A Good Day for Hockey - 2013-14 UD Trilogy Hockey

The local "Hockey Day Minnesota" tradition was this past weekend.  For hockey fans such as myself, we're treated to a whole day of hockey games, starting with high school hockey then college, and topped off with the Wild.  Happily, my two favorite teams (Gophers and Wild) won their games.  It also helps I live in the current hockey town MN, where the local HS programs (boys and girls) are reigning state champs.

With so much hockey going on, I couldn't help but start digging into some hockey cards.  This also made me think of a couple things concerning the hobby and the sport.  Everything is so darn expensive!

I'm not sure anyone could attend a Wild game for less than $100.  I'm also not sure why everyday fans continue to shell out that kind of money to watch a game.  Yeah they say it's about the "experience".  When the experience includes cramped, nose bleed seats and $12 beer (ok, you could just get a $5 water), and crowds of people, I'll pass (unless the tickets are free).  All that doesn't even include navigating the parking lots.

The hobby has its pitfalls too.  Expensive "premium" cards, where packs are $10 each (or more) and boxes can run hundreds of dollars.  It's a wonder how the hobby continues to thrive.  

But there are those people who are in need of the adrenaline rush, looking for the "big hit".  The curmudgeon in me says, "yes!  please spend all your money so I don't have to spend mine!".  :)

Then I can walk into my LCS and find a perfectly fine base set of 100 premium cards for under $10.

 

Being a set collector, I don't mind base sets, especially a set as attractive as this one.  I'd also bet this set would look great in a binder.

The set is loaded with current and past stars, including Wild killer, Gabriel Landeskog.

Now this is more to my liking.  At least UD had the good sense to include photos of these players in their North Stars uniforms.  Though I was never a big fan of the black breezers.  For the record, the Wild should just switch their main colors to the North Stars retro full time.

The Great One also makes an appearance in the set. 

The back side is somewhat mundane.  A bio and write up but no stats.  Larger card numbers would have been nice, but then maybe I'm just getting to old to read some of these things.

As much as I like the look and design of this set, I don't think the trilogy line at the bottom needed to be so prominently displayed.  We get two card logos on the front and that is a bit too much.  In my opinion, the two logos on the front are the only drawback to what is a really fine set.

I'm also thrilled I didn't have to break the bank to pick up a nice set such as this.  So go on big spenders, keep hunting for those hits, and I'll search the dregs of cardboard for hidden gems like this.