Retro Box Break - 2012-13 Panini Certified Hockey

What We Pulled:

Packs: 10
Cards Per Pack: 5
Cards Expected: 50
Cards Received: 51

Base Set Completion: 41% (41 out of 100 Base Cards)
Duplicates: 0

Inserts:
Masked Marvels: 1 - Cam Ward #/999
Base Set Blue Parallel: 1- Nicklas Lidstrom #/99
Immortals: 1 - Mario Lemieux #/999
Immortals Mirror Hot Box: 1 - Gordie Howe #/75
Path To The Cup Conference Semifinals: 1 - Shea Weber/Mike Smith #/299
Fabrics of the Game: 1 - Simon Gagne #/299
Fabrics of the Game Mirror Hot Box: 2 - Scott Clemmensen, Frans Nielsen #/75
Freshman Signature Rookies: 1 - Chay Genoway #/999
Certified Redemption Rookie: 1 - R3 #/499

Our Thoughts:

Design

Nothing spectacular. A simple design with the name across the bottom woth the Certified logo in the lower right hand corner with an arc of color in the background. The player is featured on the rest of the card with the background foiled out for the base set. The back has a blurb about the player, the last 4 years of stats and career totals. The inserts are about the same excitement. Not much to differentiate them from other releases that Panini puts out.

Player Selection

The base 100 card selection is for the larger hyped players. The insert sets do a good job of highlighting different players and some past greats. This is satisfactory.

Inserts

I like that there isn't tons of insert sets that you might want to chase. In each insert set though, they have usually put in at least 20 cards which means hunting around to find that elusive single card to complete the subset. The parallels are held to 5 of each card.

Price

I found this box for around $40 without hunting too hard. For the price, I might think about purchasing another box. In this box, I did receive a redemption for a Certified Rookie Redemption of R3. Jonathan Huberdeau from the Florida Panthers. The redemption date has expired. For what I received, a $35-$40 price range is about right.

Final Thoughts:

I did receive the Rookie Redemption of  R3. Jonathan Huberdeau from the Florida Panthers but it expired a year ago. I hate redemption cards. If you want to include rookies, then hold off releasing the sets until they have signed and you can produce the cards. Otherwise, it is a solid but unspectacular release. If the big hit out of the packs is a Simon Gagne piece of jersey and you can still halfways like the product, then you know that it is a good thing. I am thinking about completing the base set just because.

Box Value: 3 out of 5.

2013-14 Panini Titanium Hockey

What We Pulled:

Packs: 5
Cards Per Pack: 4
Cards Expected: 20
Cards Received: 20

Base Set Completion: 14% (14 out of 100 cards)
Duplicates: 0

Inserts:
Commons Hobby Jersey Number Parallel: 1 - Sergei Bobrovsky #/72
Titanium Reserve Autograph: 1- Ryan Hamilton
Game Worn Gear: 1 - Kaspars Daugavins
Game Worn Gear Dual: 1 - MacInnis/Shattenkirk #/300
Game Worn Gear Prime: 1 - Steven Stamkos #/50
Game Worm Gear Patch: 1 - Pat Falloon #/25

Our Thoughts:

Design

Simple design of the base set cards. The name and team are on one side with the Titanium logo overlapping into the picture of the player. The backs have the last year and career totals along with a little blurb about the player. Standard stuff here.

Player Checklist

With only 100 cards, the more hyped players are in the base set. The Rookie Cards being serial numbered to their Jersey number and basically being inserted 1 per case makes them a find if you do get one, which I did not. A satisfactory product from this perspective.

Inserts

Way too many for a product like this. 44 insert sets or parallels, with another 4 if you include the printing plates. The designs for the inserts that I have seen are lack luster and don't do anything much for me.

Price

This product came out with much fanfare and way over priced. I purchased this box at around $50. I still believe that it was not worth that amount. If I am going to get hockey cards, I want legends and today's players, not borderline players from a decade ago. Pat f'n Falloon in a Penguins jersey?! Makes me shake my head.

Final Thoughts:

Ugh. This was tough to stomach. The One Memorabilia/Autograph per pack is a lure but that is all there is here. There wasn't much thought put into the design. The 1 rookie per case on average is going to scare off collectors. Way too many inserts that you will never collect the entire subset. Panini did not do a good job with this release. If you can find boxes cheap, it might give you a little bit of satisfaction, but otherwise find something else.

Box Value: 1.5 out of 5.

2011-12 Pinnacle Hockey Box Break

Packs Per Box:  24
Card Per Pack:  8
Expected Cards:  192

Common Base Set Cards:  175 out of 250.
     Duplicates:  6
Insert Cards:
Rink Collection Parallels:  (5) R. Whitney, C. Smith, P. Wiercioch, C. Atkinson, B. Saad
Team Pinnacle: (1) C. Price/P. Rinne
Tough Times: (2) B. Shoebottom, W. Clark
Breakthrough: (3)J. Van Riemsdyk, J. Skinner, L. Eriksson
Game Night Materials: (1) Claude Giroux
Threads Prime: (1) Marc-Andre Fleury #/50
Starting Six Threads: (1) N. Backstrom/A. Semin/K. Alzner/A. Ovechkin/J. Carlson/M. Neuvirth #/199

Our Thoughts:

Panini should have renamed this product as lacking instead of Pinnacle.  I expected more from this product and was disappointed in what the box contained.  To be fair, the product does guarantee two autographs or memorabila per box.  I received three, and the Prime variant of Marc-Andre Fleury was nice as well as pulling the 6 piece Washington Capitals card.  But it seemed like there wasn't much thought on the design of the cards or the inserts.

The base set according to Pinnacle are the 250 veteran cards, 30 Ice Breaker Rookie cards and 10 Ice Breaker Autograph cards.  Um, no.  The base set is the 250 veteran cards.  If you open a box and do not receive one single Rookie card, how in hell can you decide that they are part of the base set?  All the photos in the base set are orinentated so the card is longer sideways.  That is about the only plus to be found here.  The design is basic with team colors and doesn't inspire anything.  One of the coolest pictures is Card #125, Chris Neil of the Ottawa Senators.  He is in the locker room area about ready to go through some double doors and two large Senator logs around him.  The visual is real nice.  The worst photo is Marc-Andre Fleury on the ice during warm-ups skating around in a Pittsburgh Steelers helmet.  That is card #129.

The inserts are also just bland.  The jersey cards are just a picture with straight lines dividing the colors.  We got the team logo as well, but it doesn't do anything.  And who decided that a guy who played 35 games at the NHL level and accumulated 53 Penalty Minutes in those games as a Tough Guy.  I don't care what he did in the minors.  Bruce Shoebottom should not be in the Tough Times insert set. 

I paid $45 for this box and if it wasn't for the Starting Six Threads, I would have felt cheated.  As for a regular box, $45 is too high for this substandard product.  It is OK for a set builder, but that is about it.  The only other reason is if you feel lucky and want to try for an autograph.  But that seems to me something that you cannot bank on that one.

Box Value 1.5 out of 5.