Salfa - Life in the Crease

Overview

Salfa - Life in the Crease is a brand new Czech set of hockey cards by OFS, celebrating a career of Dušan "Salfa" Salfický a popular Czech goalie, another of my childhood heroes, who played for our local team and was the goalie that was in the net for the very first game of hockey I saw live on the stadium. When I heard there would be a small set, I had to have it, especially considering how cheap it was (approximately 14 USD).

The set contains:

27 base cards (+ same number of paralels, limited to x/12)

3 insert cards (Authentic Moments) (+ parallels, x/12)

2 autograph cards (x/179)

Game used memorabilia (Gold, Red, Autograph, Marked)

Each box came with 27 base cards, that is, the full base set, full 3 inserts, 3 parallel cards, 1 autograph card and 1 Game used memorabili cards.

Here is what I got:

Base set

The base set is trying to have a certain vintage feel, the background evokes an old chronicle, which this really is. The selected cards show Dušan in a Czech National team, winning the World Championship with the National team and also him playing for my hometown team in the season I started watching hockey. Check out the mask, it looks definitely Felix Potvin inspired.

The set does a thorough job mapping Salfa's carrer, right from the beginning. The card on the left is from his rookie season in the Czech Extraliga, the one on the right shows him as a kid. He started playing for Tesla Pardubice, a club which was the starting club of another premier Czech goalie, the best one, Dominik Hašek.

Dušan also played the KHL in Russia for 4 team in total, where he proved his qualities.

He also tried his luck in NHL, with New York Islanders. He never got a chance to play a season game though.

Parallels

The parallel card is covered with little shiny rainbow foil pieces, but it is really hard to see from the scan. Not bad.

Inserts

The inserts for this set consist of mere 3 cards, called the Authentic Moments. The one above shows him playing for my hometown, Plzeň in a sweet shot from the net.

Other two insert cards show Dušan in his very beginnings as a player. Very cool and uncommon to see something like that.

Autograph Card

A card signed by the player. Not much more to it. Looks scanned on the picture though,

Memorabilia card

I got this game used piece of Salfa's pad from his time in Pardubice. I suspect it might be a part of the strap as I cannot find black anywhere else on the pad, I saw people pulling much cooler parts, oh, just my luck. Nevertheless, it is still a numbered piece of history.

Verdict

I got exactly what I wanted for my money, no real surprises here. I was happy to learn more about the player and to get a piece of his pad and autograph. For such an inexpensive box, I am very happy.