Pack Break: 2011-12 Pinnacle

This is a pack that came as a nice little bonus after ordering two boxes of 1997-98 Score Cards for me and my friend and a set of 2011-12 Panini All Goalies and it was completely free of charge. Yay!

Happy with this little gift, I tore the pack open to see what is inside as I had no knowledge about the product.

I got three goalies - Crawford, Halák and Anderson, all of those interesting action shots. I love the goal cam shots, so I liket that card the best. Halák shot, on the other hand, is a bit weird, look at the guy's face all covered by his neck protector! Photo of Chris Neil inside the Senator's stadium is definitely unique. Onto the second part...

Three New York players, one Blues guy, all in sweet shots. Good job Pinnacle, you made a nice effort selecting pictures! One more base set guy was included, Anthony Steward.

There he is.Ok, this might be the most generic photo of the pack. Still, I like the simplistic design of the card and focus on photography. So I flipped the card to see the stats...

... and there were none. Instead, I got something I enjoyed even more, a description of the game the photo was taken from! In my books, this raises my appreciation of the card a level higher. The only complaint I have is that they have used the same photo as on the front.

The pack says there are 10 cards in the pack, right? So what is the final one? An insert, of course.

Claude Giroux breaking through the ice. Simple, but nice card. No foil, nothing shiny, nothing really fancy, just a decent card.

So, I got 10 solid cards for free. Nothing really special, but nice additions to my album. Three goalies and an insert? I will take that for free any day, thank you!

Pack Break: 2 packs of UD MVP Hockey 2001-2002

I liked this pack so much, that I went back for more and bought two of them this time. I hoped for a goalie (Belfour, if possible), or at least one of Czech players, and this is what I got.

 

I was really happy to get Martin Brodeur, actually I discussed him with a couple of friends that day. Coincidence or fate? :-) Another pleasant surprise for me was Jaromír Jágr, the best Czech forward ever, here shown in the Washington jersey, probably shortly after being traded. Nice moment. Apart from that, I got one RC, Chris Nielsen. It seems that everytime I get a prospect in this set, it's a player that never really broke through in the NHL. I googled Chris Nielsen (as I never heard of him) and found out that he only appeared in 52 NHL games. 

Oh and I finally got an insert!  

I think it's kinda neat, I like the effective design, shooting Fedorov and shiny silver foil, that is, unfortunately, not scanned properly. I'm not a big fan of Fedorov, but this card just gets me.

By the way, my first box is on it's way, I am collecting the whole UD MVP 99-00 Stanley Cup Edition. I got about a hundred base cards so far and I look forward to my first big box break. 36 packs. Yay. Can't wait!

Pack Break: UD MVP Hockey 2001-2002

 

 This was the second pack purchased today. The contents of it were much more satisfying for me. Let's have a look at it.

 

First of all, I just LOVE the design, it looks awesome - silver lining, stylish frames painted with team colors, nice selection of players... What's not to like? 

I especially like the Chris Pronger insert card. The background resembles honeycomb, it's shiny and embossed... and it has Chris Pronger. A very beautiful card indeed.

The pack also included two rookie cards - Gregg Naumenko and Kirby Law. Unfortunately, neither of these players saw more than a couple of games in NHL. Still, they are a nice addition to my collection.

The rest of the guys are (or were) NHL stars, core players for their teams. There is one interesting fact about the Sami Kapanen card - the front states he is playing on defense, which is obviously not true. The information is corrected on the back though, stating he is a left winger.

Overall, it is a nice set and I'm considering buying more packs. 

Pack Break: Fleer 2006-07

 

I was walking past local newsagent's and saw a pack of Fleer 2006-07 cards. Not knowing the pack, I purchased it and here is what was inside: 

 

To be honest,  I wasn't that impressed with the overall card design. Sure, it has a distinct retro look and it is printed on a retro paper, but it just didn't strike me as a set I would like to complete. What I do like is the frame design, which I consider quite a neat solution. The photos are pretty normal, not too great, but not too bad either. I like the Bertuzzi photo though.

I was really happy to get not one, but two goalies, because I'm a goalie person, a pack without a goalie is just incomplete for me. What's more, I got Marty Turco, which made me really happy, being a Stars fan. Nabby looks also very cool in his cyan pads. Overall, I got quite pretty selection of players, including one Czech guy, Aleš Hemský. 

I also got one insert card, Total-O Dany Heatley, which is an OK insert, but I've seen better. The number, position and name are in gold, but my scanner can't get it right.