Upper Deck Goes Free Card Crazy This Saturday

Carrying on an annual tradition, The Upper Deck Company will be holding National Hockey Card Day in Canada this Saturday at hobby shops and select retail locations.

National Hockey Card Day in Canada has become one of the most important days on the collector calendar – it’s the unique opportunity to accumulate cards from a special edition 16-card set, produced of national heroes.

The event, by the way, was slated to go on whether or not the NHL Lockout continued this late into the season.

That factor may have led to Upper Deck deciding to go with an all national theme for this year’s release. Each of the 15 standard issue cards, which come in packs of five pieces apiece at hobby shops, will feature a hockey hero in their Hockey Canada jersey. A 16th card, available at hobby shops as a bonus card, features Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux from the memorable 1987 Canada  Cup.

Randomly inserted into these packs will be autographs from the likes of Orr. These cards have commanded big dollars on the secondary market in the past, so be sure to keep an eye out for them.

On the retail side, for the second consecutive year blow-up cards will be available at select outlets such as Toys R Us and London Drugs. Sidney Crosby and Bobby Orr are among the players available from this small checklist.

In addition to these outlets, Upper Deck has teamed with a couple venues for additional promotions, including Bossa for their trading show this weekend in Richmond, BC (which is also highlighted by an appearance of Guy Lafleur) and The Hockey Hall of Fame. The Winnipeg Jets will also be giving out free packs on Tuesday during their contest with Philadelphia.

For full store information, click here to visit the National Hockey Card Day website.