The NHL All-Star weekend is behind us (thank God), and now it's time for the stretch run heading into the Stanley Cup playoffs. A great time to be a hockey fan, and a great time for a hockey pack on A Pack a Day. 2008 O-Pee-Chee is my favorite hockey release of the year so far. I recently picked up a wax box, here's one pack from the box. Each pack contains 6 cards, with one of them being a retro parallel designed after the 1979 O-Pee-Chee set (one of the most iconic hockey sets thanks to Gretzky's rookie card).#367 - Marty Turco - Dallas Stars - I'll go ahead and state it for the last time, these base cards look awesome. They are a huge improvement over O-Pee-Chee designs from recent years, and incorporating the team colors in the border really ties the cards together nicely.
#10 - Cory Murphy - Florida Panthers
#120 - Paul Martin - New Jersey Devils
#131 - Nicklas Lidstrom - Detroit Red Wings - Lidstrom is at the center of an All-Star controversy at the moment. He and fellow Red Wing Pavel Datsyuk were each suspended one game for refusing an invite to last weekend's All-Star festivities. I think it's kind of silly to suspend two star players for refusing to attend the game because they felt they needed to rest, but at the same time I guess the NHL has to do something to prevent everyone from ducking out of the festivities. Does anyone else have an opinion on this?
#586 - Grant Fuhr - Edmonton Oilers - Legends - Cards 561-600 are short printed Legends cards featuring the greats of the NHL's past. I think this is a great subset and really sets this year's O-Pee-Chee release apart from others. I would like hockey card releases to do more to honor the NHL's past. The Legends short prints and this year's Masterpieces hockey set have done just that.
#392 - Phil Kessel - Boston Bruins (Retro Variation) - These retro cards are the highlight of the set as far as I'm concerned, absolutely awesome cards. I would love to complete a retro set but I don't think I have the time or the funds to chase them all down. Maybe some day.
Kessel is one of the young stars that have helped the Bruins rise to the top spot in the Eastern Conference. This guy's only 21 years old, and his 24 goals are good for 6th in the league, despite already missing 5 games due to illness. Hopefully he can return to the Bruin's lineup soon.
If you want to check out the box break you can do so here.
3 comments:
Being from Detroit all I can say is that if Crosby didn't at first say he wasn't coming then none of this would've happened. It is interesting that just mere hours after Crosby informed everyone that he wasn't going and was taking the weekend off that the play or be suspended rule was actually enforced. Bettman really couldn't care if Lidstrom and Datysuk show up as long as Sid the Kid is there. Just my thoughts but I might be biased.
That is one beautiful wrapper...
Wow, those pictures look like they are from the 80's... That is just awful..
Post a Comment