Pack Rip - 2009-10 Upper Deck Series 1 Hockey Pack 1 (Hobby)

Upper Deck's base hockey set has been one of my favorites the last two seasons in a row, so I knew I would pick some 2009-10 Series 1 up at some point. I was at the hobby shop yesterday and he had 8 packs left, so I grabbed them all for $24. 8 cards per pack, here's the first pack:

#189 - Mikko Koivu - Minnesota Wild - I swear I pull cards of this guy all the time, including just yesterday in my pack of Artifacts.

#45 - Sergei Gonchar - Pittsburgh Penguins - Not the greatest shot ever...

#112 - Dustin Byfuglien - Chicago Blackhawks - Now that's a nice card! This photo is from last year's Winter Classic game if I'm not mistaken. You can see the patch on Dustin's jersey and the Wrigley brick in the background. It's been a while but I seem to recall whatever network did last year's Winter Classic hosting this contest where you had to spot the player without the Reebok patch above his number on the back of his jersey. I think the player was Dustin Byfuglien.

#96 - Brooks Laich - Washington Capitals - A guy who has become somewhat of a fan favorite in Washington from what I can tell. He's having a great year with 22 points in 26 games. In fact, he's gotten steadily better in each of his 3 NHL seasons.

#TG2 - Zach Parise - New Jersey Devils - Top Guns - I'm not impressed with this Top Guns insert set at all. Couldn't you have at least gone with a foil logo Upper Deck? This looks like an insert I would expect in a retail pack, not hobby.

#62 - Doug Weight - New York Islanders - I have to say that I really like the look of these cards. Extremely similar to the Upper Deck baseball set from 2009, but there's one key difference that I think makes the hockey cards look significantly better. In the baseball release the bar across the bottom of the card where the player's position is noted was one color for all cards, a beige color. In the hockey release this bar is always a team color from the player depicted. It's also see-through in the hockey release, where it was solid in the baseball set. These changes make a huge difference in my opinion, for the better.

#12 - Nathan Gerbe - Buffalo Sabres - This guy is pretty well known around where I live. He was a star at Boston College, was drafted by the Sabres and was called up for his first NHL action last year. Gerbe recorded 1 assist in 10 games, and has yet to see NHL action in 2009-10.

#54 - David Clarkson - New Jersey Devils - Interesting shot to end the pack. I like the little Devils logos on the seats behind the glass.

Even though this wasn't the world's best pack, I think these cards look great, which is what I've come to expect from Upper Deck just about every year. I was wavering about whether or not to pick up a hobby box of this stuff, now I think I'm gonna have to go for it. I've only ripped one other pack so far, and it was definitely better than this one. I'll be posting that one soon...