In The Game has added two more honoured members of the Hockey Hall of Fame to its 2010-11 card season: 600-goal men Mario Lemieux and Steve Yzerman.

“We are proud to have a long history with both players and collectors will be happy to find their cards throughout all In The Game releases during the upcoming season,” said In The Game’s President, Dr. Brian Price. “We’re dedicated to bringing hobbyists the best possible selection of players that are available to us and Lemieux and Yzerman are truly among the sport’s greatest legends.”

Lemieux and Yzerman have two of the highest Collector’s Indexes of all time. Lemieux’s Index is 4,583 (fourth highest behind Wayne Gretzky, Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur) while Yzerman’s Index is 3,983 (7th highest, soon to join Jaromir Jagr and Joe Sakic in the 4,000-club).

MORE FROM IN THE GAME
“Our passion for making quality hockey cards sets us apart from other hockey card manufacturers and we feel that the only license we really need is a license from collectors to produce the best hockey cards possible,” said Price. “We still have some more announcements to make about upcoming signings as well and hope that collectors will enjoy what we have to offer for the upcoming season.”

Lemieux has long been a part of In The Game’s lineup of products and first signed a deal with the hockey card manufacturer for the 2000-01 season. A fixture in the company’s products since that time, he is considered to be the greatest player in the history of the Pittsburgh Penguins franchise. When he was chosen first overall in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft, he was looked upon to help resurrect the faltering franchise and within a few years, he took the team to a pair of consecutive Stanley Cup titles. While he retired in 1997, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and saved the team once again by taking over as their owner. In 2000, he returned to the ice and demonstrated that his pure athletic skill had not waned. Five years later, he skated with a young Sidney Crosby and would retire for good midway through the season.

After a brief absence, Yzerman has returned to the In The Game fold once again and the current General Manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning has a huge following among collectors throughout the world. In 1983, Steve was chosen by the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL Entry Draft and made an immediate impact with the club. He quickly demonstrated solid leadership skill and became the team’s captain in 1986 – a position he would hold until his retirement in 2006. A three-time Stanley Cup champion, he help Detroit establish itself as Hockey Town and earned numerous accolades on his way to becoming a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

In The Game is now in its 13th season of producing hockey cards and has dedicated the 2010-11 campaign to celebrating the centennial year for the hobby and the players that make collecting a fun and exciting pastime. Upcoming releases that are on the schedule include traditional favourites such as Heroes and Prospects, Between The Pipes and Ultimate Memorabilia 10th Edition along with new concepts such as Enshrined, Decades, Canada Vs. The World and Illustrious.

In The Game has announced that it will celebrate 100 years of hockey cards this coming hockey season, paying tribute to the original C56 hockey card set from the 1910-11 season.

“Join us this season as we celebrate a century of hockey cards with pride, passion and enthusiasm, beginning with the revolutionary In The Game Ultimate Memorabilia series, tenth edition. ITG UM-10 will include an eye-catching C56-style base set and special redemption cards for graded original C56 singles! Escape into the annals of hockey history – honour the legends of the past, today’s stars and tomorrow’s phenoms. Rediscover the spirit of collecting with the only company that truly honours the great sport of hockey – In The Game hockey trading cards.”

MORE FROM IN THE GAME
The photographs gracing C56 card fronts speak volumes about the foundation of hockey at the professional level, and the development of the game itself, and offer a crash-course in hockey history: Newsy Lalonde (#36) scored the first ever goal for the Montréal Canadiens franchise, and would later score in the first six games in the history of the NHL. Fred “Cyclone” Taylor (#15) was named to the first All-Star team in eighteen consecutive seasons from 1900-1918, he was one of the game’s first true superstars. Frank (#1) and Lester Patrick (#26) were instrumental in the foundation of the PCHA, which was home to the Seattle Metropolitans – the first American team to win the Stanley Cup. The Patrick brothers also actively promoted women’s hockey, and organized an international championship which was played in 1921. Each name on the C56 checklist made a notable contribution to the game, and today, twenty players included in the set are honoured in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

In the technology driven 21st century, we are privileged to collect a dazzling array of hockey cards, where autographs, game-used memorabilia swatches and limited editions are commonplace. While today’s cards certainly boast features that bring collectors closer to their heroes, the spirit of collecting lies in C56s, the first known set of hockey cards. Released one hundred years ago, C56s put the game of hockey on the map in the collecting world. A glance at this timeless set takes the modern collector on a journey through hockey history, and strengthens the love for the game that defines avid collectors worldwide. For the 2010-11 season, collectors will get In The Game like never before as we celebrate the centennial season of hockey cards.

By the time Imperial Tobacco’s C56s were released in 1910, “Cigarette Cards” had already made the transition from mere packaging tools – blank pieces of cardboard which were inserted to reinforce thin cigarette packages – to full-scale marketing devices. Cigarette manufacturers began including advertising on the cards, and eventually created full sets of individual colour photographs depicting popular themes in society. Some of the earliest sets, which date as far back as the mid-1870′s, featured castles, airplanes…even clowns! So began the phenomena of card collecting! To the benefit of cigarette manufacturers at the time, customers who were interested in completing these sets didn’t have as many collecting tools as we do today. Online auctions and hobby forums being unavailable, collectors in the early twentieth century could trade for cards they needed… or they could buy more cigarettes!

The C56 checklist is comprised of 36 cards, and includes players who starred in the blossoming NHA (National Hockey Association). C56 singles are aesthetically perfect in their simplicity. Cards feature a full colour portrait, the player’s name and team centered across the bottom, and card number in the top left corner. Card backs prominently place the words “Hockey Series” beneath a crossed hockey stick design, the player’s name is then complemented by a list of his club teams and seasons played. One of the most intriguing inclusions C56s offer affects only four cards. Art Ross, who has two cards (#8, #12), Bruce Stuart (#17) and Riley Hern (#22) had their occupations listed on the backs of their cards – imagine that, a professional hockey player with a day job! A 37th card featuring Newsy Lalonde, one of the set’s most popular names, also exists. It is not included on the checklist, and was distributed by sales representatives to promote Imperial Tobacco’s products. It is believed that only two copies of that particular card have surfaced, one of which sold for an astonishing $100,000 in 2007 – the card had been graded a 3 out of 10 by SCG (Sportscard Guarantee Corporation).

C56s hold a very special and deserved place in hobby history. It is important to consider that these cards have survived recessions, epidemics (even that which caused the 1919 Stanley Cup finals to be cancelled), World Wars… and NHL work stoppages! C56s prove that even in their earliest, simplest form, hockey cards are, and always have been “more than cardboard”. For generations they have captured our imaginations, teaching us about our game and our history. More importantly, they have provided a solid foundation upon which lifelong friendships between collectors worldwide can be built.

The Upper Deck Company has released 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Premier, the company’s second-last hockey card set of the 2009-10 season. O-Pee-Chee Premier and The Cup (Aug. 24) – both high-end brands – close out the 2009-10 season this August 2010.

“O-Pee-Chee Premier is always one of our most sought-after sets and this year’s release is no exception,” said Josh Zusman, Upper Deck’s hockey brand manager. “Once again, we’ve covered the gamut with incredible rookie memorabilia cards, autographs and legends of the ice. And since this will be the last time Upper Deck produces this high-end set for at least the foreseeable future, it should only add to its collectibility.”

MORE FROM UPPER DECK
Packed with four great hits inside every five-card pack, Upper Deck’s 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Premier Hockey defines the essence of great hockey card collecting. Hitting store shelves today, OPC Premier is chock full of choice inserts including one autographed “Quad Rookie Memorabilia” card, one NHL superstar’s signature card, one manufactured patch card, and one triple- or quad-swatch memorabilia card or parallel card numbered to 25 or less, in every pack.

Leaving few pucks unturned, Upper Deck’s insert lineup is second to none. In addition to boasting renowned NHL names like Bobby Orr, Bobby Hull, Mark Messier, Gordie Howe and Wayne Gretzky as part of its newly unveiled “Premier Signings” autograph extravaganza, this year’s OPC Premier collection includes super-cool manufactured patch cards featuring nicknames, achievements and famous nicknames of some of hockey’s most celebrated players ever including Don “Grapes” Cherry and “Bam Bam Cam” Neely. Orr, Howe and Gretzky are all under exclusive contract with Upper Deck.

The lineup kicks off with the highly desirable “Quad Memorabilia” autographed rookie cards which are numbered to 299. The manufactured patch cards include OPC “Premier Stichings” versions numbered to 199 and OPC autographed “Premier Stichings” gems numbered to just 25. The outstanding array of memorabilia cards found within OPC Premier will satisfy the most rabid of hockey card collectors starting with “OPC Premier Remnants, Quad Jerseys,” numbered to 25, and “Triple Jerseys,” numbered to 35. Current standouts included in both lineups include Alex Ovechkin, Martin Brodeur, Joe Thornton, Jari Kurri and Ryan Miller. Retired greats include Howe, Gretzky, Messier, Patrick Roy and Steve Yzerman.

The overall assortment of autographed cards is one of Upper Deck’s strongest in years. The initial “Premier Signings” lineup is numbered to 50 and includes current superstars like Antti Niemi, Sidney Crosby, Jarome Iginla, Martin Brodeur and Ovechkin, alongside top rookies from this past season including John Tavares, Matt Duchene, Jonas Gustavsson, Victor Hedman and James van Riemsdyk. The additional levels of “Premier Signings” autograph card variations include: “Duals,” numbered to 25; “Triples,” numbered to 15; “Quads,” numbered to 10; “Gold Parallels,” numbered to 15; “Dual Gold,” numbered to 10; “Triple Gold,” numbered to 5; and “Quad Gold,” numbered to 1.

Upper Deck’s 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Premier Hockey boasts five cards per pack (one pack per box) and is currently available on hobby store shelves.

The Upper Deck Company has posted the first images of 2010-11 O-Pee-Chee on its Facebook page. Five images have been posted, including the base card design.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?pid=5030289&id=61698633950&ref=fbx_album

This year’s 2010-11 O-Pee-Chee set will feature 600 cards in the base set. The set will release in mid December and will feature new rookies who skate at the start of the new season in October. There will also be a retro variation seeded one per hobby pack. A typical hobby box may include 18 rookies/legends, one Action laminated card, nine retro parallel cards, one or two Black retro parallels, and nine O-Pee-Chee inserts.

The Upper Deck Company has kicked off the 2010-11 NHL card season with Victory hockey. The product was launched this week across Canada and the United States.

“Victory Hockey represents the perfect way to start off the new season,” said Josh Zusman, Upper Deck’s hockey brand manager. “We were thrilled with last year’s outstanding rookie crop and there were several first-year players who made it up to their team’s roster and even made an impact in the postseason. This set gets the new NHL season started off in style.”

MORE FROM THE UPPER DECK COMPANY
The insert chase begins with “Victory Rookies” falling at an average of one in every two packs. Standouts like Toronto’s sizzling forward Nazem Kadri, Montréal’s versatile defenseman PK Subban and Ottawa’s stellar blue-liner Jared Cowan are just some of the upstarts from last season who made their presence felt. Next, superstar inserts like “Game Breakers” and “Stars of the Game,” both falling at a rate of 1:4 packs, combine to deliver a 1:2 packs average hit. Proven players like Alex Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Sidney Crosby and Dany Heatley, along with top-notch rookies like John Tavares and James van Riemsdyk from last season, are part of the “Game Breakers” lineup, while tested veterans like Martin Brodeur, Jarome Iginla, Roberto Luongo and Joe Thornton are all spotlighted in “Stars of the Game.”

There is also a pair of set parallels to collect: the rare Gold version (base cards, 1:36 packs; and rookie cards, 1:144 packs) and the scarcer Black variation. Both levels will no doubt keep set collectors cracking packs in search of completing their overall collections.

Upper Deck’s 2010-11 Victory Hockey includes six cards per pack and 36 packs per box, and is currently available on hobby and retail store shelves.

The Upper Deck Company has released 2009-10 Ultimate Collection hockey. The high-end release is UDC’s third-last of the 2009-10 hockey season, with O-Pee-Chee Premier (Aug. 10) and The Cup (Aug. 24) still to come. This is Ultimate Collection’s sixth season in the hockey card market.

“This is one eye-popping release,” said Josh Zusman, Upper Deck’s hockey brand manager. “We just experienced one of the most-watched NHL playoffs ever with some of the best hockey battles in recent years. This set captures many of the thrills from this season, as well as salutes some of hockey’s all-time greatest players. This is a must-have product for any serious hockey collector.”

Highlights the Upper Deck Company, “the piece de résistance for rookie collectors will no doubt be the 42-player insert entitled “Autographed Ultimate Rookies NHL Shield Variations,” which are numbered to just one apiece. A second 1-of-1 insert entitled “Ultimate Signature Logos” will also cause quite a frenzy amongst collectors.”

The Upper Deck Company will once again host the National Hockey League Entry Draft’s hockey card show this Jun. 25-26. This year’s show takes place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA. The show is held in conjunction with the NHL Entry Draft, which commences with the first round selections on Friday night (7pm on TSN in Canada and Versus in USA).

“We’re very excited to be a part of the NHL Entry Draft event this weekend,” said Jodi Wasserman, Upper Deck’s senior manager for Marketing and Events. “We’ve got plenty of kid-friendly activities planned at the Upper Deck booth and, of course, we’ll have redemption card sets available featuring current and retired Kings’ greats as well as other NHL superstars.”

For the show, UDC has produced two six-card redemption packs. The first pack features active stars: three Kings (Dustin Brown, Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar) and three former first-overall picks (John Tavares, Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin). The second pack features former stars: three Kings (Wayne Gretzky, Luc Robitaille and a so-called “mystery player”) and three other stars (Steve Yzerman, Patrick Roy and Mario Lemieux).

Signing autographs on Saturday morning will be Kings’ captain Dustin Brown. He will be at the UDC booth from 11-12 noon on Saturday morning. Brown will only be signing custom oversize Upper Deck cards (no other items).

MORE (UDC PRESS RELEASE)

Beyond the signing session and redemption card sets, UDC will also have its highly popular Personalized Trading Card (P-Card) station up for fans seeking to obtain their very own trading card, compliments of Upper Deck. The Upper Deck booth will be set up on the concourse level of the Staples Center, outside sections 101 to 104. Upper Deck also invites kids ages 13 and under to show off their shooting skills and win cool prizes by participating in the “Lucky Shot” game, which will be part of the Upper Deck booth.

In addition, UDC will have several rare cards on display, along with many of Upper Deck Authenticated’s newly unveiled NHL Curve(tm) Displays, which showcase either an autographed or commemorative hockey puck positioned alongside a team or player photo. In fact, UDA will be selling many NHL Curve(tm) Display variations at the NHL Entry Draft – all at special show pricing – including releases for the Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks, Tampa Bay Lightning center Steven Stamkos, and other top NHL stars.

And last but certainly not least, the winner of Upper Deck’s NHL Entry Draft Runner contest, 12-year-old Zeke Estrada of Anaheim, will be on hand both days of the event assisting one NHL team (still to be determined) in its quest to find the NHL’s next superstar in the making.

The Upper Deck Company has released this year’s edition of SP Authentic hockey, the latest release ever for this popular brand. Card collectors have had to wait, but will now be treated to what is always one of the most popular collection of rookie cards from any given hockey season.

“We’re very proud of this year’s SP Authentic release,” said Josh Zusman, Upper Deck’s hockey brand manager. “We had a terrific 2009-10 campaign and a rookie class that rivaled some of the greatest to ever enter the NHL. This product includes the biggest names in hockey, past and present, and the autographed inserts will keep collectors cracking packs for months.”

MORE (UDC RELEASE)

Incredible only begins to describe the number of autographed cards in SP Authentic Hockey. The multi-tiered “Sign of the Times” insert kicks things off with a single-signed version that has a tremendous heritage. The Sign of the Times lineup then parlays to “Duals,” some of which are Mystery Redemptions; “Trios” (numbered to 25); “Quads” (numbered to 10); and the super-rare “Fives,” “Sixes,” “Sevens” and “Eights.” The “Autographed Future Watch” rookies are numbered to 999, while the special “Prestigious Pairings” collection – sporting combos like Joe Thornton/Dany Heatley, Vincent Lecavalier/Steven Stamkos and Jarome Iginla/Eric Staal – are all numbered to 100.

If autographed cards drive your collection, then SP Authentic’s highly coveted autographed “Future Watch Patch” inserts (numbered to 100) of top rookies like Tavares, Duchene, van Riemsdyk, Hedman and Kane will really start to rev your engines. Likewise, the “Rookie Review” autographed patch cards, also numbered to 100, will pack plenty of excitement for collectors seeking coveted superstar patch cards. In a tribute to the past, SP Authentic also boasts a rare lineup of 20 “Immortal Inks” autographed cards (each numbered to 10) that include such standouts as Bobby Orr, Bobby Hull, Brian Leetch, Luc Robitaille, Phil Esposito, Don Cherry, Tony Esposito, Cam Neely, Mark Messier, Patrick Roy and Wayne Gretzky.

The Upper Deck Company has released the newest edition of Be Player hockey cards. As has been the tradition since 1994-95, Be A Player hockey cards guarantees one autographed card in every pack.

“This year’s Be A Player Hockey is jam-packed with quality cards, so collectors are going to love cracking packs and making great pulls,” said Josh Zusman, Upper Deck’s hockey brand manager. “There are actually dual-signed cards falling at a rate of one per hobby box, on average, so that’s another chase element that will keep hockey fans coming back for more.”

MORE (UDC RELEASE
With the Stanley Cup Finals set to begin on Saturday evening between the Philadelphia Flyers and Chicago Blackhawks, the Upper Deck Company has just released its latest NHL-licensed trading card set: 2009-10 Be A Player Hockey. The 300-card regular set features the most sought-after players in the NHL and guarantees one autograph card in every pack, on average!

In addition to highlighting all the top rookies from this season’s freshmen class including John Tavares, Matt Duchene, James van Riemsdyk (who is competing this weekend), Jonas Gustavsson, Evander Kane, Logan Couture and Victor Hedman, Be A Player Hockey boasts several different opportunities for varying degrees of autograph pulls. For example, Be A Player “Autograph Duals” fall at a rate of one in every eight packs; “Trios (1:24 packs); and there are new autographed variations (numbered to 10) of the regular base cards.

Another sought-after element of the Be A Player lineup is its three-tiered Rookie Jersey Cards: the most common version is numbered to 250; the autographed Rookie Jersey Cards are numbered to 50; and the rare “Rookie Patches” jersey cards are numbered to 15. Additional insert cards include “Sidelines” (1:4 packs); “Goalies Unmasked” (numbered to 499); and “Meet the Rookies” (also numbered to 499)

The product, which boasts five cards per pack and eight packs per box, is currently on store shelves.

The Upper Deck Company has released its update edition of 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee hockey. The 200-card update is available in a box set and features all of the best rookies from this past hockey season.

“Our O-Pee-Chee Update box set completes the 800-card O-Pee-Chee release from this season,” said Josh Zusman, Upper Deck’s hockey brand manager. “But what makes this particular collection so special is the outstanding assortment of the best rookies from the class of 2009-10.”

MORE (UDC RELEASE)
In addition to spotlighting all the top rookies from this season’s freshmen class, the O-Pee-Chee Update box set includes randomly seeded “Top Draws” triple-jersey combo cards pinpointing golden oldies like Boston’s Ray Bourque, Cam Neely and Adam Oates along with younger, up-and-coming trios like Carolina’s Eric Staal, Cam Ward and Rod Brind ‘Amour. Easily the most sought-after version of the triple-jersey memorabilia cards will be the Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Steve Yzerman classic.

Lastly, collectors can discover ultra cool Marquee Rainbow Parallels, falling (on average) about three per box. All 200 players from the box set can be found in this rare parallel by the most dedicated of collectors.