1997-98 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Box Break

I recently broke another box of this 1997-98 Upper Deck Collector's Choice; found it in the aisles of Wal-Mart marked with a discounted price tag.   It's always fun opening these boxes - even if it is considered pure wax-junk, the nostalgic value is worth the pocket change that I shelled out for it.

Besides I'm pretty close to finishing off the set and it's always a joy/bonus when you pull something other than a StarQuest single star card.  I wish I could find more of these boxes around town.

I decided to only post the base cards from the break that I needed for my set, along with the inserts that I pulled.  Check out some cards under the jump.

Double The Fairfield NHL Memorabilia Card Mystery Break

Couldn't resist dropping $12 on two more boxes of these memorabilia mystery boxes when I spotted them hanging out at Wal-Mart recently.  So far after purchasing two previously, I've had some pretty good luck with these boxes, pulling a 92-93 Fleer Ultra Jeremy Roenick autographed 'Performance Highlights' card in each break.

2010-11 Upper Deck Tin Break

I didn't even know it but I'm actually on the verge of completing this Series One set of 2010-11 Upper Deck.  I went and picked up another tin of these to break a few days ago; and yes, I'm still chasing those flagship Young Guns cards.

I scanned a few of my favorite cards from the break under the cut.  A few jersey pieces, Young Guns, Hockey Heroes and I also included my top eight favorite base pulls.

2010-11 Panini Donruss

Picked up a fat pack of 2010-11 Donruss on the cheap maybe a week ago; really like the look of these cards, pretty simple with decent photographs.

At 40 cards per pack I decided to post just my top 10 favorites from the rip.

Patrick Kane #107 - The first overall draft pick in the 2007 Entry Draft; arguably the best American born player in the league at the moment.

Pavel Datsyuk #45 - Now on to one of the most underrated players in the league, Pavel Datsyuk -  Datsyuk's cumulative GVT is 80.8, putting him third among skaters, behind Crosby (82.8) and Ovechkin (an incredible 108.7), even though he is only 10th in total points over that period. Datsyuk's value has always been as a two-way player, over the last four seasons Datsyuk is plus-103, second only to Ovechkin's plus-105.

Nathan Gerbe #182 - Gerbe is the shortest player in the NHL at 5'5" - which is basically the reason why I'm into him so much these days (I'm also just 5'5"). 

Joe Thornton #80 - Former first overall draft pick in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft by the Boston Bruins - Joe remains a marquee player.

Rick Nash #49 - I'm convinced that if Nash was on a better team he would be putting up much higher numbers. 

Luke Schenn #168 - Fifth overall pick in the 2008 Draft and a key part of the Leaf's long-term future.

Thomas Vanek #121

Ed Jovanovski #113 - Added Jovanovski due to him being one of my favorite d-men when I was a kid, especially when he played for Team Canada - a team he has suited up for a total of seven times.

Dustin Brown #235

Tim Thomas / Boys Of Winter #59 - As you can tell, not the jersey version of these cards but I guess in these fat packs something of that sort doesn't come easy. Nice picture of Thomas in the Winter Classic gear nonetheless.

As for collecting, lately I've been attempting to organize my collection in plastic sheets, numerical order by sets and years.  It honestly feels like I'll never see the end of it - so many cards, especially from the junk wax era.  And when I have it all finished I have no idea where I'm going to find the space in my apartment to hold a dozen or more binders.

Other than that I've been working, same job - never received a call back after my interview from that previous job that I mentioned; I'm kinda happy that I didn't when I think about it.  I'm pretty stoked on heading back to post-secondary in January, I haven't been in a classroom environment in maybe over 6-7 years - hopefully it goes very well and I thoroughly enjoy it.  So during that time frame I figure that I'm going to have to slow down on the card collecting hobby.

Mail Day! 1980-81 Topps Wayne Gretzky All Star #87

I received this card just a few days ago; another vintage Gretzky to add to the collection.  A 1980-81 Topps Wayne Gretzky 2nd Team All-Star.  This is a card from Gretzkys second year and still remains unscratched; I managed to pick it up online for only $8 shipping in - ignore the tape over Gretzkys helmet, I scanned this from the plastic holder.

Here is a scan from the back of the card, not much going on here - other than the obvious.