2012 In the Game: Broad Street Boys Box Break

I know I have committed blasphemy as a Penguins fan, but I decided to pick up a box of In the Game's Broad Street Boys. This will be my third high end ITG product to open, but what brings me back, even to a Flyers-specific product, is that there is nowhere else that gives you so much bang for your buck.

Each box contains 14 cards. Of those 14, eight are base cards and 6 are hits. The base set follows the lineage of the team with subsets like "Broad Street Bullies,"  "Triumph & Tragedy," "Contending in the 90s," and "The Tradition Continues." There are also gold parallels that, while not serial-numbered, are limited to just 50 copies.

My gold was of Murray Craven, who I have no feelings for either way, but I was very happy to pull base cards of Max Talbot and Paul Coffey, two players who spent time in Pittsburgh. The foil board makes these card look really cool, and there really is no bending or warping. (Are you listening, Topps???) I was also happy to find a card of one of the players from the Broad Street Bullies era.

Of the six hits, it works out to be two relics and four autos. The other thing I like about ITG, is that unlike other companies, they don't hold back the autographed cards, and with this product, you get flooded with it. 

While I don't really care either way for the Ron Sutter solid-color jersey, I LOVE the Tough Materials triple jersey card of Ron Hextall, Eric Lindros, and Sandy McCarthy. I've always been a big fan of Hextall, and I can remember how big of a deal Lindros was during his time with Philly, and while not every triple-jersey card does it, THIS ONE has managed to put one swatch from each of the Flyers' team colors. Also, each one of these jersey swatches is identified as a FLYERS-worn jersey, so you don't have to worry about Hextall's swatch being from the Islanders or Lindros's black swatch being from the Stars. VERY COOL.

My four autos were of Ed Van Impe, Scott Mellanby, Michael Leighton, and Brad Marsh. First of all, I like the fact that I've actually heard of all four of these players. Sometimes they can be hit-or-miss. Also, I didn't realize this at first, but the Leighton is an Orange Version of the card, which is limited to just 10 copies. Very cool.

There you have it for that one. Whether you literally get your money's worth or not, ITG gives you something that is sure to satisfy any hockey collector. Their next product that will be produced in the same way will be Forever Rivals, which focuses on the rivalry between the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs, and you KNOW I'll be getting a box of that one, too.