another PC guy! Tokarski numbered to /999 isn't overly exciting to some, but I love this kid and hopefully he will get to the NHL a little faster now that he is in Montreal. I would never buy this card, but getting it in a pack is fun and I will of course be keeping it.

Hit 3: Chay Genoway Rookie /999

I think this hit belongs to someone else. This is the only hit in the box that doesn't belong, but then again it is a rookie and I LOVE rookies so at the very least I have a card I don't mind keeping. Truth is, there won't be many more cards made of this guy between now and his retirement so maybe I should enjoy his moment in the sun......maybe.

Hit 4: Frozen Artifacts Claude Giroux

Many many years ago, I saw Claude play hockey several times. He was actually in NOVICE and ATOM  and I was the timekeeper for the games he would play in our town. I know this because I do remember him and back then he was a pretty solid player so I thought he might go somewhere.

Hit 5: Johnny Bower /999

Cool insert idea focusing entirely on goalies. There is certainly a lot of fans of goalies and goalie subsets. I am not one of them, but Mr. Bower is a class act and he gave me more than I bargained for with my TTM request so getting this card was loads of fun.

Hit 6: Tyson Barrie Rookie /999

Here is my second guaranteed rookie and I am very pleased with this one. Tyson was a former Team Canada World Junior and is a pretty solid prospect with the Avalanche. People might think I am crazy, I would take this over a Chris Kreider any day :)

Hit 7: Autographed Rookie Redemption IV /99

The hit of the box (and a case hit) in terms of value and potential. I like extended rookie cards and I love autographed extended rookie cards. I really can't wait to find out which guy I am going to get. It will be numbered to 99 which is awesome and I am going to find out who it is before I redeem as it might be more advantageous to move the card rather than keep it.

Hit 8: Tundra Tandems Jordan Staal and Eric Staal

Ahhh the Staal boys. We were all born in the same city and as a result I do like the two of them a great deal. I am still in need of an Eric Staal auto to go with my Jordan and Marc.

Hit 9: Anze Kopitar Game Jersey Parallel /125

Yet another player I really like. Numbered to /125 it isn't exceptionally rare, but I love the purple and black swatches and I really like the design of these cards.

Hit 10: Chicago Blackhawks Rookie Redemption

For those of you that don't know me, the Blackhawks have always been my "second" team. If the Devils are out or it is a Western Conference matchup, the Hawks are my team. It began with Belfour and ever since I just have always liked the team. Currently, Toews and Kane are the two guys I like the most and I will share more on that in another post, but this redemption again it tailor made for me as I certainly don't mind getting this card either. One thing worth noting though, we are through the midpoint of the season and there have been no new Hawks to enter the NHL who don't already have a rookie card so this card could end up being a wild-card. So with that being said, I am also waiting to redeem this one as well since it might be advantageous to move it as well.

So there you go, my box broken. I loved every moment of the break and all the hits were very welcomed. There wasn't any card in this break that really is going to make me rich, but at the same time I could very easily keep every card and be extremely happy with the overall break. I hope to buy another box or two of this stuff, but I have a feeling that will need to wait until the summer when I may convince my wife it would be a good birthday gift! Well thanks for reading, I also have an awesome pack break coming in the next few posts too.

Bribe - Anze Kopitar Spx Rookie

In my household, my wife sometimes likes to exploit my addiction by offering me bribes. For instance, if there is a job she really really doesn't want to do, but it is her responsibility to do it, she will offer up cash to avoid doing it. Funny I know, but it works for our relationship. The other day, there was a circumstance where she really really wanted out of her responsibilities and offered up some cash and that is what this post is all about

We are currently at the stage where we have outgrown the home we are currently living in, so we are in the process of selling our home. With all that being said, we have lots of little jobs that need attending to and one of them was getting a Real Estate agent. We called a few Agents in and made our selection based on the interviews. However, in the process, my wife had spent more time than usual talking to one agent prior to our decision and it was her job to break up with this agent. Well, she wanted nothing to do with that job and immediately offered up 20 bucks if I would do it for her. 

I am no expert on break ups, in fact I have broken up with very few individuals in my life, primarily because I usually like being the nice guy and I will take the fall rather than cause the fall if you know what I mean. However, I am a pretty good teacher and I have lots of parent-teacher experience and I know how to deliver both good and bad news so I guess this comes a little more naturally for me than my wife. With a twenty for incentive, I told her, Deal! Turns out it wasn't that easy of a break up because I had to do it through a voice mail message and then she called back wondering why and then I had to call her back etc., but in the end it was pretty harmless and our reasons for going with someone else were very valid and not personal. Now armed with twenty bucks, I headed to my LCS and nabbed this beauty which has been taunting me for a little while:

06/07 SPX #179 Anze Kopitar Rookie /1299

The photo of Anze is horrible, but it is a relatively limited rookie (compared to UD Base or Victory) and is autographed. The price was 30 on the card so with the twenty and a ten of my own I purchased this baby! I have mentioned in previous posts I am a big fan and this card was on my to-do list for sometime so having to do a little dirty work paid off and now I can enjoy this card for years to come!

As an aside, there was a new mystery box at the LCS which I nabbed for 10 bucks and there was some pretty sweet treasures in that box. But, I guess I will share that another day!