10-Pack Break: 2020-21 Upper Deck Tim Hortons

(team and brand links go to sponsored Amazon products, player links go to related pages on my blog, news links go to source pages)

For reasons linked to confinement, lockdowns, an 8 PM province-wide curfew, 15-hour workdays and having a toddler at home, I was unable to head to a Tim Hortons store in the Fall for the annual tradiition that is buying a $2 tea or $3 small bottle of Coke Zero to buy a pack of Upper Deck's 2021-21 Tim Hortons cards at $1 instead of the "regular" price of $2, so I had decided to skip this year altogether, until I found a seller on Ebay who sold a 10-pack for $27, shipping included, essentially saving me the trouble of buying the drinks and cutting down my total costs by 30-40%. I'm not sure I'd buy another ten-pack, but I'm happy I got these 30 cards for the season.

First, here's a look at the base cards, front and back (spoiler alert, they're pretty similar to those of years past):

The foil looks good, the three-dimensional etchings are nice, and the back still has stats from the past five season as well as a call-back to the picture on the front.

There are also the usual Tim Hortons sub-sets, such as Gold Etchings, of which I landed Connor McDavid and Carey Price:

There's also a staple of the last few years, Red, featuring Price and Drew Doughty:

The All-Star Standouts cards are back, I pulled David Pastrnak, Jordan Binnington and Quinn Hughes:

I continued my luck of picking players from blue teams in the Clear-Cut Phenoms class with the Toronto Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews (instead of the usual Patrik Laine of years past):

Cup Winners are represented by Duncan Keith (it's actually a silver foil card to the naked eye):

UD also recycled the Canvas series from its signature series, with Pastrnak:

The Kucherov card is the only double I got, here's how the packs collated:

11: Jonathan Huberdeau
23: David Perron
26: Blake Wheeler
31: Carey Price
33: Dougie Hamilton
34: Auston Matthews
55: Mark Scheifele
58: Kris Letang
74: John Carlson
83: Max Pacioretty
85: Connor Brown
86: Nikita Kucherov (x2)
89: Reilly Smith
92: Evgeny Kuznetsov
95: Matt Duchene
101: Tyler Seguin
115: Frederick Andersen
121: Adam Henrique
123: Jeff Carter

Canvas:
C-8: David Pastrnak

Cup Winners:
CW-7: Duncan Keith

Standouts:
AS-5: David Pastrnak
AS-11: Jordan Binnington
AS-14: Quinn Hughes

Cleart-Cut:
CC-7: Auston Matthews

Red:
DC-18: Carey Price
DC-30: Drew Doughty

Gold Etchings:
G-1: Connor McDavid
G-9: Carey Price

It's still a solid set, worth an 8/10.

Jason Spezza Autographed Card

(team links go to sponsored Amazon products, player links go to related pages on my blog, news links go to source pages)

Two weeks after being put on waivers by the Toronto Maple Leafs - with his agent using the "don't claim him or he'll retire" shtick - Jason Spezza scored a hat trick against the Vancouver Canucks.

Things seem to be going Toronto's way this season, as the team leads the NHL a month into an abridged 56-game season, and their decisions in handling Spezza's situation and cap hit is just one example of how fortunate they've been; any team could have claimed him off waivers, even the Ottawa Senators, whom he has captained in the past with the "C" currently vacant; at 37 years of age, ending his career with the team that drafted him would almost be as romantic as his current situation of suiting up for his hometown club. Except the Leafs truly believe they are Stanley Cup contenders - and as a fan, so does he. It's a mass delusion that's been ongoing since 1967.

The Sens went back to their original uniforms this season, and this is what he lookied like wearing the white (then-home) uniform, on card #577 from Pacific's 2002-03 Complete set:

He signed it in black sharpie via mail five years ago. The card itself is of the "Red" variant and is numbered 25/100; Complete cards were spread out randomly among packs of other Pacific sets (Crown Royale, Vanguard, Pacific, Quest For The Cup, Atomic), they were not available as a standalone product.

In 10 games this season, Spezza now has 8 points, spread evenly in goals (4) and assists (4).

Jaroslav Halak Swatch Card

The Montréal Canadiens - and particularly their head coach Claude Julien and star goalie Carey Price (3.56 GAA, .886 save percentage) - are mired in a month-long funk that is seemingly without end, so facing former star goalie Jaroslav Halak - he of the near-perfect record against the Habs, especially in Montréal - was likely going to prove problematic, especially since he's in town with the rest of the Atlantic Division-leading Boston Bruins in search of their fourth-straight win after a sub-par outing in Ottawa last week.

Wouldn't you know it, Price let in 5 goals on 11 shots while Halak stopped 36 of 37 en route to an 8-1 routing of the home team. This after Price, Julien and the Canadiens blew a 4-0 lead to lose 6-5 at the hands of the New York Rangers on home ice on Saturday.

This was Montréal's fifth-straight loss, and the masses are already speculating on who could take over behind the Canadiens' bench, the smart money betting safe on Associate-Coach Kirk Muller, Mike Babcock, Guy Boucher and current assistant Dominic Ducharme.

I believe the team will stay idle, but there are plenty of bench bosses I prefer to Julien, including Patrick Roy, Guy Carbonneau, Manitoba Moose bench boss Pascal Vincent, Syracuse Crunch head coach Benoît Groulx and - why not? - Ducharme, Boucher and Muller, in that order.

Not Babcock - he needs to sort his public image out, repent, and attempt to grow and change his ways a bit before he's given a second (fourth) chance. Furthermore, he seems like he's taking his former partners down with him - today it was Bill Peters' turn for alleged (and seemingly now-corroborated) racist behaviour, perhaps tomorrow it will be Boucher, a fellow McGill alumnus and another coach who uses mind games to motivate his players.

But back to the hero of the evening, Halak, who made news last week for his use of practice pads. He is on the last of a two-year deal with Boston that pays him $2.75M annually to play roughly the same amount of regular-season games as starter Tuukka Rask - who makes $7M - so that Rask can be rested come playoff time, a strategy that worked well enough to lead the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Final last season. It's a thankless job, but he's shining in it, with a 2.39 GAA (7th in the NHL), a 5-1-3 record, a .930 save percentage (4th) and a shutout (tied for 7th). Other goalies aren't faring as well:

The Bruins are among the favourites to earn the William Jennings Trophy for fewest goals given as a team, which would mark Halak's second such win. The first time, of course, was as a member of the St. Louis Blues, as can be seen on card #FOG-HAL from Panini's 2012-13 Certified set and Fabric Of The Game sub-set:

It is numbered 101/150 and is of the "Red / Mirror" variant; the swatch lies underneath a die-cut stencil of the word "Blues", fittingly, and features a prominent blue game-worn jersey swatch.

I got it on Ebay just last week for use at a much later date, but it was (physically) the closest piece of memorabilia to feature when I opted for Halak as my subject of the day.

5-Pack Break: 2019-20 Upper Deck Tim Hortons

Once again, for a full review, click here. As more and more Tim Hortons stores run out of their Upper Deck 2019-20 Tim Hortons hockey cards, I'm tricked into believing I need to buy more of these overpriced cards.

I went for another five packs and landed these inserts, starting with a Gold Etchings card of Alex Ovechkin:

Of course, the scan is a little light on the gold foil, but the card looks great to the naked eye.

There were also two Game Day Action cards, of Mark Scheifele and Auston Matthews:

I landed one "Red" parallel of Sebastian Aho:

And one "Special Event" card, of Sidney Crosby from the All-Star Game:

I've now spent $54 and am still far from a complete set set (55 singles, 5 doubles), which means I'm now up to these so far:

Base Set:
5: Mark Giordano
7: Brady Tkachuk
9: Jack Eichel
10: Jordan Binnington 
13: Johnny Gaudreau x2
15: Ryan Getzlaf
17: Victor Hedman
19: Jonathan Toews
20: Sebastian Aho
21: Brayden Point 
24: Jonathan Huberdeau
25: Nico Hischier
26: Blake Wheeler
28: Claude Giroux
29: Nathan MacKinnon
30: Henrik Lundqvist
33: Sam Reinhart
34: Auston Matthews x2
37: Patrice Bergeron 
39: Aleksander Barkov
41: Jake Guentzel
43: Anthony Mantha
48: Connor Hellebuyck
52: Chris Kreider
53: Bo Horvat
54: Jonathan Quick
55: Mark Scheifele
56: Devan Dubnyk
58: Kris Letang 
60: Drew Doughty
62: David Krejci
63: Brad Marchand
64: Eric Staal
69: Cam Atkinson
73: Mark Stone 
75: Frederik Andersen x2
77: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 
78: William Karlsson
79: Elias Petersson
83: Quinn Hughes
84: Evgeny Kuznetsov 
85: Leon Draisaitl
88: Patrick Kane 
89: Alex DeBrincat
93: Mika Zibanejad
97: Connor McDavid
99: Brendan Gallagher
101: Tyler Seguin
102: Jeff Skinner
104 Kyle Palmieri
112: Marc-André Fleury x2
115: Mathew Barzal x2
118: Jonathan Drouin
119: Anze Kopitar

Game Day Action:
HGD-4: Mark Scheifele
HGD-6: Johnny Gaudreau
HGD-8: Jonathan Toews 
HGD-10: Auston Matthews
HGD-12: Alex Ovechkin
HGD-13: Steven Stamkos
HGD-14: Nathan MacKinnon 
HGD-15: Sidney Crosby

"Red" Parallel:
DC-10: Sebastian Aho
DC-16: Patrice Bergeron
DC-17: Brent Burns
DC-30: Clayton Keller
DC-33: Steven Stamkos

Gold Etchings:
GE-4: Patrick Kane
GE-5: Johnny Gaudreau
GE-7: Patrik Laine x2
GE-8: Alex Ovechkin
GE-10: Sidney Crosby

Franchise Duos:
D-6: Johnny Gaudreau/Sean Monahan
D-7: Connor McDavid/Leon Draisaitl

Clear Cut Phenoms:
CC-5: David Pastrnak
CC-8: Patrik Laine 

Highly Decorated:
HD-7: Jonathan Toews
HD-12: Joe Thronton

Special Events:
SE-2: Tuukka Rask: China Games
SE-3: Nico Hischier: Global Series
SE-5: Patrice Bergeron:  Winter Classic
SE-6: Sidney Crosby - All-Star Game

I do not expect to ever have a complete set, so these will start being included in trades and mail shipments to get signed soon.

11-Pack Break: 2019-20 Upper Deck Tim Hortons

It was a long weekend, and I had many chances to visit Tim Hortons stores to score packs of Upper Deck's 2019-20 Tim Hortons hockey cards. For a full review, click here.

In these eleven packs, I landed the following insert cards:

One Steven Stamkos "Red" parallel:

One Jonathan Toews Highly Decorated card:

Three Game Day Action cards, of Toews, Stamkos and Nathan MacKinnon:

Two Gold Etchings cards, of Patrick Kane and Sidney Crosby (both are available for trade):

Two Clear Cut Phenoms cards, of Patrik Laine and David Pastrnak (also available for trade):

And two Franchise Duos 3-D-type cards of the Calgary Flames (Johnny Gaudreau/Sean Monahan) and Edmonton Oilers (Connor McDavid/Leon Draisaitl):

$36 in and I'm at roughly one-third of the set (only one double, though), which means I'm now up to these so far:

Base Set:

5: Mark Giordano
10: Jordan Binnington 
13: Johnny Gaudreau
15: Ryan Getzlaf
17: Victor Hedman
20: Sebastian Aho
25: Nico Hischier
28: Claude Giroux
29: Nathan MacKinnon
33: Sam Reinhart
34: Auston Matthews 
37: Patrice Bergeron 
39: Aleksander Barkov
41: Jake Guentzel
43: Anthony Mantha
48: Connor Hellebuyck
52: Chris Kreider
53: Bo Horvat
55: Mark Scheifele
56: Devan Dubnyk
58: Kris Letang 
60: Drew Doughty
63: Brad Marchand
64: Eric Staal
69: Cam Atkinson
73: Mark Stone
77: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
84: Evgeny Kuznetsov 
85: Leon Draisaitl
88: Patrick Kane
93: Mika Zibanejad
97: Connor McDavid
102: Jeff Skinner
104 Kyle Palmieri
112: Marc-André Fleury x2
115: Mathew Barzal
119: Anze Kopitar

Game Day Action:

HGD-8: Jonathan Toews
HGD-12: Alex Ovechkin
HGD-13: Steven Stamkos
HGD-14: Nathan MacKinnon

"Red" Parallel:

DC-16: Patrice Bergeron
DC-17: Brent Burns
DC-30: Clayton Keller
DC-33: Steven Stamkos

Gold Etchings:

GE-4: Patrick Kane
GE-7: Patrik Laine
GE-10: Sidney Crosby

Franchise Duos:

D-6: Johnny Gaudreau/Sean Monahan
D-7: Connor McDavid/Leon Draisaitl

Clear Cut Phenoms:
CC-5: David Pastrnak
CC-8: Patrik Laine 

Highly Decorated:
HD-7: Jonathan Toews
HD-12: Joe Thronton

Special Events:
SE-2: Tuukka Rask: China Games
SE-5: Patrice Bergeron:  Winter Classic

8-Pack Break: 2019-20 Upper Deck Tim Hortons

It's that time again, where Sidney Crosby adorns each pack of Upper Deck's 2019-20 Tim Hortons cards and collectors try to land one of the 87 signed cards of his while dishing out $2 for each pack of three cards - two base cards and one insert.

This year again, they're all-foil and beautiful, with the backs of cars showing statistics from the past five seasons to get a clear picture of what makes the selected players "stars":

The picture on the back is a cropped version of the one on the front, but that's not something I mind in this set, it works well.

Eight packs means I got eight inserts, and I thought I could feature them in ascending order, saving the best for last. It starts off with "meh" season review-type cards, of which I landed one from the so-called China Games (the first two games of the regular season between the Boston Bruins and Calgary Flames) featuring Tuukka Rask, and a Winter Classic card featuring the Bruins' Patrice Bergeron:

Of note, the French translation are mediocre at best; the Winter Classic card is O-Pee-Chee-level bad, where instead of saying the French equivalent of "Bruins defeat Blackhawks at Notre Dame", they wrongly use a verb that reads similarly to the French words for "loss" ("défaite") and instead come off as saying "The (yes, they added an article here) Bruins undo the (another new article) Blackhawks at Notre Dame". I mean, there were only six fucking words, guys.

There are also cards depicting past award winners called "Highly Decorated", of which I landed Joe Thornton, the only player ever to win an Art Ross Trophy in a year split between two teams (although the picture is more recent, from the Old Man Jumbo era):

A staple of the Tim Hortons sets is the Game Day Action sub-set, such as this one featuring the one and only Alex Ovechkin, this year with a nice, clear place to have players sign... if Ovie did such things:

the foil looks black/dark, but it's actually silver to the naked eye

I also landed three"red" parallels this time around, of Bergeron, Brent Burns and Clayton Keller:

They look great.

As does this Gold Etchings card of Patrik Laine:

I feel like this uniform comes out too often in 2019-20 cards so far (urgh wordmarks), but I'm one of those who feels Laine will be a perennial 40-goal scorer with a couple of seasons in the 50-goal range, possibly even a high of 60. His shot and skill level really is that good, he just needs to mature a bit and play a more complete game with maximum effort regardless of who he lines up with.

These cards' price tag still makes me balk for the poor collation (although I didn't get any doubles this time around) and the fact that it's supposed to be a mass-market product with a "for kids" part that shouldn't be forgotten, but they look and feel really cool, and I'm always glad I have them, year in and year out.

It's another solid 7.5/10 for me this year, particularly since the base features 120 players, which is higher than a few years ago.

2017-18 Parkhurst Hockey Blaster Box Break

The minute I saw this blaster box of Upper Deck's 2017-18 Parkhurst, I knew I was going to buy it, and I knew I was going to write about it. And I'm fairly happy with the cards I pulled, too.

First, though, this is what the cards themselves look like, starting with the regular-issue base cards:

Green is the defining colour of Upper Deck's current iteration of the brand, as can be attested by these and last year's cards, and it's a good look.

That being said, there are different-coloured parallels, such as the "red" variants:

I was also happy I pulled quite a few Vegas Golden Knights players:

One of them was even part of the Prominent Prospects sub-set:

One semi-original, semi-cool but come-to-think-of-it,I've-never-seen-before sub-sets is East vs West, as can be attested by these Jonathan Toews and Evgeni Malkin cards:

Perhaps the nicest-to-have sub-set is the Rookies:

And one of them was of the "grey" variation, of prized prospect Owen Tippett:

I was happy to land one of the most exciting young players in the game, Patrik Laine, in the Blow The Horn red foil sub-set:

And if the East vs West sub-set reminiscent of past All-Star Games isn't enough, the pseudo-Olympic International sub-set gets the job done:

Cool side note: even though it wasn't the case at the time, all three players I pulled are now captains of their teams.

Perhaps even more so than last year, I think UD scored a home run with this set this year.

Another 8.5 in my book.