Two Boxes of 11-12 SPX Hockey - Sidney Crosby Shadowbox!!!!!!!!!!!

Just out of curiosity, and also partly due to the fact that I haven't bought a whole lot of Upper Deck this year, I decided to pick up two boxes of this year's SPX product. Each box contains a total of five hits, one of which is a "Rookie Materials" card, and one of which is an auto/relic from one of this year's rookies. It's a little odd to me, maybe since I'm not much of a prospector, but it seems as though I'd advertise the potential of relics from players who already stars, instead of those who may not ever amount to anything in the NHL.

Anyway, here's a look at what I pulled.

Base: I like the look of the base cards. It straddles the line between the look of a regular issue card and the look of an insert set, which I like for a product like this. Foil is used for the team logo and brand logo, as well as the player name, but I don't think they went overboard. The fact that most of it is concentrated on the square that contains the team logo works really well.

Each box also contains a five-card box topper of Upper Deck Ice cards. Four of those are base cards, and one is a serial numbered rookie. I was satisfied with my first pack, but underwhelmed with the second pack, and I'm sure you'll see why.

The only difference were the rookie cards of John Moore and Andy Meile. Great looking cards, but the fact that I bought both of these boxes from the same LCS within a week of each other means HORRIBLE collation by Upper Deck.

Anyway. Enough with the base cards and the throw-ins. Here are the goods:

From box #1:
Legends of Hockey: Bobby Clarke 491/499
Rookie: Brendon Nash 5/499

The Hits:
Winning Combos: Ryan Getzlaf & Bobby Ryan
Winning Materials: Mike Richards
Throwback Fabrics: Kari Lehtonen
Autographed Rookie: Matt Frattin 542/799
Rookie Materials: Craig Smith

The Winning Combos card has already been promised to the Blogosphere's biggest Ryan Getzlaf fan, Greg Zakwin, but the rest are for trade. The Lehtonen is a two-per-case hit, I think, and although I'm sure no one has hear of Frattin, it's always nice for me to pull a hit from a UND kid.

From box #2:
Legends of Hockey: Ted Lindsay 23/25, Patrick Roy 496/499
Rookie: Robert Bortuzzo 495/499
Not only do I pull a /25 card of a hockey hall of famer, btu I get a serial numbered rookie card from my favorite team!

The Hits:
Winning Materials: Henrik Lundqvist
Autographed Rookie: Tim Erixon 81/799
Winning Combos: Nikolai Kulemin & Clarke MacArthur
Rookie Materials: Erik Gudbranson

The only good one here for me is Lundqvist, but that's ok, because in the LAST pack in the box contained JUST ONE card:

For those unfamiliar with the Shadowbox concept, Upper Deck basically uses three layers, with space in between to create one of the coolest-looking and most sought after cards in the hockey market. These are pretty much the case hits of the products, and the Programme of Excellence versions fall in just one in every 1,058 packs, and the fact that I ACTUALLY pulled a Crosby makes it extra special.

As tempting as it is to cash in on my box-busting luck, for THIS Penguins fan, this card is going NOWHERE!