Collecting Upper Deck is a Trip Down Memory Lane

I picked up two cards off eBay over the last few weeks, both cards from Upper Deck hockey products. I'm waiting on a fairly large COMC shipment, but there are so many cards in the queue ahead of mine that I doubt it'll actually ship by the listed ship date. But between the eBay and COMC adds it's clear to me that what I value in today's collecting world is nostalgia. I enjoy finding cards with retro designs, especially designs that I remember from my childhood collecting. 

Collecting hockey is exciting for me on three fronts. It's exciting because it's something my son is getting into right now. He's learning to ice skate, because to play hockey he has to know how to skate. We live in South Carolina, so it's no hockey hotbed here, but you wouldn't know it spending a day in our house. 

It's exciting because it's something almost completely new for me. I've collected a lot of basketball cards and am still pretty active on that front (see HoopsHobby.com), I pick up baseball cards, and I'm sure I'll be active there once the season starts, whenever that might be, but going through a full season of hockey products is new. 

Lastly, I get to open packs of Upper Deck cards again, and with Upper Deck I get those retro designs, some of which were used in basketball as well.

The first card I picked up recently meets number three. This is a 1995-96 SP insert from 2015-16 SP Authentic of the captain of the Predators, Roman Josi. I started on a hunt for retro inserts after seeing UD3 and some others in 2020-21 Upper Deck Extended, and this was one I knew I had to pick up. While I didn't necessarily open any packs of 1995-96 SP basketball, I do have several Pacers (my NBA team of choice) in my collection. I look at this card and I'm 9 years old again, trading with my best friend from down the street.

Love the back too, even though I don't think it's true to the original as far as finish. But the design is close enough for me.

The next one is not a retro design, but a parallel set that's been around for a long time, but one I honestly don't know if I own any of in any sport to this point.

I don't have the base Forsberg, or any other versions from this year's MVP, but I now have a Super Script parallel numbered out of 25. I have plenty of Silver Script and even a few Gold from basketball sets in the late 90s and early 2000s, but this is my first Super Script. 

Really hoping the Predators find a way to get an extension done with Forsberg that makes sense for him and the team, but what I'm reading is that it may limit the flexibility to make moves around him. Tough spot for both sides.

I just broke a box of 2021-22 O-Pee-Chee with my son, so I'll have a recap of that coming soon, and also share some of the cards a fellow blogger sent for my 5 year old son. The blogging community is a generous group, that's for sure.

Enjoy ripping your Series 1 packs if you've got 'em! 

Fire on Ice

My son and I are enjoying hockey in many forms these days. Between opening a few hockey blaster boxes, watching hockey games on ESPN+, and going to a minor league hockey game for the first time since the pandemic started, we've got hockey activity around our house just about on a daily basis. 

He's all about the Sharks, but he'll watch just about any game on TV. He doesn't know it's coming, but he's going to lose his mind over the NHL All-Star festivities this weekend, coinciding with the start of the Winter Olympics. Even though NHL players aren't in the Olympics, we'll be watching hockey I'm sure.

Meanwhile I'm soaking up hockey card content and adding cards to my Predators want list. While I've tried to hold off on making too many purchases, I did make an initial purchase after seeing a parallel version of this set on twitter.

The parallel version I saw was shinier and serial numbered, but I'm happy with this rookie year card of the top scorer on the Predators, Filip Forsberg. It wouldn't scan well, so I took photos in my light box. A rookie year Forsberg in a set like this, I couldn't pass up when I saw they were a very reasonable price. 

One thing I noticed, and I am not up to speed on Panini's history with a hockey card license, is the Dual Class wording on the Rookie Card logo.  Does this indicate multiple rookie classes in a single year's set? I googled and couldn't find information on it. Was this an attempt by Panini to introduce a rookie card logo in hockey? Info on this would be appreciated.

Same image used on the front and back of the card, but you get to see a faint background. Forsberg's been my favorite Predator to watch since I started following the team. He hit the 200 goal mark just recently, and is on a tear right now. On fire, you might say. He's in the final year of his contract and while he's sure to get a big contract, surely he'll be back in Nashville.

In modern card collecting, I am drawn to sets that are a throwback to a prior set. The 'Fire on Ice' name was used for Leaf insert sets in the mid-90s, the 1997-98 version being my favorite.

So there you have it, my first purchase for the Predators collection. Many more to come, I'm sure. 

Nashville Predators Starter Pack from Sports Cards from the Dollar Store

For the first time ever I had a rooting interest in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Nashville Predators went to the Cup Finals for the first time in team history. I'm not going to say much more at this point other than I had a blast following this team and I can't wait to follow a full season starting in the Fall.

Sports Cards from the Dollar Store saw my initial posts on hockey cards and sent a large package of Predators my way. He seemed excited to have a landing spot for his Predators cards. Well let me tell you all I am happy to be that landing spot.

Glad to have a reason to pick up the O-Pee-Chee brand. Wish this existed for current baseball sets. Pekka Rinne 'shut the door' repeatedly on playoff competition and the defense picked up from the regular season as well. Roman Josi is a big part of that. Weber was traded last June for my personal favorite P.K. Subban after serving as the Nashville captain for many years.

With O-Pee-Chee comes the Platinum brand as a separate release. And unlike other Chrome brands these scan pretty well, I think. It was nice watching you the last few months, James Neal. Good luck in Vegas!

Even though the consensus was that Rinne had a sub-par regular season based on his past performance, he stepped it up in the playoffs, helping get the Predators farther in the playoffs than they've ever been. Excited to be collecting new cards from the Fleer Showcase brand once again. It's been awhile.

The first card from 2015-16 Tim Hortons Collector's Series is a beauty. The Panini Select card on the right is a sharp looking card, too.

Three cards of the current captain. Particularly like the Contenders card referencing Bridgestone Arena.

Forsberg is probably my other favorite player at this point along with P.K. Subban. Was shocked when I learned he is only 22 years old and is as good as he is. Colin Wilson seems to step up his game in the playoffs. Glad to add a rookie card of his to my collection. Would Johansen have turned the finals in favor of the Preds? He sure would have helped.

Now we're getting to the gems of the starter park. This Forsberg is a silver parallel /25 from 2015-16 Champs. Nice, clean set design here.

I didn't fully appreciate this card until I saw Rinne dominate for stretches of games in the playoffs. What a card this one is! So glad for it to be the first hockey autograph to go into my collection.

This was just a small part of an amazing starter pack. Focused on current players in this post because those are the guys I'm familiar with based on the last few months or so of watching. Already can't wait for next season to start!