Monday, July 30, 2012

DAN CLOUTIER PC - Hot New Patch

It's been awhile since I've gotten back into collecting but it seemed that there has always been a hole in my personal collection. That hole WAS a patch card. But between the patch card I pulled in my 2011-12 Titanium box and the card I'm about to show, I'm at a good start.

This patch card is quite cool if I do say so myself! I'll let the scan do the talking:


This is a 3 colour patch with a nice thread seam down all three colours. This obviously came from the older Canucks orca jerseys from Dan Cloutier's era. This comes as my first card from the 2011-12 BTP want list of Dan Cloutier cards. 


Like the back of the card says this is the Silver Version. That means there are /19 copies of this card. The price you ask? 11 dollars and it was shipped right to my doorstep. That's what I love about collecting Cloutier cards. A low numbered card with a sick patch is a very reasonable price!

Very excited to add this to the collection and I hope to add more cards like this is the near future!

GO NUCKS GO!

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

DAN CLOUTIER PC - Once Upon A Time...Cloutier Was A King

Before I go to bed for the night I needed to get my hockey card blogging fix in. So here's a short little show off segment of a Dan Cloutier card I picked up a few months back.


This card is from the tail-end of Cloutiers NHL career. You knew it started to go down hill once he ditched his bucket mask. He decided to adopt the new modern look of the design cluttered NHL cages. It's weird seeing number 39 in black, purple and silver. But I'm almost certain that swatch of jersey came from a Canucks jersey. Unless, UD was quick enough to acquire a Cloutier GU jersey from his short time in LA. Who knows?


Like I said this card was acquired months back in that big lot of over 70 Cloutier cards that promised 3 hits (2 GU and 1 AUTO). 

Not much of a card compared to those crazy patch and GU equipment out there. But it's good enough for little old me!

GO NUCKS GO!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

BOX BREAK & REVIEW - 2011-12 Panini Titanium

Whether you're an Upper Deck, Panini or ITG fan; you have to respect the great social media skills of Panini America. Their blog (which can be found on my blog reel) is consistently updated daily if not more than daily.

As a hockey card producer they continue to release very unique and fresh products. They have made improvements from their first year back into the hockey card world and in their second year they released some inspired products. From their low-end sets like Score, Pinnacle and Donruss to their high-end products such as Luxury Suite and Dominion they have set the bar high for their competitors to reach.

A few weeks back I commented on Panini's blog and long story short Tracy Hackler from Panini sent me a couple of boxes to review on my blog. A quick trip to FedEx after coming back from vacation and viola!


Here are the two boxes he sent me sitting on my lap in the car. On the left is the box I'll be reviewing today and on the right is Rookie Anthology which I'll be reviewing in the following days to come.


Like I said, we will start with 2011-12 Panini Titanium. This set pays homage to the Titanium set that was produced in the early 2000's. The box is a nice start being not just you're regular cube or rectangle box. As the box says: 5 packs, 4 cards a pack. That equals 5 GU or AUTO cards, I'm excited!


This is what the pack looks like from when you open the box. This kinda thing gets me excited to rip some packs. My first impressions of the product came from the internet, I saw Panini's "sneak peak galleries" and was of course drooling over the rare patch and AUTO cards.

The real first impressions though come from the actual breaks because of course you won't always pull the drool worthy cards. I had probably read/watched about a dozen of these breaks online and had really only seen a couple "WOW" boxes. So from the perspective of a student with a tight hockey card budget, you could imagine the scepticism. But after busting this box, my appetite has been wetted for more!

Let's start the review!


The base cards go well with the Titanium theme. The back is a rustic metal type colour and imprinted in the top right hand corner of every card is the teams logo (nice touch). The Titanium logo is on the top left and is not over powering nor ugly, instead it fits its spot nicely and adds a sharp feel to the card. As all hockey cards should be, the players name is the biggest and most prominent writing on the card. It sits at the bottom of the card and underneath lies the team name. The bottom is basic and sharp. The best part about the design is how the player really pops off of the card. The blue, green and white of my Canucks are vibrant and bold.


Above is the back of the newly traded Rick Nash "Titanium" hockey card. The back of the card is filled 2/3 with the same design as the front. The top third features a different photo then the front (which is always appreciated), as well as the team logo on the right and the card number on the left. A nice touch about the card number is how it fits in a black filled "Titanium" logo. Therefore, the continuity of the product is not lacking. 

The bottom two thirds are again similar to the front, players name is bold with position and full team name underneath. All the basics and more are listed underneath in a black bar: height, weight, shooting preference and birthdate. The paragraphs are all well thought out as well as informative. Finally the product finishes up with the most recent stats from the 10-11 season.

BASE DESIGN RATING: 9/10

Now onto the hits! We'll start from my least favourite and move up from there.


I put this card in the "hit" the category but really it is a parallel. Panini loves their parallels. This product isn't like many other of Panini's products that seem to sometimes be buried with parallels. Instead, there are only 2 (Spectrum Ruby /99 and Spectrum Gold /10). Above is obviously the "Spectrum Ruby" version numbered to /99 copies. The only difference from the regular base cards is the red scratchy colour in the background.


Next is the only straight out AUTO I pulled from the box. I'm not familiar with Dwight King and his AUTO could use some work but I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the design of this card. The laser lights and the really cool young background is right up my alley. This was a 10/10 design for me. But there is a concern I have...


Titanium is a rustic, metallic type designed product in my mind. So even though the design of these AUTO's are sweet, they just don't fit in the product for me. This would make sense for me in a product like Certified but unfortunately not here. Great idea, but I'd like to see this in a fresher and more modern product.



                                         

These two "Game-Worn Gear" cards come in tied because they are from the exact same GU set but player wise Kopitar is a better pull than Shelley in my mind. These are very "Titanium-esque" cards. Black, metal ribbing background and the swatch is shaped as the top of the diamond in the Titanium logo. The down-side about pulling these particular two "Game-Worn Gear" cards are they are both white swatches. But, I know Panini has included many coloured swatches as well. 

Overall the back and the front of these cards are well designed and would look really nice all together as a set.

Now onto a particularly great hit I pulled. For your viewing pleasure:


Now that is simply an awesome hockey card! Four coloured swatches of hockey jersey from four great players from the Pittsburgh Penguins. Like I said I like the variety of coloured swatches the gold, black and even a light blue thrown in there are all a nice touch.

The design is really unique and nice, the players are broken up into the four corners of the card like a square but the swatches are flipped like a diamond. Small design points like this make a big difference. This variation of the "Four Star" GU set is numbered to just /75 copies!


The back is simple and is appropriately done. The four players are each well represented as well as the more prominent focus of the card (the team logo). 

But this is not my favourite card of the break nor is it the lowest number nor does it include the best coloured swatches. 

Take a look!


NICE! Only the second patch card in my personal collection (a Dan Cloutier patch card which I have yet to post up was the first). This card is the "Prime" version of the "Rookie Reserve" GU/AUTO set. And prime it is indeed. Panini has really made a bang in the quality of patches they include in their products. That red and yellow patch on the right is popping right out of the card (something I've always wanted to say) and together the two patches have 4 breaks and 3 separate colours.


I haven't even started talking about the player yet. Erik Gudbranson is a big defenceman that was selected third overall in the 2010 NHL Entry draft. He played 72 games in 2011-12 season for Florida only producing 8 points (2 goals), not much by anyones standards. I really hope he can get into a bigger market where he can thrive and not be stuck down south in Florida.

"HITS" DESIGN RATING: 9/10

These cards I pulled aren't the only cool cards in the entire product. There are some other great ideas for sets included such as "Draft Day Autographs", "Home Sweater Autographs" and "Marks of Honour".

SET IDEAS: 8/10

These boxes are going for around 100 bones and you'll end up with 20 pieces of cardboard. The card designs are strong and there are some great looking AUTO's and patch cards out there to be pulled. But unfortunately, not everyone gets as strong as a box as this so some may have buyers remorse. Personally, I would recommend this product to others that have change to spare but not to those that have a tight wallet. To me Panini has other products around this price range (such as Rookie Anthology which is my next break) that have more consistently good pulls then Titanium.

BANG FOR BUCK: 7/10

OVERALL RATING: 33/40

My box break was great considering everything I pulled in the amount of packs. I really like this product and for certain collectors this type of product will be right up some peoples alley.

Thanks again Tracy and Panini America! The break was fun and the kindness was top class!

GO NUCKS GO!

Monday, July 23, 2012

Hey I Won A Contest! Thanks Ross!

I'm baaaaack. After almost two weeks of vacation time I'm back in action. Even better was when I opened the door to my house I sank into yellow bubble mailers as well as a FedEx "missed you" letter. That means hockey cards, hockey cards and (you guessed it) more hockey cards.

I ripped them open in random order and my first bubble mailer happened to come from Ross over at Sports Card Info and it was of a contest I won about a month back (give or take).

The card included was this gem:


The card comes from this years insertion of Crown Royale from Panini. This GU insert set includes past legends of the game and thus was given the name "Mythology" for its ancient and priceless value to the game of hockey (so I'm guessing). 


The design of the card is reminiscent of Artifacts with the pillar straight down the middle of the card. The player is given a grayscale colour but the "game-worn material" is snow white.

Nonetheless, this is a very cool card to have. Cujo is truly a household name and I'm proud to own it! Thanks Ross!

GO NUCKS GO!

Friday, July 20, 2012

Help Me Collect All the Dan Cloutier Cards from 11-12 Between the Pipes

WARNING: Blogging on vacation may cause typos and possibly falling asleep while typing in the sun. Please read with caution! Since I'm typing on my iPad everything will be in one big paragraph so to separate them ill use bold print.

While my vacation in California slowly dwindles to an end (I head back home Monday). I know I will not be completely dissapointed on arriving home. I've gone crazy taking some of my extra pocket money from working and put that towards a shopping spree on eBay. I have some awesome Dan Cloutier cards coming in as well as a contest card I won and a package from Panini themselves!

But since I don't have any scans nor any of my cards miles away from home, I decided to ask a question to you fine folks.

Can you guys please help me collect every single hockey card of Dan Cloutier in the newest edition of Between the Pipes? Pretty please?

I know that's a big favor to ask but with your help I hope to collect all 21 cards of Cloutier in this set. Needless to say, Dan doesn't have many new cards out each year so when a reasonable product comes out with my guys name in it, I want them all! Especially since even low serialed numbered cards are reasonably priced.

So far I've collected (well technically they are still in the mail) 2 out of the 22 cards in the set...

HAVE:
1. Autograph (Decades 2000's) #A-DC
2. GU Patch (Silver) #M-40

Obviously since they're still on their way to my house I haven't even touched these cards yet but once I do, I'll be sure to let you have a peek!

I drool just thinking about that patch card numbered to only /19 copies!

But of course there are still 20 other cards on my wantlist and here they are...

WANT:
1. Base Card (Decades 2000's) #110
2. Base Card (La Belle Province) #173
3. Autograph (La Belle Province) #A-DC2 (sp)
4/5. GU Jersey (Silver/Gold) #M-40
6/7. Franchise (Silver/Gold) (Luongo/Brodeur/Cloutier) #F-17
8/9. Shooting Gallery (Silver/Gold) (Luongo/McLean/Potvin/Cloutier/Brodeur/Scneider) #SG-08 10/11. Shooting Gallery (Silver/Gold) (Vachon/Sawchuck/Hrudey/Cloutier/Quick/Bernier) #SG-12
12. GU Patch (Gold) #M-40
13. GU Jersey/Auto #GUJA-DC
14. GU Patch/Auto #GUPA-DC
15. GU Glove/Auto #GA-DC
16. GU Pad/Auto #PA-DC
17. GU Stick/Auto #SA-DC
18. Anniversary Jumbo Pad #AJP-07
19. Anniversary Jumbo Stick #AJS-04
20. Anniversary Jumbo Jersey and Stick #AJJS-25

Most cards above show Cloutier with Canucks gear on, but there are some LA cards in the mix as well. From my count there are four 1/1 cards which is a bit of an uphill battle but if I can even get my hands on one of them I'd be happy!

So without further adue if any of my fellow bloggers see any of these cards at their LCS or own them already please contact me and we can get a trade going.

On another note I went and saw "The Dark Knight Rises" midnight release and although that movie was freaking mind blowing I'm deeply saddened to here of that mentally deranged man that took the lives of 13 innocent people and counting not to mention 71 shot.

My prayers go out to all those that were affected in some way to that disgusting act by the man who is now calling himself "The Joker" - just pitiful.

GO NUCKS GO!

Monday, July 9, 2012

DOUBLE PACK RIP - SpX and Contenders Hockey

Summer has finally hit Vancouver, and right when it does, I'm packing up to leave. I'm not too sad though, me and my family are leaving for two weeks to California (LA, Palm Springs)! So I guess these past few sunny days were a precursor to the real heat down there.

Anyways, back to hockey cards. Two weeks ago I went to my LCS and decided to test a few products I've yet to rip. Although I can't afford buying boxes of all these new products, I try my best to buy at least one pack of every new thing that comes out. On that days menu was SpX and Contenders (UD vs. Panini).

I've seemed to have pretty decent luck pulling some decent and even great cards this year from packs and boxes. I plan to do a full recap at the end of the hockey card season, but the last time I picked up two single packs I got a Tim Erixon RC AUTO from Elite and a Gilles Gilbert AUTO from BTP. Would I keep that roll going?

Starting with SpX...


Alright so when I originally saw scans online I thought these cards looked pretty cool. In person though, they are probably one of my least favourite designs for a mid-high range product this year. The square nuisance of gold foil where the team logo appears is gaudy at best. The players buckets are cut off and for some reason the font that says "SPX 2011-12" is bigger than the players name.


The back design is the same as the front minus the foil. The backs are bearable in my opinion, but still needs improvement. As for the actual last card in the pack it was...


...a foil covered "Legends" hockey card. Foil can be great and hell in some instances a card can be completely covered in foil and look good (Saving Face insert set) BUT not in this case. Even though this card is numbered to /499 and contains the presence of a great hockey player, it still doesn't resonate well with me.

On to the other pack and here's hoping it's better...it's not...


This could be a really cool product if Panini had executed it correctly. The untouched full picture design for a hockey card is a cool idea and team colours work very well with that. Unfortunately, the untouched, borderless picture affect didn't turn out great. It's like the information bar on the bottom is glossy and nice and the actual picture is flat and matte finished. If they had used better photos, glossed the entire fronts, did some small border and gotten rid of the Conference logos these cards could have potential. 


The backs are a complete wreck. They look so grungy and 90-ish and just plain boring. This product had some really neat AUTO's and GU cards though and that is what really carried it because the base cards are just plain bad! In particular I like the all black cards with the silver AUTO, sometimes they include a patch. As well those three die-cut puzzle cards that make a line of information make me drool every time! 

Do you think I pulled either one of those?!


Nope! What the hell is a Cup Contender anyways? The line-up in this parallel set is ridiculous and just a bad excuse for cardboard. Rookie Contenders I get, but I do not get this! What an awful feeling pulling this piece of work!

So about 16 bucks later, I ended up with 7 base cards and two high serial numbered cards. Awesome work Michael, maybe next time you can just throw your money directly into the trash...

...huff...

Anyways, like I said I'm leaving for vacation Wednesday but if I get the certain card I'm waiting for in the mail tomorrow than look for another post tomorrow night. If not see you guys in another 2 weeks and enjoy your summer!

GO NUCKS GO!

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

THE GOALIE PROJECT - Updates A-O

You may or may not be familiar with the ongoing list I have for my Goalie Project. The list is constantly updated for the site although not exactly in sync with my collection so I've decided to go through all the goalies and break them into three sections. The first will be the last names that start with the letter "A" through "O". Starting with...

...Corey Hirsch




Even before I started this project I believe I had all the right cards to make Hirsch a perfect 3/3. His rookie card is on the first page along with cards of him in non-Canucks gear. As with the rest of the three sheets they are littered with Hirsch in Canucks jerseys.



Another easy 3 for 3. Artus' rookies are at the top of the first page and the rest of the pages are of Irbe in Canucks and non-Canucks gear.


It's not often a complete 3/3 happens with a total of just 3 hockey cards. His RC is that first card where he is in a Flames jersey. The second card is one of two BTP base cards of Moss in Canucks equipment. The last is a random Carolina card with Moss manning the net.


Last but not least is an incomplete goalie in this project. Although I have two rookies of Ouellet and all three cards portray him in different non-Canucks gear; I do not have a card of Ouellet in a Canucks jersey therefore this is still an incomplete goalie.

Speaking of incomplete, below is a WANT LIST of all the goalies for my Goalie Project from this first section (A-O). Let me know if you have any of these cards to maybe help me out a little via trade. Again the three cards I need to get a perfect 3/3 for a goalie is: his rookie card (RC), a card where the goalie is wearing a Canucks jersey (Canucks Card) and a card where the goalie is wearing any other jersey that is not a Canucks (Non-Canucks Card). 

Murray Bannerman (RC - Canucks Card)
Richard Brodeur (RC - Non-Canucks Card)
Gary Bromley (ALL THREE)
Bruce Bullock (ALL THREE)
Sean Burke (RC)
Frank Caprice (ALL THREE)
Jacques Caron (ALL THREE)
Ed Dyck (ALL THREE)
Ken Ellacott (ALL THREE)
George Gardner (Non-Canucks Card)
John Garrett (RC)
Glen Hanlon (RC - Canucks Card)
Rick Heinz (ALL THREE)
Jason LaBarbera (Canucks Card)
Ken Lockett (ALL THREE)
Drew MacIntyre (RC - Non-Canucks Card)
Cesare Maniago (RC - Non-Canucks Card)
Bob Mason (RC - Canucks Card)
Dave McClelland (ALL THREE)
Steve McKichan (ALL THREE)
Maxime Ouellet (Canucks Card)

And here is the regular list I put out:

Alex Auld - 3/3 COMPLETE! 27 TOTAL
Murray Bannerman - 1/3 COMPLETE! 1 TOTAL
Martin Brochu - 3/3 COMPLETE! 4 TOTAL
Richard Brodeur - 1/3 COMPLETE! 16 TOTAL (1 JERSEY, 1 EVENT-USED, 1 AUTO)
Gary Bromley
Bruce Bullock
Sean Burke - 2/3 COMPLETE! 21 TOTAL
Frank Caprice
Jacques Caron
Ed Dyck
Ken Ellacott
Bob Essensa - 3/3 COMPLETE! 14 TOTAL
Mike Fountain - 3/3 COMPLETE! 11 TOTAL
Troy Gamble - 2/2 COMPLETE! 21 TOTAL
George Gardner 2/3 COMPLETE! 2 TOTAL
John Garrett - 2/3 COMPLETE! 3 TOTAL
Glen Hanlon - 1/3 COMPLETE! 6 TOTAL
Johan Hedberg - 3/3 COMPLETE! 7 TOTAL
Rick Heinz
Corey Hirsch - 3/3 COMPLETE! 53 TOTAL (1 AUTO)
Charlie Hodge - 2/2 COMPLETE! 3 TOTAL
Arturs Irbe - 3/3 COMPLETE! 29 TOTAL
Jason LaBarbera - 2/3 COMPLETE! 4 TOTAL
Ken Lockett
Roberto Luongo - 3/3 COMPLETE! 62 TOTAL (2 JERSEY)
Drew MacIntyre - 1/3 COMPLETE! 1 TOTAL
Cesare Maniago - 1/3 COMPLETE! 3 TOTAL
Bob Mason - 1/3 COMPLETE! 1 TOTAL
Dave McClelland
Steve McKichan
Kirk McLean - 3/3 COMPLETE! 153 TOTAL (1 AUTO)
Rob McVicar - 1/1 COMPLETE! 1 TOTAL
Alfie Michaud - 1/1 COMPLETE! 7 TOTAL
Tyler Moss - 3/3 COMPLETE! 5 TOTAL
Mika Noronen - 3/3 COMPLETE! 6 TOTAL
Maxime Ouellet - 2/3 COMPLETE! 3 TOTAL
Félix Potvin - 3/3 COMPLETE! 32 TOTAL (1 AUTO)
Andrew Raycroft - 1/3 COMPLETE! 7 TOTAL
Curt Ridley - 2/3 COMPLETE! 2 TOTAL
Dany Sabourin - 2/3 COMPLETE! 2 TOTAL
Curtis Sanford - 3/3 COMPLETE! 7 TOTAL
Cory Schneider - 1/2 COMPLETE! 12 TOTAL (2 JERSEY)
Corey Schwab - 1/3 COMPLETE! 1 TOTAL
Petr Skudra - 3/3 COMPLETE! 4 TOTAL
Gary Smith - 1/3 COMPLETE! 1 TOTAL
Garth Snow - 2/3 COMPLETE! 2 TOTAL (1 AUTO)
Kevin Weekes - 2/3 COMPLETE! 2 TOTAL
Steve Weeks - 1/3 COMPLETE! 1 TOTAL
Kay Whitmore - 2/3 COMPLETE! 2 TOTAL
Dunc Wilson - 1/3 COMPLETE! 2 TOTAL
Wendell Young - 1/3 COMPLETE! 3 TOTAL 


GO NUCKS GO!