My first NHL blaster

Due to health related financial considerations, I really can't do hobby boxes all that often anymore. I'm limited pretty much to blasters. Not that there's anything wrong with that, really, other than the fact that you don't have the opportunity for some of the inserts- but hey, I'm a base card guy anyway, and I'm thrilled I'm able to get anything, so every blaster I can get my hands on is a treasure.

I did my first blaster of NHL cards last week, one of 2016-17 Upper Deck Series 1. I don't normally break down blasters, but since it is my first one ever for the sport, I will give it the full Box Break Review treatment. Which means, of course, that I will select 9 base cards to showcase, plus inserts and rookies.

My very first card from the season where I became a hockey fan. That's something special!

 My first card showing the electronic sign boards, which I didn't know even existed until very recently.

 Jaromir Jagr has been in the NHL since 1990. That's unbelievable and I'm glad I discovered the sport while he was still active. To put things in perspective, in 1990-91 I was in Kindergarten. (I was already a card collector by that point as well...although not sports cards)

 Now I have the famous puppy card!

 Just a great photo.

 Brent Burns is in the early lead as a favorite player. He refers to himself as Chewbacca, makes Chewbacca noises, and wore a Chewbacca mask at last year's all-star game. How could you not like that?

 I think that's the face my mom made when she read the blog where I announced I was now a fan of the NHL...something I had managed to keep secret (somehow)

 One thing I'm particularly enjoying is seeing the ads on the boards. Oscar Mayer! Yum.

 My second card of the year. While my favorite logo is that of the Senators, the Jets' logo is pretty high up there too.

Now, we move on to the Young Guns rookie cards, of whom I pulled two.

 If what I've gathered is correct the Maple Leafs have several of the top rookies of the season.

 I can't say I've ever heard of either of them, but...I've only been "all-in" on the sport for about 3 weeks, so I still have a whole lot to learn. There are teams I have not even seen play yet. When I got into the NBA it took me until my second season to see every team and it might be the same here. I hope not, but the NHL doesn't have as much TV presence as the NBA does.

 I only got one UD Canvas card.

This year's UD Portraits insert is slightly more interesting than the 2015-16 set, mostly because of the blue border. The 2016-17 set is very blue in theme. This is currently my only card of Kucherov.

The last insert I pulled is a Shining Stars of Brent Burns, card #SS-1 in the set. I'm happy to get another of him, but I am not a big fan of mirror foil cards. However, it didn't seem to have as much a problem with scanning as most mirror foils do.

One thing I am curious to see, and I won't be able to know for years, is if NHL will hold true to the first two sports I follow, in that the second year I was in the sport is the favorite. For NASCAR, 1993 was my first year collecting and 1994 is my favorite year of cards, for the NBA I began collecting in 1995-96 and 1996-97 is my favorite year of cards. So, I got into the NHL in 2016-17, so will 2017-18 be my favorite year of cards? Only time will tell- I didn't stop and think about it being the second year as my favorite until only a year or two ago so it will take time to find out. I don't know even now if it was because it was my second year, or if it was because it was the 1990s, the best decade for cards.

Thanks for reading- I've certainly enjoyed the opening process, and I've really been enjoying the sport. To be honest I've been watching it more than the NBA lately, but that may just be because it's "new"...either way come tomorrow I'll be trying to watch three sports live on a regular basis, so I have to plan each day's TV watching in advance!