MMarch
One Man Wolfpack, ,
Been awhile since we opened anything, mom has the rig with the trailer hitch so we can't take the boat out to play. Tiger Woods on Wii has taken it's toll on my back for the day, so what else can we do? "Hey dad, we haven't been to the card shop in awhile." The words I hadn't heard in quite awhile and was hoping I wouldn't hear for a long time. But, it's been a great summer, let's go have some fun.
As soon as we walked in he went right to where his favorite product has been sitting for the last 5 years, 05/06 Ultra. I knew before we even got in the car to head there he would be ripping a box of it as it's ritual every time we go to the shop. He has ripped the equivalent of probably 2 or 3 cases of this stuff, and has never once pulled the SSP Ovechkin RC. He's pulled 3 or 4 Crosby's, and he was hoping for an Ovechkin this time. He takes the box to his normal ripping spot, I walk down to talk to the owner, and 3 packs in I hear, "Of course, Crosby again."
The owner, his wife, and I all laughed and put it into a magentic holder for him. We checked it out and this is by far the nicest copy he has pulled, it is absolutely dead nuts perfect. The owner pulled out the light and magnifier, and we cannot find anything wrong with it, it could very easily be a Pristine grade. He was both happy, and bummed at the same time as he really wanted an Ovechkin. A few packs later he pulls an auto, nothing special - Nicklas Nordgren - but he always has that luck with 05/06 Ultra, he pulls an auto or patch very frequently and they were barely 1 per case that year. He also pulled a Crosby Difference Makers insert which he was pretty happy with.
We decided to dabble in some more hockey, he had no ITG products which was a huge bummer, and we stayed far away from UD Ultimate. Just can't justify paying almost $20 per card for a 4 card pack, when odds are you are going to get a base, a non-auto rookie, an auto that odds are will be very low end, and a jersey that maybe nets you $2-$5 in return. Just too much of a gamble.
So we decided to crack a box of 09/10 Ice each, and a box of 09/10 SP Authentic each. The Ice was OK, nothing special but a decent value rip.
Box 1:
Glacial Graphs Brandon Sutter
Fresh Threads John Tavares
Frozen Fabrics Anze Kopitar
Artem Anisimov RC /499
Steven Zalewski RC /999
Mario Bliznak RC /999
Mika Pyorala RC /1999
Taylor Chorney RC /1999
Box 2:
Glacial Graphs Jakub Voracek
Fresh Threads Antti Niemi (2 colors but hammered)
Frozen Fabrics Vincent Lecavalier
Christian Hanson RC /499
Ivsn Vishnevskiy RC /499
Peter Regin RC /1999
Peter Olvecky RC /1999
Andreas Thuresson RC /1999
Not terrible, not great. At least we stayed away from the Champions autos. SP Authentic was again, OK, nothing great:
Box 1:
Victor Hedman Auto RC /999
Chris Butler Auto RC /999
Bobby Ryan Sign of the Times Auto
Anton Khudobin RC /999
Bobby Orr HoloFX
Dany Heatley HoloFX
And the normal assortment of Essentials /1999
Box 2:
Cody Franson Auto RC /999
Jesse Joensuu Auto RC /999
Nicklas Backstrom (Caps) Sign of the Times Auto
Mika Pyorala RC /999
Marc-Andre Fleury HoloFX
Marian Gaborik HoloFX
And the normal assortment of Essentials /1999
Nothing mind blowing there, but some decent autos at least.
Next we decided to do a box of 09/10 SP Game Used each. A couple of firsts for us in these boxes. I have been ripping SP Game Used every year since it first came out, and never have I pulled a dual autograph. Even in my sealed cases I never pulled one. We also had never pulled one of the lower numbered patch cards except for in 05/06 I pulled a quad but it was a pretty weak player selection. We have pulled plenty of triple patches, today the luck (if you can call it that) changed.
Box 1:
Normal cheesy assortment of regular jerseys and rookies, although we did pull a Patrick Kane jersey so the boy was happy
Jarome Iginla Spectrum Parallel /10
Arnott/Weber Dual Jersey /100 (Arnott's jersey # if it matters)
Malkin/Semin/Kovalchuk Triple Jersey /25
Carey Price/Steve mason Dual Auto /25
Box 2:
Normal cheesy assortment of regular jerseys and rookies
Chris Drury Gold Parallel /100
Zetterberg/Datsyuk Dual Jersey /100
Jeff Carter Letter Marks Auto /50 redemption
And a big thick patch card. We slid the card sideways a bit and I saw Quad Fabrics. I knew it was a quad patch because the quad jerseys are not that thick. Slid the card a bit more and saw 3 decent patch pieces and one balnd one, and tried to guess who it might be. A bunch of names came to mind, but when I finally revealed who they were, we both said "UGH" at the exact same time. Not sure, but this might be the weakest Quad Patch in the set.
Oilers Gagner/O'Sullivan/Cogliano/Khabibulin sn# 8/8
Oh well, at least we can say we pulled one of the lower number patches now, along with a dual auto. Not the greatest player selection, but it could have been a lot worse (Carcillo UnSignifance auto and a Hamrlik Patch /35 come to mind).
I decided to finish off the ripppin' by letting him open an old school box that you don't see ripped very often. In honor of one of our favorites passing away (Probert), I handed him a box of 02/03 Fleer Throwbacks. I had forgotten about the Gold and Platinum parallels in the set, and I love the tough guy theme of this set. We were hoping for an auto, we hit two game used pieces instead, but they are cool cards. We hit a platinum parallel, can't remember if they were one per box or not, but it ws Dan Maloney. We hit some cool golds, Bobby Hull, Ted Lindsay, John Ferguson, Joey Kocur, etc. The Game Used pieces were decent:
Squaring Off Cam Neely/Ulf Samuelsson
Stickwork Curt Brackenbury
I forgot just how goonish Brackenbury looked, he was smacked with the ugly stick a few times......
So, in all we didn't hit anything that made us jump up and down. He pulled another Crosby RC which is of the lower end variety, but it's the best RC in that set so no complaints. I got to tell him stories about all the goons in Throwbacks and how different things were pre-Bettman, and we had a great time in the process. Prety much everything will be put in the sell or trade area, he wants to sell the Crosby since he has a few already and buy some new golf balls with the dough. So thanks for peaking in, and sorry for the long read.
As soon as we walked in he went right to where his favorite product has been sitting for the last 5 years, 05/06 Ultra. I knew before we even got in the car to head there he would be ripping a box of it as it's ritual every time we go to the shop. He has ripped the equivalent of probably 2 or 3 cases of this stuff, and has never once pulled the SSP Ovechkin RC. He's pulled 3 or 4 Crosby's, and he was hoping for an Ovechkin this time. He takes the box to his normal ripping spot, I walk down to talk to the owner, and 3 packs in I hear, "Of course, Crosby again."
The owner, his wife, and I all laughed and put it into a magentic holder for him. We checked it out and this is by far the nicest copy he has pulled, it is absolutely dead nuts perfect. The owner pulled out the light and magnifier, and we cannot find anything wrong with it, it could very easily be a Pristine grade. He was both happy, and bummed at the same time as he really wanted an Ovechkin. A few packs later he pulls an auto, nothing special - Nicklas Nordgren - but he always has that luck with 05/06 Ultra, he pulls an auto or patch very frequently and they were barely 1 per case that year. He also pulled a Crosby Difference Makers insert which he was pretty happy with.
We decided to dabble in some more hockey, he had no ITG products which was a huge bummer, and we stayed far away from UD Ultimate. Just can't justify paying almost $20 per card for a 4 card pack, when odds are you are going to get a base, a non-auto rookie, an auto that odds are will be very low end, and a jersey that maybe nets you $2-$5 in return. Just too much of a gamble.
So we decided to crack a box of 09/10 Ice each, and a box of 09/10 SP Authentic each. The Ice was OK, nothing special but a decent value rip.
Box 1:
Glacial Graphs Brandon Sutter
Fresh Threads John Tavares
Frozen Fabrics Anze Kopitar
Artem Anisimov RC /499
Steven Zalewski RC /999
Mario Bliznak RC /999
Mika Pyorala RC /1999
Taylor Chorney RC /1999
Box 2:
Glacial Graphs Jakub Voracek
Fresh Threads Antti Niemi (2 colors but hammered)
Frozen Fabrics Vincent Lecavalier
Christian Hanson RC /499
Ivsn Vishnevskiy RC /499
Peter Regin RC /1999
Peter Olvecky RC /1999
Andreas Thuresson RC /1999
Not terrible, not great. At least we stayed away from the Champions autos. SP Authentic was again, OK, nothing great:
Box 1:
Victor Hedman Auto RC /999
Chris Butler Auto RC /999
Bobby Ryan Sign of the Times Auto
Anton Khudobin RC /999
Bobby Orr HoloFX
Dany Heatley HoloFX
And the normal assortment of Essentials /1999
Box 2:
Cody Franson Auto RC /999
Jesse Joensuu Auto RC /999
Nicklas Backstrom (Caps) Sign of the Times Auto
Mika Pyorala RC /999
Marc-Andre Fleury HoloFX
Marian Gaborik HoloFX
And the normal assortment of Essentials /1999
Nothing mind blowing there, but some decent autos at least.
Next we decided to do a box of 09/10 SP Game Used each. A couple of firsts for us in these boxes. I have been ripping SP Game Used every year since it first came out, and never have I pulled a dual autograph. Even in my sealed cases I never pulled one. We also had never pulled one of the lower numbered patch cards except for in 05/06 I pulled a quad but it was a pretty weak player selection. We have pulled plenty of triple patches, today the luck (if you can call it that) changed.
Box 1:
Normal cheesy assortment of regular jerseys and rookies, although we did pull a Patrick Kane jersey so the boy was happy
Jarome Iginla Spectrum Parallel /10
Arnott/Weber Dual Jersey /100 (Arnott's jersey # if it matters)
Malkin/Semin/Kovalchuk Triple Jersey /25
Carey Price/Steve mason Dual Auto /25
Box 2:
Normal cheesy assortment of regular jerseys and rookies
Chris Drury Gold Parallel /100
Zetterberg/Datsyuk Dual Jersey /100
Jeff Carter Letter Marks Auto /50 redemption
And a big thick patch card. We slid the card sideways a bit and I saw Quad Fabrics. I knew it was a quad patch because the quad jerseys are not that thick. Slid the card a bit more and saw 3 decent patch pieces and one balnd one, and tried to guess who it might be. A bunch of names came to mind, but when I finally revealed who they were, we both said "UGH" at the exact same time. Not sure, but this might be the weakest Quad Patch in the set.
Oilers Gagner/O'Sullivan/Cogliano/Khabibulin sn# 8/8
Oh well, at least we can say we pulled one of the lower number patches now, along with a dual auto. Not the greatest player selection, but it could have been a lot worse (Carcillo UnSignifance auto and a Hamrlik Patch /35 come to mind).
I decided to finish off the ripppin' by letting him open an old school box that you don't see ripped very often. In honor of one of our favorites passing away (Probert), I handed him a box of 02/03 Fleer Throwbacks. I had forgotten about the Gold and Platinum parallels in the set, and I love the tough guy theme of this set. We were hoping for an auto, we hit two game used pieces instead, but they are cool cards. We hit a platinum parallel, can't remember if they were one per box or not, but it ws Dan Maloney. We hit some cool golds, Bobby Hull, Ted Lindsay, John Ferguson, Joey Kocur, etc. The Game Used pieces were decent:
Squaring Off Cam Neely/Ulf Samuelsson
Stickwork Curt Brackenbury
I forgot just how goonish Brackenbury looked, he was smacked with the ugly stick a few times......
So, in all we didn't hit anything that made us jump up and down. He pulled another Crosby RC which is of the lower end variety, but it's the best RC in that set so no complaints. I got to tell him stories about all the goons in Throwbacks and how different things were pre-Bettman, and we had a great time in the process. Prety much everything will be put in the sell or trade area, he wants to sell the Crosby since he has a few already and buy some new golf balls with the dough. So thanks for peaking in, and sorry for the long read.
