Well, the truth is, I was hoping for a box of newly-reduced 2013-14 Dominion, but apparently the release date has been delayed yet again. It looks like I will have to wait until Jan. 3, so I decided to pick up the next big thing. Oh, sure, I suppose I could be patient, save my money, and have that much more to put toward Dominion, but who wants to do that?
I may have a few good qualities, but patience is not one of them.
So here we are, with my third box of prime, which contains a two-card pack of 2012-13 Dominion (So, I at least still get my Dominion fix). Seven cards. A bunch of hits. Autographs. Patches. Whatever else they decide to throw in.
Here's the video:
Taylor Hall Yellow Printing Plate 1/1
Each two-card pack of Dominion contains one base card. Now, this could be the regular base card, or a variation of it, like gold /25, emerald /5, or a 1/1 printing plate. I was lucky enough to pull one of those 1/1s, and of a pretty good player, as well.
Here's a look at the card's backing. I love how Dominion puts an actual card back on the reverse side of the plate, instead of just slapping a sticker on it. The 1/1 designation is in the bottom left corner.
John LeClair Peerless Patches 28/40
Now, as a Penguins fan, I hate the Philadelphia Flyers, but LeClair actually played in Pittsburgh for a couple years. He won a Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens in 1993, and spend most of his career in Philadelphia as part of their "Legion of Doom" line, but after the NHL introduced a Salary Cap following the 2004-05 lockout, the Flyers released LeClair. He then signed with Pittsburgh and had two fairly productive years, before ending his career in Dec. 2006.
Prime Base: John Tavares 205/249
While I got a parallel for my Dominion base card, I just got the regular version out of my Prime pack. Still, you can't go wrong with Tavares. He was the first overall draft pick in 2009. In a sometimes struggling New York Islanders team, he has been a big reason why they have been so successful, including putting a heavily-favored Pittsburgh Penguins team to the test in the 2013 NHL Playoffs.
Mario Lemieux/Patrick Roy "1984" Quad Jersey 10/100
So, this card is pretty awesome. It contains two jersey swatches each of two of the greatest players in the NHL's history. The 1984 designation is not a George Orwell reference, though. It signifies their draft class, where Lemieux went No. 1 overall to Pittsburgh, and Roy was selected 51st overall by Montreal. The 1984 class was known for an unusually high amount of eventual Hall-of-Famers picked in later rounds, like Roy in the third, Brett Hull in the sixth (117th - Calgary Flames), and Luc Robitaille in the ninth (171st - Los Angeles Kings).
Steve Yzerman/Brendan Shanahan/Igor Larionov/Nicklas Lidstrom "97" 28/50
Even though I'm not a huge Detroit Red Wings fan, but I love this card, which commemorates their 1997 Stanley Cup. What makes this card really cool, too, is how heavy the star power is on this card, which just goes to show how loaded that team was. Yzerman, Shanahan, and Larionov are already Hockey Hall-of-Famers, and let's face it, Lidstrom's going in the very first year he's eligible. Other Hall-of-Famers on that team include Larry Murphy and Viacheslav Fetisov, who are currently in the HOF, as well as Sergei Fedorov and Chris Osgood, who will likely be inducted one day.
Jaden Schwartz Prime Rookies 188/249
With a somewhat depleted rookie class due to the 2011 NHL lockout restrictions, the three hot rookies were Chris Kreider of the New York Rangers, Jaden Schwartz of the St. Louis Blues, and Sven Baertschi of the Calgary Flames. The 2012-13 hype had mostly to do with who was the most productive at the very end of the 2011-12 season. These players were in just a few games during that season, which is why they didn't get rookie cards that year, but in just seven games, Scwartz scored 2 goals and had 1 assist, which was enough to get on people's radar. It was also enough to get a permanent spot on the Blues roster the following season, where he played in 45 out of 48 games.
Vincent Lecavalier Prime Namesakes 70/75
These may be "manufactured" relics, but still, they are just cool cards. The idea with these cards is to recreate a player's nameplate, and have them sign the individual letters. Of course, with 75, there's going to be plenty of repeats, especially with "A" and "E," which are repeated in his name to begin with. These cards really seem to work best with teams who just use one color for the letter. I purchased a Sidney Crosby Prime Namesakes card from the 2011-12 product, and with two colors being used for a border around the letter, there wasn't enough solid surface to sign on the letter, so he had to sign on the open space on the jersey material next to it. Either way, that doesn't matter, because this Lecavalier is a great looking card!
Well, that's it for this box. I didn't get any monster pulls, like the Prime Ties card out of Box #1, or the Gordie Howe autograph out of Box #2, but that was still a pretty impressive break. I'm really looking forward to 2013-14 Dominion coming out next week, but if that product doesn't quite measure up to expectations, I know that Prime will still take great care of me.
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