National Hockey Card Day Plans Set

 Content Originally Published by Sports Collectors Daily on Thursday February 10, 2011.

Upper Deck plans to once again give away thousands of free hockey card packs on “National Hockey Card Day” in Canada.

The majority of distribution points will be comprised of hundreds of hobby shops as well as mass retailers throughout Canada.Participating national chains include Jean Coutu, London Drugs, Rexall and Pharma Plus.

Packs will include cards from a special 16-card set consisting of some of the top Canadian-born rookies, current stars and legends with a special “National Hockey Card Day” logo-stamp adorning each card front.

The lineup includes five rookies (Taylor Hall, Tyler Seguin, Jeff Skinner, Jordan Eberle and P.K. Subban); five established stars (Jason Spezza, Dion Phaneuf, Jerome Iginla, Roberto Luongo and Sidney Crosby); and five legends of the game (Patrick Roy, Mario Lemieux, Gordie Howe, Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky).

Each pack will yield five randomly assorted cards, while a special 16^th card featuring Chicago Blackhawks Captain Jonathan Toews celebrating his first Stanley Cup last year will be utilized as a gift with purchase by shop owners.

“Canadian hockey fans are rabid about their sport and their teams, so Upper Deck wanted to do something special as a way to salute their incredible devotion,” said Chris Carlin, Upper Deck’s sports marketing manager. “The program has been a huge success every year since we started it, so we expect countless hockey fans and trading card collectors to be visiting their local hobby shops and retailers next weekend.”

This year’s promotion will be held on the same day Canada celebrates the sport itself—National Hockey Day.

According to Upper Deck, Wayne Wagner, owner of Wayne’s Sportscards in Edmonton, has participated the past two years and is once again looking forward to Saturday’s outcome. “One of the most asked about events by our customers is National Hockey Card Day,” he stated for a company news release. “Having it coincide with Hockey Day in Canada makes it so easy for me to make plans.

“Once again we had more than 300 people through our doors last year and with this year’s set from Upper Deck including Taylor Hall, we are hoping to eclipse that total. For the veteran collector, it’s a must have, and for the new collector there is no better place to start.”

For more information about National Hockey Card Day, visitwww.upperdeck.com/nhcd and click on the “stores list” button to find a participating hobby shop.

Complete sets from the last couple of years are available on eBay for $5 and less.