It's the Third Day of Trade Posts!

Today's post highlights two separate packages that arrived from North of the border. Douglas from Sportscards From the Dollar Store was very kind to send two Supertraders packages over the past few months. Anytime I see an envelope with his name on it, I know I'm in for a hearty helping of NJ Devils and these packages didn't disappoint in that respect. Let's check the highlights from the first package.

New to me cards featuring Martin Brodeur will always be welcome in my collection. I especially like the UD that shows him taking the ice. The Bee Hives Gionta was the first card of that type that I had seen in person...very cool. I appreciate the Wil Myers Hometown Heroes RC as it reminds me of a time when I thought he was going to be the next great Rays player. Then injuries struck and he was sent to San Diego. I'm really glad that he put it all together this season and posted solid numbers. Lately I've been thinking of re-adding him to my PC player list. I did enjoy watching him play in Durham... The gold parallel Ronnie Hillman RC is a great Broncos addition, even if he's not with the team anymore.

My hockey relic collection continues to grow almost exclusively by Douglas' contributions. I'm happy that at least for my hockey team(s), the plain single color swatches can at least be red instead of the standard white, gray, or black.

Let's move on to highlights from the second package.

Hmmm, betcha already figured that there would be at least one Brodeur in the scan. I love the die-cut Crown Royale cards and how could I not show off a Devils card of one of the greatest players to lace up the skates?

The trend of adding to my NJ relics was taken up a notch in the second package. I'm digging the auto/relic RC. I'm always thrilled to add to my hockey collection, so thanks Douglas! I know it's been some time since I shipped something back Nort, but I do have a stack or two put together and you're on my list to ship to before the year is out. I can only hope you enjoy what I send your way as much as I appreciate what you've sent mine. Thanks for reading.

Batting 1.000 On Hockey Repacks

A week or two ago, just before I found a discounted UD series one hockey blaster, I picked up my second 100 card, 1:4 has a hit hockey repacks from a not-so-local Target.

I'll admit, I cheated a little bit on this one. You'll see why in a bit. I picked it up because I kinda liked the face card and was interested to get a better look at it. When I did, I caught a glimpse of the side of the package and saw something unique. The combo of interesting face card and unique looking card buried in the stack made me take it with me to the register when I was ready to check-out.

I was lucky to find a trio of Devils that were on the roster around the time I became a fan of the team. I have an especially fond memory of Stephane Richer. I recall renting an NHL game for the NES(I think) and I chose to play with the Devils. His likeness within the game was on par with Gretzky and Lemieux. They instantly became my team(fortified by all of my friends telling me I should like the Rangers) and Richer became one of my favorite players on the team. Using him in the game kinda reminded me of playing Tecmo Bowl with Bo Jackson.

The bottom row boasts two other great players from the late '80's, early '90's. I had to include the Stevenson RC in the scan simply because you just don't see rollerblades on many pieces of cardboard.

Great photos, especially the Lemieux/Bush meeting on that UD card.

There it is, right there in the center, the face card of the repack. I love that also hiding in the stack was a similarly designed Ovechkin. I dig that old photo of Joe Malone too. Get a load of that old school equipment and sweater!

I was pretty happy to pull this silver signature parallel out of there as well. So, what exactly was that unique looking card I saw from the side of the box? Well, I could tell that it was a thick acetate card of some sort, but I had no idea what kind it was.

This is prett awesome! The signature is on-card. Though I wasn't familiar with Drew Stafford, it's still a cool card. This makes me 2:2 pulling 'hits' from these repacks. This was a ton of fun to bust. My local Target(s) don't stock these for hockey so it won't become a habit to pick them up. When I happen to see a few of these on the shelves, I'll be sure to take a peek though. If the face card is worth it, I'll definitely crack a few more of these. Maybe I'll be able to keep,the streak alive. Thanks for reading.

e-Pack and Repack

Thursdays are my long day at the office. I'm typically there from around 8am-8:30pm. I know there are plenty of people that only work 12 hour shifts, so I'm not complaining, but I usually find a lot of my impulse buys are on these days simply because it helps me get through the day. Whether I open whatever I get during my break or save it until the end of my shift as an incentive, grabbing a little something to open definitely helps me get through the long day. Yesterday, right as I was going to leave the office, I noticed an email that detailed Upper Deck's new digital card app. When I heard about it, I sat in my car and created an account and immediately opened my daily free pack.

I know a lot of you out there don't consider these 'cards' and won't waste time with apps like this, but I really dig flipping through a new 'pack', especially when I'm not depending any money. I'm also intrigued by the concept that Upper Deck has come up with. This is like a hybrid of other digital trading card apps and the eTopps concept. Apparently, you can opt to have actual cards from your collection within the app sent to you. Here's pack number one.

I'm definitely going to add it to my daily digital trading card routine. After checking out the app, I felt the need to open some real packs. I needed to run an errand that would bring me near another Target that is not my normal local Target. When I stopped in, I found the first 100 card hockey repacks that I've seen in my area. I've seen the unopened pack varieties before, but never wanted to spend the 12 or 20 bucks to pick one up. When I saw this face card, I figured it was worth the 5 dollar gamble.

I cracked it open and ripped the pack open first.

I haven't collected hockey cards in a really long time, so I'll just dive in. Feel free to drop some knowledge on any of these.

I recognize Getzlaf only because I know some of you out there collect him.

Cammaleri is a current Devil, so therefore a favorite. Also pulled a rookie, but it have no idea if it's a 'true RC' or if that is even a real concept in the world of collecting hockey cards.

The final card of the pack at least sports the Devils logo. Based upon the wrapper, I think this may be a gold rush parallel? Not sure. Now on to the highlights of the 100 card block. It was heavy on 1990 Bowman and one of the '90's Parkhurst sets and overall, I found it to be a really enjoyable stack.

I'll start with two of the three Devils in the pack along with an awesome net minders card. I remember Ed Jovanovski when he was the first draft pick in the early '90's. When I see a Tie Domi, the first work that comes to mind is 'goon'. My only memories of seeing him on the ice involve him throwing fists. Lastly, a really cool award winners hologram of Dirk Graham.

Don't know any of these guys, but they're all pretty cool. I mean until I checked out the back of the upper right card, I thought the guy's name was Moose Jaw! Turns out it is a team checklist. At least I got a laugh out of it.

Now here's the star portion of the program. All told, two Hull, two Roy, a Messier, a Modano, and a Lemieux is a pretty strong showing.

These are two of my favorites of the whole pack. The Smirnov may have a boring pic, but I love the retro design. The LaBarbera is, by far, my favorite photo of the whole pack. That was a pretty good pack, but it turns out that I had the one out of four that included a hit.

I've got no idea who either of these guys is and I don't have particularly like the Blues, but a dual relic is still awesome! I'm not sure how many more hockey repacks I'll ever go for, but it sure was an entertaining repack. Thanks for reading!

Another Day, Another Belated Christmas Card Post

Shortly before Angus from Dawg Day Cards began his Christmas card deluge, he contacted me when I posted about a few cards I picked up from the Tim Horton's UD Hockey set. He asked of there were specific cards I was looking for. We exchanged emails about the set, and before I knew it, a really great Christmas card arrived in my mailbox.

I was thrilled to find this beautiful card bursting at the seams with Tim Horton's UD goodies. The card itself really stood out to me. It's just a really great photo. Let's take a look at the contents.

Score! He sent me 2 out of 3 NJ Devils from the set and quadrupled the number of these that I own. It didn't stop there though. I also found my first die-cut insert from the set:

This was a truly great holiday gift! Thanks for the generosity Angus. I'm in the process of packing up some Browns to send your way.

One additional update I'd like to mention: I was able to drop off the first wave of outgoing packages at the post office. If you live in one of these zip codes, you should have an envelope arriving shortly.

13601

48005

28590

97213

02919

33511

Thanks to everyone for your patience. If your zip wasn't on this list, I assure you that additional packages will be dropped off in the very near future.