2011-12 Upper Deck Victory Hockey Live!

Victory Is Yours! Upper Deck Releases

the First Hockey Product of the 2011-12 Season Today!



Be the first to own official NHL® rookie cards of top prospects Cody Hodgson, Joe Colborne, Jonathan Blum and Matt Frattin



Carlsbad, CA (August 2, 2011) – Even as Boston Bruin fans were celebrating their victory over the Vancouver Canucks in the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup™ Finals several weeks back, Upper Deck was hard at work putting the finishing touches on the first NHL trading card release of the 2011-12 season: Victory Hockey. This comprehensive 250-card collection hits store shelves today and provides collectors with the very first rookie cards of any players who made their debuts at the end of the 2010-11 NHL campaign. This is the first opportunity for fans to add NHL licensed rookie cards of standouts like Cody Hodgson (Vancouver Canucks), Joe Colborne (Toronto Maple Leafs), Jonathan Blum (Nashville Predators) and Matt Frattin (Toronto Maple Leafs) to their collections.



“Collecting hockey cards has really become a year-round pursuit for a lot of puck fans” said Josh Zusman, Upper Deck’s hockey brand manager. “We are thrilled to start the season off with 2011-12 NHL Victory, as it has a lot of great content that is affordable to every level of collector, especially kids. And we are thrilled to resuscitate the MVP brand by including both base and rookie cards as inserts in the NHL Victory packs for this season.”



That’s right, 2011-12 NHL Victory will include regular MVP branded cards that can be found in every other pack, and MVP branded rookie cards will be a tougher pull, appearing one in every 18 packs. MVP returns with a sleek design and the facsimile signatures fans have come to enjoy with a 100-card set.



Other insert cards that can be discovered in packs of 2011-12 Victory Hockey include “Stars of the Game” and “Game Breakers” which feature top NHL stars. The “Victory Black” parallels return to provide an element of chase for fans with regular cards appearing 1:720 packs on average and rookie cards only surfacing 1:1440 packs on average. Collectors lucky enough to pull one of those cards will definitely feel a rush of excitement. Another parallel to be on the lookout for are “Victory Red” parallels that can be found exclusively in retail fat packs.



Upper Deck’s 2011-12 Victory Hockey includes six cards per pack with 36 packs per box. It can be found now on hobby and retail store shelves throughout North America.

Autograph Hunters Rejoice; Upper Deck

Carlsbad, CA (August 2, 2011) – Pigskin fans are rejoicing as we are getting closer to the start of a new season. Upper Deck has pulled out all the stops to make sure 2011 NCAA Sweet Spot Football delivers all the hard-hitting rookie cards and autograph inserts these fans cherish. Collectors will feel like they are scoring a touchdown as they open 2011 NCAA Sweet Spot Football because this year every pack has an autograph card inside!



The rookie autograph checklist features all the top draft picks like Cam Newton, Mark Ingram, A.J. Green, Julio Jones, Blaine Gabbert, Jake Locker, Colin Kaepernick, Christian Ponder and many more signing in the set. Upper Deck has come up with some new NCAA Sweet Spot Signature helmet logo variations as well to add a heightened level of collectability to autographs of these future stars. Additionally, the hard-signed “Ultimate Rookie Signatures” set that started in 2011 Upper Deck Football, continues in 2011 NCAA Sweet Spot Football.



“The main driver for the Sweet Spot brand has always been autograph cards and we really worked to revamp this product to give collectors more of what they love,” said Brandon Miller, Upper Deck’s collegiate sports brand manager. “The collectability of the signed helmet cards always has a major ‘wow’ factor and with some of the big names we have included in this product, there will be a lot of collectors ecstatic about the autograph cards they pull.”



Beyond the rookies, fans can find autograph cards of gridiron greats like Jerry Rice, Adrian Peterson, Bo Jackson, Barry Sanders, Drew Brees, Dan Marino, Gale Sayers, John Elway, Steve Young, Troy Aikman and others.



New to the playbook this year are the “Sweet Spot Rivalry Booklet” cards that feature Sweet Spot helmet autographs of two players who squared off on opposite sidelines in some of the most storied rivalries in college football history. These limited cards will fall one per case on average. Additionally, Upper Deck called on football analysts Todd McShay and Chris Mortensen to add their expertise to the mix with “Scouting Report” inserts that give collectors the inside scoop on stars of the 2011 rookie class and a retro look at scouting reports on legends as if they were being drafted again today. Look for rare autograph parallel versions of those cards inserted randomly into packs.



Upper Deck’s 2011 NCAA Sweet Spot Football packs contain eight cards with one of those cards being autographed. Each box will contain four packs and football fans can find these boxes in stores today!