The long and cold Canadian winters of our youth meant one thing....hockey. Constants in most of our lives were 6 am practices, playing on the pond and watching our NHL heroes skate on TV. During this special time, we were introduced to our hockey card hobbies. Whether it was Howe, Orr, Gretzky or Sakic....O Pee Chee, Upper Deck, Score or Parkhurst everyone remembers the sets and players where they developed their passion for collecting hockey cards.



The rebirth of the NHL in 2005/2006 also brings about a renaissance in hockey card collecting. With the one-two punch of Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin and an army of sets featuring cards we couldn't even dream of as kids, this year is the most exciting year for collectors in over a decade....if not ever. This series of articles will breakdown many of 05/06's most talked about hockey card sets.

Upper Deck's focus with this years Ice was on innovation, quality and long term value and as a result Ice has become one of the most sought after sets of 2005-06

After missing a year because of the NHL Lockout, Upper Deck's popular Ice product is back and better than ever. Along with being jam packed with this years top rookies, 05/06 Ice features eye catching signature acetate patch cards. The acetate autographs mark a milestone in the hockey card industry, being that no other set has ever featured patch card versions of acetate autographs.

Collectors will love the fact that 2005-06 Upper Deck Ice includes five sequentially numbered rookies cards and two memorabilia cards in every box. The Ice Hockey Brand utilizes revolutionary PETG technology (clear acetate) on rookie and memorabilia cards ,and on the new autographed acetate patch cards (numbered to 10).

Rookies Include: Crosby, Ovechkin, Barker, Ward, Vanek, Phaneuf, Brule, Lundqvist, Carter, Richards, Getzlaf and much more.

Regular cards include three or four players from each team. Collectors will have fun collecting the four levels of the Ice Premieres insert set numbered from 2999 to 99, and the Cool Threads set combines jersey, patch and acetate parallels with an autograph to top things off.

2005-06 Ice has lots to offer every collector and includes some of the best looking cards of the year.

Basic Info: 100 card base set, Ice Premieres (Level 4) ? numbered to 2,999, Ice Premieres (Level 3) ? numbered to 1,999, Ice Premieres (Level 2) ? numbered to 999, Ice Premieres (Level 1) ? numbered to 99

Parallels