Each year, there seems to be another labor dispute between sports owners and the people who actually make the games happen. Last year’s NBA season was shortened due to contract negotiations between the players union and the league, while this year’s football season was nearly derailed because of the replacement referees who weren’t up to the task when the real refs were locked out.
This year, the NHL is back in the lockout spotlight, unable to agree to terms with the league on a whole host of issues. But even though the chances of the new hockey season getting underway in two weeks are slim to none, that hasn’t stopped card-maker Panini from showing off their 2012-2013 set of cards, set for release in November. A post on Sports Collectors Daily has the scoop on what hockey fans can expect from this new set: five cards per pack, ten packs per box, and 24 boxes per case, along with three eight-box mini cases.
The set will contain at least one autograph and three memorabilia cards in each box, some of which feature pieces of players’ sticks, which is pretty cool, if I do say so myself. One of the more interesting relic cards featured in the set, though, are the Goalie Pulls, so named after the practice of “pulling the goalie” in order to put an extra scorer on the ice. These cards feature images of the featured goaltender, in front of the hockey net…and which allow collectors to actually pull them out, like some kind of sports-branded pop-up book. I think that’s fantastic:
And if the NHL lockout isn’t resolved soon, it’s probably the only kind of hockey player action any fan might see for quite a while…
[Via Sports Collectors Daily]
