Hitting The Ice

 

This will be the last of the LCS anniversary busts from earlier in the month.

There's 3 regular base cards per pack. I'm just highlighting the Bergeron as the first one out.

Each pack also contained a green base parallel. With only 50 cards in the unnumbered base set, they are not exactly the rarest, but you can't go wrong with a McDavid.

The Ice Permieres are technically base cards, with the numbering being higher depending on how much is expected out of the specific rookie. Batherson is a Level 2, with Suomela and Hicketts being Level 4. That's back-to-back post with /999 cards of Hicketts. That Batherson is a pretty nice addition to the Sens binder as well. 

SubZero inserts return. The rookies portion of this gets the serial # treatment this season.

No relic in this, instead I got this Exquisite rookie card. Yay?

And the auto. While it isn't the biggest name, the Rinkside Signings always have a nice design with the on-acetate signature. So at least there's that.

Not the best box for the book value, but still a couple nice cards with the Dadonov and Batherson to take the regret partially away.

There you have it!

Sens-ational Additions

 

After a one day break, I'm back to the COMC box, and covering the Senators content in the mailer. I'm leading with this card since it is the only one in the shipment that wasn't connected to e-packs in some way. Fountain played in 2 games over 2 seasons for the Sens, but he still counts towards the 'every Sen with a card' ever.

I guess Game Dated Moments cards count towards e-pack content. Ottawa's season was so amazing that they earned one card all season in this set. This commemorates Bobby Ryan's return to the team after taking time off for personal issues and picking up a hat trick in his first home game back.

Cheap Series 1 parallels and inserts!

Cheap Parkhurst! 

Cheap Synergy! I think I paid less for the past 3 groupings of cards than I did for the GDM of Ryan.

And let's throw in a cheap relic for good measure. It might be a bland one-colour swatch, but at least it can be traced to a specific event.

And there you have it!

More Credentials

I guess I kinda like the recent Credentials Contenders-ish release from UD. So here's another box!

I didn't get any Sens cards in the box, so I'll lead the way with a former Senator.

Here's four more base cards, from the numbered portion of the set. As with most of their numbered rookie base sets, the higher thought of a rookie is, the lower the print-run. So, in a few years I can look at this when MacEwen is the star and the others are in the KHL.

Parallels! Here's a red!

Here's an acetate. These are only used for some of the rookies, so they really can't be considered parallels in the traditional sense.

One more parallel, and this is the lowest numbered one I've landed in this. It can't be seen that well, but purple rookie parallel is /10.

The back of the card shows the writer might want to work on their homophones. Unless it really was in vein, which sounds painful.

Inserts! Here's the Rookie Science ones.

I was hoping the science would have something to do with restorative powers of soup.

And the Star of the Night inserts.

Here's a familiar insert from the first time through. It is interesting that I didn't get the unnumbered base version in either box, but I did get the /99 versions from both.

Here's a new insert. I figured a 'through the boards' insert set would feature a 'hard hits' theme, but nope, just another acetate. I wish they'd cropped the photo a little higher to create more of a look of actually looking through the glass.

My first box landed me an acetate auto redemption. This one should give an idea of what my Adam Fox will look like when it shows up.

A new insert, and an actual autograph that I don't have to wait for makes for a fine box.

Senator Catch-Up - Part 2

Let's keep going into this year.

As usual, I won't highlight everything - this covers 4 half-cases of these products. This year's Synergy had an insert set that would cover various all-star teams of various players. Which means I get to find a new Erik Karlsson Senators card in this! WOO-HOO!

If you want a more traditional Synergy card with the acetate portion, here's one of 'em.

Allure was the next release, with a set make-up very similar to Panini's Select releases. Foil throughout, with lots of parallels. This is a pink diamond parallel.

And this is the white rainbow parallel. While neither of these are numbered, there are some other ones in this set.

But if autographs are your thing, here's a couple of them. Both of these are /349, which seemed to be the numbering of the rookie portion of this set, although some of the more touted rookies are /249. This is my first auto from Veronneau, and the Balcers joins an Artifacts one.

Now that is an interesting die-cut.

Here's the lowest numbered card in the posts, with ths purple ice parallel limited to 10 copies.

Despite the set name, I'm guessing this patch is photo-shoot worn as opposed to coming from a game. Still, I'll always love it wehn some gold/bronze shows up on a Senators patch.

One last card - the always nice looking Shadow Box design out of SPX.

Just some Platinum left next post!

2020 Adventures in Repacks: Part 14 - One Last Pre-Parkie chase?

Unsurprisingly, these didn't last long on the shelves at Wally World. I guess I lucked out walking into one that still had 4 of these on the hangers. And I got all of them to hunt Pre-Parkie autographs.

But first, here were the pack contents.

Although I'm sure I've pulled both before, I will still highlight a Senators card and a 2/14 baby.

The insert/parallel content in the the Parkhurst packs was pretty horizontal, but the vertical card was easily the best since they didn't silver/chrome out the dejected Ovechkin cameo on Halak's card.

Another Sens appearance among the Gold Rush parallels in the Score packs.

And it was all over the place for inserts/hot rookies in those, with 4 different ones represented. If I recall somewhat correctly, the Team Future were among the tougher pulls in these releases.

Series 1 of the flagship release provided a pair of super-dull Portraits inserts, but I did get a Young Gun (even if Greenway seemed to follow me around last year), and a great Jagr insert saluting his handful of games with the Flames, so it balances out.

And your inserts from Series 2. Pretty blah here, but at least there were no Portraits cards.

And let's see the hints.

Repack 1:

Like before, we head back to the earlier days of relics, with this Samsonov coming from a 2000-01 release. Fistric did have a decent career, and Future Watch autographs are always fun.

Repack 2:

Really?

Repack 3:

That's a nice way to break a streak. Iggulden only played in a dozen NHL games, but I was not expecting to see any sort of autograph from the Cup in this, even of a short-term player. Gilbert did carve out double-digit seasons in the NHL, and has been overseas the past few years.

Repack 4:

I guess this finally paid off. Fortunately, I noticed that there was a smaller than usual card in this repack before I noticed the third Samsonov relic, otherwise its appearance might nave broken me. That's Howie Meeker on the autograph, and as I type this, he's probably the only member of the pre-Parkie checklist still alive, having turned 96 this past November. He was also born in my hometown of Kitchener, so there's a local tie to this auto.

I can't imagine seeing these repacks again, but that auto was a nice way to go out.

2020 Adventures in Repacks: Part 7.2 - Why I left Series 1 on the Shelves

After landing that Sid Abel autograph, I had to return to Walmart to get the rest of the hangers. Which meant, in this case, 3 more. The 4 packs inside were the same. I'll start with those, and group the similar packs together.

Even if it is a dupe, a 2/14 card is a nice start to the recap.

And one of the Score packs also contained the mystical, magical box hit of the Gold Rush Hot Rookies. And it is a relevant player as well!

Despite being locked together like a brick, there were a couple PC hits in the Parkhurst packs with a Sens card and a Rangers alum.

As for the pack hit, not much variety with each having a red parallel.

A decent Young Guns card highlight the S1 packs.

There was also a YG card in S2, but the highlight here is easily the Marquee Rookie of Elias Petterson.

Off to the hits!

This is probably the worst pairing of the bunch. But you do have a second generation player and a player still in the league, so it still isn't that bad. And if this is the worst of the hits, I wouldn't complain about these being the two I got.

It is a hot box for the Los Angeles Kings! The relic comes from a set that I'll always be a fan of - Masterpieces. Classic purple (or gold) Kings relics are a favourite colour to find on a swatch, and there's the bonus of it matching the uniform in the image. A Future Watch auto to go along with it, and like Neal, of a player still in the league.

Like with the Connolly, we return to the early days of relic cards with the Tommy Salo - and it coming from 2000 Black Diamond. It is also a pretty unique swatch, coming from a glove. And a dual autograph as well, which I seem to recall being tougher pulls from the Be A Player releases. Doug Weight might have sticker issues, but if that's my biggest complaint, I really shouldn't complain.

How did I not hit every nearby Walmart to get more of these?