10-11 Score Hockey

I bought 3 boxes of 10-11 Score back in the beginning of Nov. I know this is pretty slow getting to post but life has just been a little to busy so rather than review the product and be like the 75th person to do so, I am just going to share the results.

I really enjoyed opening this product because of the nostalgia and the feel. This set really was designed to be a yearbook of the 09-10 NHL season. There are highlight cards and player cards and even the inserts commemorate different points in the season. In all I really liked this product and the price and quality are excellent and though this will never be an investment set, it was fun to open and I was lucky enough to get a hit in each box.

Here are the front and back sides of the cards. Pretty clean mixing up something old with something new.

By using the glossy inserts to help complete my set I managed to get 419 of 500 base cards and 49 of the 50 of the SP'ed rookies. So I am pleased that Panini did a great job "shuffling the deck" so to speak.

The hit from box number one was difficult to find because it was a "french back" base card and I only found it after looking at the cards a second time.

If I remember my grade 10 french well enough, the translation is "Don't forget to collect Score Cards". Seems like they could have used a little more creativity in their quote. But apparently these are pretty rare falling about 1 per case.

The hit from box two was this little gem. Of the 50 sp'ed rc's this is one of the better ones. Jared Cowen is a monster and could have the potential to be a poor man's Chara or who knows he might replicate what Tyler Myers has managed to do in Buffalo (that is a little optimistic). But really, a nice hit and not bad for a 28.99 a box. However, I was looking forward to a redemption rc in each box instead, but Panini did replace that with something decent.

The last of my three boxes had one of the SSP rookie cards. Rumours suggest that there are only about 4-5 in each case so I was pleased to get one in my last box. Cam Fowler is off to a great start this season and this is card number 551 in the set. Panini has 9 SSP rc's in the set and I am not sure at the moment if I will bother tracking the other 8 down. Maybe next summer when the market is flooded with different rc's of these guys I might see if any deals can be had!

In all, not bad for $100 with taxes included. I am close to finishing 1-550, I hope to get my missing ones posted along with some other sets I am working on if anyone wants to make some trades. It will be interesting to see what Panini does with this product next season. One thing for sure, I do hope they decide NOT to recreate the 91-92 Score set.

08-09 UD Artifacts Review

So I was in my local card shop the other day and I decided to pick up a pack of 08-09 Artifacts hockey. Not the first pack I have ever picked up, I did score a pretty sweet 1 of 1 rookie from this set a few months back, but I thought I would take my chances on maybe getting a Stamkos or something cool. At 13 bucks a pack with taxes thrown in is a little costly, but they guarantee a "hit a pack" so lets dig in.





As you can see, each hobby pack contains 4 cards, and in my case a really large plug. Each card is nice, with a good layout, and the four corners have a bronze foil. They cards have a look of a premium set, and the backs of them have the usual stats as well as a small write-up. I am a little disappointed that the Price and Crosby both came out of the pack with nicks on the top, and in fact this isn't the first time I have seen that from an Artifacts pack. My "hit" was the Legends Ron Hextall card numbered 892/999. I am not sure if I would call this a "hit". I like Ron and he had a wonderful career and was a huge influence on my favourite goalie of all-time Martin Brodeur, but most of those legends cards really aren't anymore valuable than the base cards. Some might argue, my damaged Crosby was the actual hit. In all, they are nice cards, the set is small if you don't include the SP's but to try and do a complete set would be very pricey. Apart from some quality control issues, I really like the product, and they memorabilia cards are always pretty sweet with Artifacts.