Upper Deck Ice Gives Hockey Collectors A Clear View

Hitting the shelves deep into the Stanley Cup playoffs, the 2015-16 Upper Deck Ice Hockey product promises collectors a clear option.

That’s because each of the 200-base cards will be printed entirely on acetate stock.

Set for release on May 25, Upper Deck Ice will feature eight packs per hobby box and four cards per pack. A hobby box also will feature one on-card autograph, one memorabilia card and one Exquisite Collection insert card. Rookies will be in abundance, too, with at least three Ice Premiere cards. As an added twist, there will be some packs that will contain 2005-06 Retro Ice Premiere cards.

2015-16 Upper Deck Ice Base Set and Parallels

The base set will consist of 100 veterans and 100 Ice Premiere cards. The latter 100 cards will be divided into five tiers with each lower numbered level having more difficult cards to find. Card Nos. 101-136 (Level 5) will be numbered to 1,999, while Level 4 (cards 137-160) will be numbered to 1,499. Level 3 cards (161-178) are numbered to 999, while Level 2 (179-190) is numbered to 499. And finally, Level 1 (cards 191-200) will be numbered to 99.

As one might expect, the marquee rookies, like Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel, are in Level 1. There also will be autographed versions of these rookie cards, numbered to 499, 199 and 125; and Autograph Patch cards, numbered to 10.

Autographs, Relics and Inserts

Other autograph cards are showcased in subsets like Superb Script, which will be numbered to 49 and will have a parallel set (Superb Script Portraits) numbered to 15. Signature Swatches, meanwhile, will feature jersey swatches and autographs. The Signature Swatches will fall once in every eight hobby boxes. A similar rarity (1:64 packs) — and a very cool-looking card — comes from the Rinkside Signings subset. These cards will feature a miniature rink, with the player’s autograph contained inside the “ice.”

A little more common (sort of) card is the Glacial Graphs subset, which will fall once in every four hobby boxes.

Memorabilia cards will have some big names, with Frozen Foursomes combining swatches from four different players. As an example, one can imagine pulling a card that features swatches from McDavid, Eichel, Dylan Larkin and Max Domi. Those cards also come in black parallels that will be numbered to 3. Frozen Fabrics and Fresh Threads will fall one in every three hobby boxes, and there also will be Rookie Relic Jumbos numbered to 299.

These relics also will have red and black parallels.

Some of the inserts a collector will find in a typical hobby box are Global Impact and World Juniors Championship. The latter insert will be numbered to 699, 299 or as 1/1s.

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About Bob D'Angelo

Bob has been a sportswriter and copy editor for more than 35 years and a blogger for a decade. He is celebrating his 50th year of card collecting, and still counts his 1965 Topps Mickey Mantle as his favorite. You can reach him at [email protected].