2010-11 ITG Between the Pipes Hockey

schwood · 04-17-2011, 01:35 PM

2010-11 ITG Between the Pipes Hockey
Release Date: April 14th 2011
Box Configuration: 18 packs per box, 9 cards per pack
Suggested Retail Price: around $85 to $90 per hobby box

Box Break + Highlights

Base Set
This year's base card checklist has been expanded to 200 cards including two new subsets: One Game Wonders and Women In The Net.

Non Memorabilia Inserts (1:8 Packs)
There are 6 different Non Memorabilia Insert sets to collect including 100 Years of Card Collecting, Deep In The Crease, Guarding the Bleu Blanc et Rouge Net, Guarding the Blue and White Net, Inspired Masks, and Their Country's Finest.

Authentic Goalie Graph Cards (1:8 Packs)
Over 130 autograph cards that are made up of 6 sets including Future Stars, Stars of the Game, Greats of the Game, Immortals, Women of the Nets, and One Game Wonder. The autograph card checklist is one of the largest ever featuring hobby favorites along with some new additions to BTP: Bob Sauve, Chico Resch, Cesare Maniago, Darren Pang, Pokey Reddick, John Garrett, Frank Pietrangelo, Kelly Hrudey, Murray Bannerman, Mike Vernon, and Steve Penney.

Game Used Memorabilia Cards (1:8 Packs)
A great collection of insert sets featuring Authentic Game Used memorabilia cards.

What We Pulled

Base Cards

The base set in this year's ITG Between the Pipes consists of 200 cards. In this box we pulled 132 total different cards with no duplicates. This year's set consists of multiple subsets. The design of the cards are all very similar with different color schemes on the front, and a different title at the bottom of each card. The Between the Pipes logo is shown along the left side of the cards vertically with different information horizontally along the bottom of the card including the player's name.

Future Stars Subset Cards

This is the first of the subsets in the base set. These are cards of up and coming minor league goalies. The cards have a light blue color scheme and include the players minor league team name along the bottom of the card near their name. The picture is a nice action shot of the goalie.

Stars of the Game Subset Cards

This is the second of the subsets in the base set. These are cards of current star goalies of the game. The cards have a light green color scheme and seem to have a stock background of what looks like a small portion of the boards of a hockey rink.

Greats of the Game Subset Cards

This is the third of the subsets in the base set. These are cards of great goalies of the past. The cards have a light grey color scheme and seem to have a stock background of what looks like to be a picture of a goalie and net. The picture is a face shot of the goalie some with and some without their masks.

Immortals Subset Cards

This is the fourth of the subsets in the base set. These are cards of immortal goalies of the past. The cards have a white color scheme and seem to have a stock background of an old time hockey game. The picture is a black and white face shot of the goalie on a banner background.

Women of the Nets Subset Cards

This is the fifth of the subsets in the base set. These are cards of women goalies. The cards have a pink color scheme and seem to have a stock background of a team celebration at the end of a game. The picture is a head shot of the goalie with her mask on.

One Game Wonder Subset Cards

This is the sixth and final subset in the base set. These are cards of One Game Wonder goalies. The one we pulled had information on a goalie that was called up and suited up for his pro team for one and only one game, and did not see any ice time.

Redemption Cards

The He Shoots He Saves Redemption Cards are inserted 1 per pack except for the packs that have a memorabilia card in it. We pulled 16 Redemption Cards in this box. Each Redemption Card is worth 1 point. These cards can be redeemed for limited game used memorabilia cards not available in packs.

Inserts

Guarding the Bleu Blanc et Rouge Net - Rogie Vachon. A nice insert card of an old time goalie for the Canadiens. This would make a nice addition to someone's collection.

100 Years of Collecting - Bernie Parent. This is a very cool throwback retro insert card. The card has a painted picture of the goalie on the front with a very thick grey-blue border.

Masked Men III - Alex Auld, Ondrej Pavelec (both Emerald). These inserts are totally sweet! An awesome head shot of the goalie with a very cool emerald wavy refracting background. Per ITG Announcment - there is an error on the backs of the Masked Men III cards. There are three different colored versions of each Masked Men III card. The Gold version (10 of each), the Silver version (100 of each), and the Emerald (340 of each). Unfortunately, the Emerald version has 1/1 on the back of card and this is not the case. There are 340 of each Emerald card.

Game Used Memorabilia

Ron Hextall - Game Used Jersey Black. A basic Game Used Jersey of an excellent past great goalie. The cool orange color adds a little zing to the card. This would make a very nice addition to any Flyers or Hextall collection.

James Reimer - Game Used Jersey Black. A nice plain white swatch that would make a nice addition to a Leafs collection.

Autographs

Alec Richards - Future Stars Authentic Goalie Graph. Richards is a goalie with the Rockford Ice Hogs of the AHL. He was signed by the Blackhawks in 2009. A very nice autograph with his number 35 included in the signature.

Jeff Frazee - Future Stars Authentic Goalie Graph. Frazee is currently a goalie for the Albany Devils in the AHL. He played for the University of Minnesota in college, and he is known for being the goalie who let up the 'Longest Hockey Goal'. Another nice clean autograph including his number in the signature.

Gump Worsley - The Immortals Authentic Goalie Graph. Worsley's best years were with the Stanley Cup Winning Canadiens in 1965, 1966, 1968, and 1969. He passed away in 2007 at the age of 77. This is a very nice historical autograph of an old time goalie.

Final Thoughts

Personally, I am not a huge Hockey collector and I have never been one to collect solely cards of just goalies. But I have to say that this box turned out pretty well. There are a lot of nice old time cards in this product and some pretty decent value here. With 3 Autos, 2 GUs, and 2 of the Masked Men III inserts, this box is a good value. The base cards are just base cards, but the different framed colors made for some decent variation in the base set. There is a really nice variety of players included from Hot Prospect Goalies to Immortals to Current and Past Greats of the Game to Women Goalies. There were no duplicates in the box which is a good selling point for set collectors. The box contains 18 packs, on average that would get you approximately 2 Autos and 2 GU per box. We happened to pull 3 Autos with one being an Immortal Autograph. So we beat the odds on our box! My rating will show this. This was my first ever review and due to that, the fun and experience has a very high rating!

How I Rate This Product
Value = 4
Innovation = 4
Fun and Experience = 5
Rebuy Value = 4

I rate this product a B+ for ITG

NPN

There is no NPN for this product.

Thank you so much to In The Game as well as Card Collectors World for giving me the chance to review this new product. Be on the look out for future contests with cards from this box break.

key2win · 04-17-2011, 08:37 PM

Great review Woody. The Masked Men III inserts are very cool looking and probably my favorite design from this box. The orange jersey from the Ron Hextall looks nice since I havent seen much orange swatches out there. Congrats on pulling an extra autograph and an Immortal Autograph too.

munchman34 · 04-17-2011, 10:55 PM

Nice review, the subset cards have some interesting concepts, but I not sure I would spend alot on this product.

Bryan_Mc · 04-17-2011, 11:42 PM

i am loving the designs, the mask cards are awesome because you can see their faces, in the old days, they were usually just the masks. the throwback cards are really cool looking too, and not just cause it's bernard marcel parent