2011-12 Parkhurst Champions box break

So the latest hockey set has been released. You won't find the latest or hottest rookies in it though. It's the latest version of Parkhurst Champions featuring all the greats, and some not so greats, of the past.

The box features 20 packs with 5 cards per pack. Cost was $84. A bit more than what you would think it should cost considering you'll find the 100 card base sets for $3 at card shows in a couple of weeks.

The first card out of the first pack is.....

 Patrick Roy in his rookie garb. Awesome. The set has various levels of cards. The first, the main base, has 100 cards. In honour of my pal Shane, here is card #100......

 interesting to see the material that sweater is made out of... it looks like a football jersey.
The cards are full bleed of course, high gloss, with a gold foil embossed name and logo at the bottom.

The backs are like this...

 Full career stats!!! Which for a superstar set like this one makes for some interesting reading...
99 of the 100 base card set also come in an autographed parallel. Chances are 1:14 packs. The exception is Eric Lindros. Eric no sign for you!

Cards 101-120 are made up of old Wire Photos. They are short printed. You get one every five packs. Or four per box.

 Cards 121-130 are also Wire Photos, but feature more than one player. They are short printed to one per box.
Smile boys.

 All of the Wire Photo cards also come in an autographed parallel. The single player auto odds are 1:500 packs. The multi player auto odds are 1:3000 packs.

Cards 131-150 are called Rendition Colour and feature artwork. These fall at 1:8 packs.

 19 out of the 20 Rendition Colour cards are available autographed. 1:800 packs will find you one. Again, Eric Lindros no sign for you!

Cards 151-160 are a subset called Rendition Black and White. These beauties are 1:32 or just over 1 per box and a half.

 You know by now that they also come autographed. Although odds fall at 1:4000 packs.

The other part of the "set" are Champ's mini's. These mini cards make up a 57 card set. And the first 45 cards are one per pack.

 They come in four parallels. Regular back, Green back 1:6, Parkhurst back 1:172 and Gold foil 1:???
What do they look like? Glad you asked. My only "duplicate" in teh box was getting a Marcell Dionne regular and Green back.

 Pointless. But apparently standard nowadays.

Cards 46 through 57 of this mini set are short printed and fall at 1 per box. My SP mini ended up being Phil Esposito. 

 Now the "hits" The box advertises one OR two autographs per box. Standard base autos fall at 1:14. I ended up with Flyer sniper Reggie Leach.

 Differences include a matte finish card, and the gold foil has been replaced with silver.

I did end up with two autos in my box... the other came in mini form.

These are tough to find at 1:90 or one every five boxes. They also come in a Red Ink variation, but only 15 copies of those exist.

So there you have it... all in all a fun break. Not for everyone, but if you enjoy hockey history like me, then you'll enjoy reading all of these cards like I did.
I'll be, as expected, going after this set, so if any of you bust any and don't like them, send them my way.

Brand new 2011-12 OPC Hockey... it's fresh...

So today is the day I've been waiting for. It's the day that the new OPC hockey cards hit the shelves. And to make it even more interesting, the release date was pushed back a couple of times. So, as luck would have it, I was driving home from work this afternoon and I found myself near the cardstore. How fortuitous!

One problem. It was 1:30 and no OPC. And my bud the owner wasn't there either. Some dude behind the counter said it was coming, but who knows when. Yikes. What to do? So while he fiddled with his GPS (don't ask) I watched the ballgame on tv.

Now it's 2:30.... still no OPC and I have to go. Crap.

Bummed, I leave and begin the long drive home. I'm about halfway home when I remember that I'm now near another cardstore...one I don't normally buy boxes from. So I head there. $55 and five minutes later, Voici!

 I guess old Wayne gets a turn on the box 'cause who knows if Crosby is ever coming back. We'll probably see Howe again next year. Upper Deck is predictable if anything.
36 packs and 6 cards per pack. Ouch. For a "entry level" set, Upper Deck doesn't build it as one. This should be 10 cards per pack at least.
Here's the box bottom for those of you interested in such things.

 And the wrapper. A wee similar to the box. We're not re-inventing the wheel here....

 So let's see the cards!
Here's the base... no more white borders.

 do we really need 33% of the front to be taken up by the logo??

How's the back?

 simple, boring, and recycled. It's odd that the reincarnation of OPC has bland grey backs to get that retro feel, and yet OPC always had bright, coloured backs.

The base set has a Rainbow parallel again this year...

 that backs on these are much better... kinda what the base should be.

 Agian, after the 500 card base set, there are 100 short printed cards (501-600) 50 for the legends of hockey...

 Definitely a movie poster theme to this entire set.... the backs are..... bland...

 Gee NHL, whatever did Mr Hull do between 1972 and 1979??? I hate that the NHL still to this day will not acknowledge the existance of the WHA.

The rookies are similar, and bright...

 they at least added some graphics to the backs of these....

 Wait... aren't these cards from last year's set? Yep. They put last year's Update set into this year's packs. 1 per 9 packs. That's 4 per box for you math impaired folks...

 Of course there are leader cards.... I like these, but I wish they would make them part of the set like the old days instead of an insert set. And bring back team cards!!!

 One thing I did like about these this year is that they are now on regular card stock intead of the super thick and glossy stock of the last few years.

 And oh yes, the retro parallel. Inserted at one per pack, this year's offering is loosly based on teh 1933-34 OPC set. I think. My memory only goes back so far.

 You may have gleemed these on the box bottom at the top of this post. Four different colours, sepia picture, and no mention whatsoever of their first name. Even though the '33/34 cards had them. Plus, we have the hockey version of 2011 Topps Lineage baseball card backs.

Horrible. And again, as you could forget, 40% of the card back is logo. Sweet jesus.

Alright. There you have it. When I'm done busting open the box, I'll give you a breakdown of what I found.

2011-12 OPC Hockey
What I liked
- No white borders.
- Affordable at $55 per box.
- leader and trophy cards on regular cardstock
-different retro cards

What I didn't like
- enough with the 64 point font OPC logo. OPC cards never had this. Get rid of it.
- grey backs. Again, OPC never had this.
- only 2/3 of the front available for photo
- only 150 base cards per box for a 600 card set!!!! What happened to entry level and affordable???

A pack break and set review, all in one.

As mentioned in my previous post, I picked up a pack of the new Donruss hockey. Donruss never came out with a decent hockey product before while they were actually Donruss, let's see how they do now that they're Panini.

$4 a pack for 10 cards. I wish I had kept the wrapper and scanned it.... it has a warning on the wrapper that the contents inside are made for ages 9+. So much for getting the kids back in the hobby. Way to go Panini!

 The photography is hit and miss... at best.

 The design of the card really detracts from the photo, and like OPC, the logo is waaaaay too big.

 The card stock is okay, and not too glossy...

 but too many photos are of just one skater...

 nice to see the fans in Florida filling the seats...

 like I said... different players, but the same static photography.

 although the use of team colours in nice... the wording of the players position is a waste. Too hard to read.

 and the backs are an epic fail. If you are going to put a photo on the back, good for you! But make it a different photo or don't bother.

Career stats are a must with hockey sets. And again, the design inpedes into the structure of the card. Certainly not necessary on the back.

Considering this is Panini's answer to Upper Deck Series 1, we will have to compare it to Upper Deck. Panini released Score to compete with Upper Deck Victory as a starter set priced at $1 per pack. ($30 per box) And they did fairly well. But with Donruss, they decided to take on the Big Boy. And failed. Miserably. The card stock, photography, card backs, card design, and price point all come up far short of Upper Deck.

So the parent company may have changed, but again, it's the same old Donruss. If you happen to like this stuff, wait for 6 months. You'll be able to buy boxes dirt cheap.