11-12 Titanium 2 Box & 2 Pack Break

I simply can't stay away from Panini hockey, can I? I loved ITG's Between the Pipes and I got a TREMENDOUS hit from Upper Deck's SPX, but whenever Panini comes out with a new hockey release, I turn into an addict going through withdrawal, about to get a fresh hit (of cards, of course). That being said, I saw enough good breaks on line of Titanium, that I figured I'd give the product a good shot. The first time out, I picked up just the single box. A few days later, I went back and got another box, plus two extra packs. Two weeks later, I finally got around to writing about it.

Anyway, Here's what I got.

Base:
I must say, the base cards look nice. You get three of them out of every four-card pack (the other card being the hit) and with 100 cards, it's not impossible to get with a little help. Of course, you won't put it together by breaking boxes, but with it being a hit-centric product, you can easily find people wanting to dump their base.

Rookies are also inserted into this product, but are pretty rare, as they are each serial numbered to 100. I pulled one, Andy Miele of the Phoenix Coyotes.

I got two autos, one being Craig Smith, and the other being Brandon Sutter. I was a little underwhelmed with these at first, until a few days later, when the Sutter became a Penguins hit after he was traded in the Jordan Staal deal. It INSTANTLY became a MUCH cooler card.

Alexander Semin has a white swatch, but there appears to be some kind of creasing or bunching of the fabric. I'm interested to see where he lands in free agency before jumping at the opportunity to unload this.

The Ben Scrivens is just a NICE looking card. He's still young, but with goaltenders kind of coming and going in Toronto, he might get a decent shot at some playing time. Being numbered to just 25, this was a REALLY good pull, but it wasn't the lowest SN of the box.

I know it's a redemption, but if it wasn't, you'd be seeing a beautiful autographed patch card of Islanders right wing Kyle Okposo. While I'm not a fan of the Islanders themselves, Okposo did play his junior hockey in the USHL, which is the same league that my hometown Fargo Force play in, so anytime a USHL alumnus makes it to the NHL, that's a good thing. Also, he DOES have some autos in this set that have "gone live" or were included in packs, so I'm not too worried about it getting filled.

There's box #1. Here are the hits from the two extra packs I purchased.

Calvin De Haan/Travis Hamonic dual jersey 24/300 and Jody Shelley jersey.

Blah, blah, and more blah.

NEXT!!!

Box #2 didn't give me any parallels or rookies or anything like that, so I'll just get to the hits:

I remember when Jay Bouwmeester was drafted in 2002, he was set to be a pretty big deal. He was selected third overall, behind Rick Nash and Kari Lehtonen, but as time has gone on, his value card-wise has seemed to drop. Still, I love getting Flames relics due to the bright red swatch you almost always find.

Kadri, who was selected seventh overall by the Maple Leafs in 2009, hold the distinction of being the second Muslim ever drafted to the NHL, behind Ramzi Abid, who was selected in the second round (28th overall) in the 1998 NHL entry draft by the Colorado Avalanche. She Weber, is currently the captain of the Nashville Predators, and is not too excited about the team's future after fellow defenseman Ryan Suter left to sign a contract with the Minnesota Wild. We'll see what the future holds for him in Nashville.

Now this is just a good looking card. I'm a fan of Lundqvist and a fan of the Staal brothers, even after Jordan left for the 'Canes. Oh, and the other two are Marian Gaborik and Brad Richards. You may have heard of them.

EASILY my favorite card of the bunch, This Ryan Miller auto/dual jersey card is from the rare "Third Sweater" variation. The card is die-cut on the top, to the shape of the arms and neck. Although there is no picture of Miller, the point of this card, I think, is to spotlight the jersey itself, with the two pieces of fabric. Plus, it doesn't hurt that the Sabres have, in my opinion, a GREAT looking third jersey, but I have some weird tastes when it comes to hockey jerseys.

By the way, Ryan Miller can sign his cards stickers, but Kyle Okposo can't find the time. I'm just sayin'.

Anyway, I liked this product a decent amount. I won't even try to say that my boxes were duds. They weren't. But I think I'll be buying any future Titanium cards from the secondary market.