2011-12 O-Pee-Chee Box Break

OPC has been my favorite product to bust for years, and 2011-12 has proved to be no exception!!  I had a case hit in my first box (that I thought I had posted about, but it appears that I did not) a few months back (Brayden Schenn Team Canada Auto - I will put a scan at the end of this post).

I have also picked up a number of both hobby and retail packs as well and ended up pulling another signature card and a Bobby Hull black rainbow retro parallel, so needless to say its been a pretty good year from the hits perspective.  Regardless of the hits, trying to put together the complete base set always proves to be a daunting task given the base is 500 cards (not counting the Rooks and Legends SPs).

A typical box contains 36 packs with 6 cards per pack.  Per the UD website, an average [hobby] box break will contain:

• 36 Retro variations
• 4 Playoff Beard variations
• 1 In-Action Laminated card
• 4 Rookie Updates (’10-11)
• 1 Rookie Update Retro (’10-11)
• 9 Reg. Set Rainbow parallels

An average case break will land you the following in addition to the per box hits:

• 3 O-Pee-Chee Souvenirs (quad jerseys)
• 2 O-Pee-Chee Signatures
• 1 Team Canada Signatures
• 3 Rookie Update Retro Rainbow parallels

 Anywho, I picked up my second hobby box of the product today.  How did I do??

I noticed rather quickly that there was something amiss in the box.  The first 7 packs I opened had 5 cards, each but did contain the retro card.  Further into the box a half/dozen packs only had 4 cards (still a retro per tho) and one had eight cards with a extra retro card...so I probably ended up getting shorted in the base card area, but here is the breakdown on the number of base, retro, and other cards contained in my box:

• 37 Packs (above average)
• 104 base cards (below average I would think);
• 5 Playoff Beard variations (one more than the average): Cleary, Boyle, Carter, Giroux, Mara;
• 3 Black Rainbow variations (which are not even noted above or on the packs with odds): Parros (love the old-time stache he is rockin), Tom Gilbert, Tim Kerr Legend;
• 2 In-Action cards (one more than the average):  Spezza (which is available for trade since I just pulled the same one last week) and Zetterberg;
• 9 Regular Set Rainbow parallels (the average) including Paul Coffey (which I think is a sharp looking card, scanned below), Sauve (rook), Gagner, Pavelec (OJ!!), Raymond, McDonagh, Hamhuis, Legwand, Colaiacovo;
• 10 Legends SP cards (above average): Bathgate, Kurri, Dionne, Doug Wilson, Neely (Kick his @$$ SEABASS), Denis Potvin, Hawerchuk, Sakic, Milt Schmidt, Red Kelly;
• 9 Rookie SP cards (above average): Campanale, McMillan, Blum, Todd Ford, Strair, Frattin, Bouma, Nemisz, Rinaldo;
• 5 '10-11 Rookie Update cards (above average): Emmerton, Della Rovere, Cormier, Cole, Tatar (he goes best with the fried clams I hear);
• 1 '10-11 Rookie Update Retro (average): Marcel Mueller;
• 1 Trophy Winner: Daniel Sedin;
• 2 Team Leaders: Oilers, Blues;
• 38 Retro parallels (above average): 3 Legends, 3 Rooks; 32 Base; and
• 1 O-Pee-Chee Signature (yes my third this year!)

Now how about a few scans of some of the cards pulled...

Am I the only one that finds it odd that some of the playoff beard cards are pink on the bottom and others grey?

Love the gapped tooth smile on this picture!!!

This is the auto pulled today!!  Nice!!

I pulled this one about a month ago from a hobby pack.

So in retrospect, while I may have been shorted on the base in the box, I would say I still made out pretty well by pulling a few extra of the shorter printed cards.  Once again, OPC delivers and I am thrilled by my pulls!

However, it should be noted that I emailed Upper Deck after I opened the 8th pack to tell them what was going on, so we will see if anything comes of that...I will keep everyone updated.

Certified Blaster Hit

I went into Target today with the boys for some last minute Christmas shopping and treated myself to a blaster box of 2011-12 Certified.  I have strayed away from these in the past as they cost $29.99 for three packs...of course had I taken the time to read the box, I would have realized that each box contains "one autograph or jersey card".   So today I took that leap and bought a box...and it must have been a Christmas miracle because I pulled an auto AND a jersey from the box!!  UN-HUH...one of each baby!!!  OH YEAH!!!  Talk about beating the odds!!!  Bet you're probably thinking that they must be good for me to be writing about right??? 

Lets put it this way...HELL YES!!!!!

The jersey came from a guy who was drafted #2 overall in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft behind Taylor Hall.  He played 74 games in the NHL in 2010-11 and posted 11 goals and 11 assists in 74 games.  He has already blown away his freshman year totals by scoring 31 points in the first 32 games (14g-17a) in 2011-12.  He also put up 7 points (3g-4a) in 13 games in the playoffs including a very memorable goal against the Lightning where he rushed up the ice from his own end, split the defense at center ice and scored a very pretty backhand goal over the sprawling Roloson...but don't let my description ruin it...watch it in all of its glory:

Of course I am talking about one of the NHL's brightest stars of the future, Tyler Seguin!!

The jersey card is a "prime" two color (black-white) seam swatch and it is SO SWEET!!! 

As for the autograph, it was for a guy who was drafted #2 overall in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft behind Taylor Hall. He played 74 games in the NHL in 2010-11 and posted 11 goals and 11 assists in 74 games. He has already blown away his freshman year totals by scoring 31 points in the first 32 games (14g-17a) in 2011-12. He also put up 7 points (3g-4a) in 13 games in the playoffs including a very memorable goal against the Lightning where he rushed up the ice from his own end, split the defense at center ice and scored a very pretty backhand goal over the sprawling Roloson...um wait...this sounds familiar??

That's right, the autograph is none other than the aformented Mr. Seguin (it sounds odd to me to be calling a guy who was born six months after I graduated from high school "Mr", but then again, the kid has already made more money than me in the past few years than I probably will in my entire lifetime...RESPECT)...ANYWHO...back to the card...

Wait, did I say "card" above??  Damn, I meant to say "cards"!  AND now back to the CARDS!!!

Not buying it??  OK, so lets just say that the autograph and jersey swatch were on the same card...and the card is also numbered 23/25 (like that is anything special...I mean really, there are 24 other cards just like this one out there...hardly special right??)...have I built it up enough yet??  Can you hardly contain your excitement??  Are you so excited that if you were sitting in the play area at your local McDonald's you would be arrested and branded a sex offender???  OK...time to blow that wad....

I present to you..........
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...Annoyed yet?????...
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THE BACK OF THE CARD!!!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!  Got you!!!!!  I am like a stripper in the Champagne room...teasing you just to the point of the 'O' Face, getting up, putting her clothes back on, and leaving you with a...OK, sorry...got away from things again.

Here is the front...I promise...
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.really...tits coming...giggity...
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...MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!
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.and a HAPPY BOXING DAY to all of my friends in Canada!!!!!!!
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.right...the card...damn did it again...
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TADA!!!

TADA!!!  Hope you enjoyed spending the past few minutes with me and my insanity.

OH yeah, I did also get a crappy mirror red parallel #152/199 of some Vanek guy and a bunch of base cards (oddly enough, of the 12 or so base I did get, I got two Brodeur and 2 Thronton cards) in the same box...like I care!!  HA!

Till later...RESPECT!!!

eBay Mail Day - Packs-A-Plenty!

In a rare move for me, I purchased a lot of 21 loose packs of Upper Deck Hockey Cards on eBay.  As a practice, I try to stay away from lots of this type ever since I purchased one in 2006 and it was obvious that many of the packs had been opened and resealed.

Not sure what drew me to this one, maybe it was the fact that it was a buy-it-now deal for $8.00+$5.20 shipping, or perhaps it was the packs in the lot which included the following:


1 x Legends Masterpieces (opened)1 x 2008-09 Hockey Trilo3Y (opened)1 x 2007-08 Hockey SPX (opened)1 x 2005-06 MVP1 x 2005/06 Upper Deck Series 1 Hockey1 x 2006-07 Fleer Hockey1 x 2006-07 Flair Showcase1 x 2006-07 Artifacts Hockey1 x 2007-08 Fleer Ultra Hockey1 x 2005-06 NHL Hockey2 x 2006/07 Hockey O-Pee-Chee1 x 2005-2006 Hockey Fleer Ultra1 x 2006-07 Fleer Ultra Hockey2 x 2005 / 2006 Hockey Parkhurst2 x 2006-2007 Fleer Hot Prospects3 x 2006-07 SPX (2 opened) 

They further stated that "5 of 21 packs have been opened just to sample card quality and come from a previous employee of UD"...um OK...

So I took a chance...and how did I do you ask????  Well, they arrived on Monday in a flat rate envelope and on time as promised by the seller. It took me no time to start my review of the packs...and about a long to see that I had myself quite a rare find on eBay...they were not searched and almost all of them were HOBBY packs!!!  Well these packs provided some FABULOUS hits (and no, none of the hits were of Mr. Crosby)!!!

In total, I pulled 5 rookies: 06-07 Ultra Yan Stastny, 06-07 Hot Prospects Adam Dennis, 06-07 OPC Guillaume Latendresse, 05-06 Parkhurst Jay Harrison...and a 08-09 Brandon Nolan Trilogy #282/999:

Not too bad, I had a few of them, but the Nolan card I did not have...

5 parallels: 05-06 Ultra Gold Joffrey Lupul, 06-07 Ultra Gold Vaclav Prospal, 07-08 Ultra Gold Glen Murray, 08-09 Masterpieces Brown Border Eddie Shack, and from the 2006-07 Flair Showcase Pack, a Keith Tkachuk Legacy Collection #008/100:

Not a bad card of one of my favorite American players of all time!

As for inserts and SPs (non-parallels), there were 5 worth noting: 05-06 Ultra Scoring Kings Mats Sundin, 05-06 UD Goal Rush Patrice Bergeron, 06-07 SPXcitement Pavol Demitra #272/999, and the following:

05-06 MVP Tribute To Greatness Wayne Gretzky:

As well as an 05-06 SP Notables Curtis Joseph #572/999:

So up to this point, I've had some OK cards, not to mention plenty of base...but there were two very special cards I pulled that BLEW MY MIND and made this eBay buy one to remember and tell the grand kids about...

From the OPENED (yes OPENED) 07-08 SPX pack, I pulled this Winning Combos dual jersey card containing two multi-color swatches for...ALEX OVECHKIN and Olaf Kolzig:

WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!!!!!!!  Did I mention that the pack was OPENED BEFORE I received it????  Top that folks!!!  OH WAIT!!!  I CAN AND DID!!!!

It turns out that the lone 06-07 Artifacts pack contained only ONE card...yes ONE!!!  I could not believe my eyes as they tried to focus on this GEM:

Don't adjust your screens...that would be a dual patch card numbered 23/25 featuring Richard Brodeur and the great Dave "Tiger" Williams!!!!!!!!!  UN-HUH...OH YEAH...I got me a WAY cool dual patch card!!!!!

In reflecting on the hits, I think I did OK with just the non-jersey cards for $13, nothing that made me go WOW...but add into the mix to two jersey cards, and this deal went from OK to FABULOUS!!! 

And if you are thinking that you would love to have that Canuck's patch card...I would consider it, but only if I can get one back featuring Ovechkin, Backstrom, Green, or some other current Capitals player in return.  My email address is cgmescutt1@att.net.

Thanks for taking the time to look at my blog!!

Chris

Recent Hits - 2011-12 Certified

Its been a while I know, things have been a little too crazy recently.

I picked up some packs recently of the Certified variety from the LCS.  I had little success in buying Certified packs last year, with only one decent Jersey (granted it was a Carey Price Fabrics #23/25), a hand full of parallels, a lot of base and no autos or rookies...so you can imagine my hesitation in spending close to $10 a pack from my LCS for the current version...

So I dropped $40 and picked up four packs from a freshly opened box (I should know since I opened it myself) and I am glad I did with hits coming out of three of the packs including a Mirror Red Lecavalier #096/199 as well as the following two cards:

#388/399

The second hit was nice surprise since I failed to get any of these from last year's set!

A week or so later, I swung back to the store and picked up a few more packs...the next card was a bit hard to take given tragic events that transpired during the off season with this player...

Its hard to imagine that at some point in 2011 this card was in his possession...humbling...so much, that I don't have anything left to say...