Clouts'n'Chara October Group Breaks

On Friday, I received a large package in the mail from Clouts'n'Chara (http://www.cloutnchara.com/ - Username - southbuffalo39). Within the package were my hits from three group breaks I participated in on the site earlier this month.

The first group break broken of the three was a case of 08-09 SPx Hockey. I purchased one slot in the thirty team group break. All teams were chosen at random and I ended up receiving the Montreal Canadiens, which turned out to be pretty good as I was lucky enough to receive 10 "hits." I will showcase the "three stars" from these group breaks at the end of the blog and as always all of the hits can be found in my photobucket at: http://s169.photobucket.com/albums/u234/southbuffalo39/. But for now, the ten hits from the SPx case break were:

SPXcitement

Carey Price

Patrick Roy

Guy Lafleur

Saku Koivu

Winning Combos

Chris Higgins (blue swatch)/Steve Shutt (red/white/blue swatch)

Rod Langway (red/white/blue swatch)/Larry Robinson (white swatch)

Winning Materials

Andrei Markov (red swatches)

Andrei Markov Spectrum /99 (one blue and one red swatch)

Flashback Fabrics

Frank Mahovlich (white swatches)

SPx Rookies

Matt D'Agostini (one red swatch and one red/white swatch)

All in all I was very happy with the break as I think I did very well. There were no major hits, but definitely some solid pickups.

The next group break was broken in the same night. It was a case of 09-10 O-Pee-Chee Hockey. I decided to get in at the last minute and grabbed the last available slot. Amazingly I once again drew the Montreal Canadiens. OPC produces a ton of hits and again, I didn't hit any of the major ones, but got some inserts and retros I needed. I suppose the highlights of the break would be the two Yannick Weber rookies and the Montreal Canadiens team checklist insert.

Finally, a few days later, the guys at C'n'C organized one of the quickest group breaks from initiation to breaking. From the time the break was announced, all spots were taken and paid for within 20 minutes. This group break was for a box of each of the following 08-09 products: SPx, Trilogy, Be A Player and Artifacts. I grabbed two spots in this group break and drew the Anaheim Ducks and Calgary Flames. I started off good in the Artifacts box as I hit an Andrew Ebbett Rookie Card and a Ryan Getzlaf Treasured Swatches (three colors) #'d 100/199. My luck continued in Be a Player as I hit three autos. No one major, but landed Travis Moen, Adrian Aucoin and Matthew Lombardi. The last two boxes, Trilogy and SPx were not so good to me as I didn't get a hit in either box. All in all an ok break. Not as good as the previous two, but the risk is part of the fun of group breaks.

C'n'C currently has two group breaks they are filling up. One is a case break of 09-10 Artifacts, which is expected to be broken this weekend and the other is 09-10 UD Series 1. I have a spot in both and will be sure to share my results from each! If interested in getting involved in a group break, I highly recommend stopping over to C'n'C as there are usually always three or four in the works.

Three Stars

3. Ryan Getzlaf Treasured Swatches 100/199

2. Frank Mahovlich Flashback Fabrics

1. Matt D'Agostini Rookie Jersey 0522/1299

Introductory Entry - Top 5 Pulls from 2008-2009 Hockey

Hello, and welcome to Ryan's Hockey Blog. I'm Ryan and I am a hockey card collector from Buffalo, New York. The primary purpose of my blog is to share my card collecting experiences. However, I'm sure I will be sharing my thoughts on other hockey-related topics like my beloved Buffalo Sabres and maybe even some stories from my ball hockey games.

I just got back into the hobby during the 2008-2009 season after a pretty long hiatus. All of my pulls and Sabres personal collection cards can be found in my photobucket at the following site: http://s169.photobucket.com/albums/u234/southbuffalo39/. For anyone interested in meeting or dealing with other hockey card enthusiasts, I highly recommend the following site: http://www.cloutsnchara.com/. I am a frequent poster on the site and have been able to meet and deal with a number of other great collectors. The operators of the site Geoff and Brad do a great job of running the site and are constantly hosting group breaks and giving away free cards! The results of some of my recent group breaks will be shown here in an upcoming entry once received in the mail.

The 2009-2010 NHL season has kicked into high gear, which means a whole new line of Upper Deck and In the Game hockey card products will be available. A friend of mine and I have already busted a case of 09-10 O-Pee-Chee. I am highly anticipating the release of Artifacts, which I believe is set for October 27th. However, for my first blog entry, I thought I would share my top five pulls from the 2008-2009 hockey products.

5. Comes from the 2008-2009 Between the Pipes set. I was able to pull a Martin Brodeur, "Stars of the Game" autograph from just five loose packs.

4. Comes again from a loose pack break; however, this time from Black Diamond. I was lucky enough to pull an Alexander Ovechkin Onyx Quad Jersey #7/10.

3. Came from the Clouts'nChara 1st birthday bash, high-end group break. I was lucky enough to draw the Washington Capitals and was not disappointed as I received the hit of the break. From Trilogy, I received a redemption for a Clearcut Combos - Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom dual auto card #13/25.

2. Came from the only box of OPC Premier I busted. It was a Dual Induction Inks, Gold Parallel auto of Bobby Orr and Harry Howell #2/1o.

1. And for number one....I pulled this card from my very first SP Game Used box. It was the only card in the last pack of the box. Fives patches of Jonathan Toews, Carey Price, Patrick Kane, Nicklas Backstrom and Peter Mueller #2/4.