2011/12 In The Game Canada vs. The World Hockey Hobby Box
Each box contains (2) Autograph Cards and (4) Memorabilia Cards per box!
There will be two Authentic Autograph Cards in each box. The Authentic Autograph Cards include a who's who of players who wore the Canadian flag on their jerseys along with many of the players they played against for gold.
Thornton, Savard, Sakic, Nieuwendyk, Niedermayer, Nash, Roy, Luongo, Robinson, Robitaille, Esposito, Messier, Joseph, MacInnis and many more versus LaFontaine, Krutov, Koivu, Granato, Hedberg, Hasek, Tretiak, Amonte, Craig, Chara and many, many more.
There be four Authentic Game-Used Memorabilia Cards in each box of Canada vs. The World.
The Authentic Game-Used Memorabilia Cards will be extremely collectible including; Canadian Cloth, International Materials, My Country-My Team, World Junior Grads, Global Greats, International Showdown, Triple Goal and others.
There will be two Non-Memorabilia Insert cards in each box of Canada vs The World. Non-Memorabilia Insert sets include: Protecting Canada's Crease, The Summit Series, Great Moments and Roots of International Hockey.
Each box will also contain one 100 Years of Hockey Card Collecting card. The 25 cards in this product complete the 100-card set with the first 75 cards released in Heroes and Prospects , Between The Pipes and Decades.
9 cards per box
Here's what I pulled in our box of 2011/12 In The Game Canada vs. The World:
Non-Memorabilia Insert cards;
There will be two Non-Memorabilia Insert cards in each box of Canada vs The World. Non-Memorabilia Insert sets include: Protecting Canada’s Crease, The Summit Series, Great Moments and Roots of International Hockey.
The first insert we pulled, Canada vs. The World - Great Moments, features a Great Moment in the Canada vs. another country in the Olympics (I belive). Ours talks about how Henrik Lundqvist was a rookie during the 2006 Winter Games and how Sweden won the Gold.
The design features the player’s photo cropped into a circle. Around the circle it repeatedly says “CANADA vs THE WORLD”. This also has black and gold stripes surrounding it. The ITG logo is above the player’s photo and centered at the bottom of the circle. In the background, in a green dot-matrix pattern, it features a person, but I’m unable to tell what they are doing (celebrating?) not if it is a picture of the player from the Medal game. Underneath the circle design is the title “Great Moments” which has a white stroke line and the letters have a gradient to them. At the bottom is a black bar with the player’s name and the card’s caption on it.
The second insert we pulled, Canada vs. The World – Summit Series, features players who played in the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the USSR (CCCP), where Canada won the series 4-3-1. Our card features Phil Esposito, and states he scored 13 points over 8 games, and was the MVP for the 2nd, 4th, and 7th contests. In addition, after a loss in Vancouver, he rallied the support of his countrymen with a speech that is regarded as one of the most inspirational in hockey history.
The design features the person’s bust that is faded to the background with a dot pattern. Behind the photo, it has two banners; to the left it says Canada with their flag beneath it, and to the right it says C.C.C.P. with their flag beneath it. Under the photo, and between the two flags, is where the ITG logo sits. At the bottom is the card title and the player’s name.
The Non-Memorabilia Insert cards we pulled were:
• (1) Canada vs. The World - Great Moments: Henrik Lundqvist: Second Gold for Sweden (GM-14)
• (1) Canada vs. The World – Summit Series: Phil Esposito (SS-03)
100 Years of Hockey Card Collecting;
Each box will also contain one 100 Years of Hockey Card Collecting card. The 25 cards in this product complete the 100-card set with the first 75 cards released in Heroes and Prospects, Between The Pipes and Decades (like the Ray Bourque I pulled in the 2010/11 In The Game Decades 1980s Hockey Hobby Box).
This looks like it is mimicking a tobacco card, which were the cards that were found about 100 years ago. Since tobacco cards were much smaller than the 2.5” x 3.5” cards we have today; they use a large, faint blue border to surround this “inner card” as I will call it. The inner card’s border is an off-white color, which is how you are probably going to find most tobacco cards. Within this border is the player’s name and what they’d probably call his team years ago. So, our card says “Henrik Sedin of Vancouver Club.” The player’s photo is seen on the inside, and the modern day (for the most part) player is seen in a throwback jersey. In the top left of the brown background is the card number (No 90).
The 100 Years of Hockey Card Collecting card we pulled was:
• (1) Henrik Sedin (90)
Autographs;
There will be two Authentic Autograph Cards in each box. The Authentic Autograph Cards include a who’s who of players who wore the Canadian flag on their jerseys along with many of the players they played against for gold.
For the design, the picture is the main focus. Above the photo has the ITG Canada vs. The World logo. The photo is cropped in a box, and the player’s name in shown here. To the left it says “Autograph.” In the background is a globe, and there as faint words that say Canada vs. this country, and Canada vs. that country.
Under this is a box with the person’s autograph. In the background of this autograph box is the person’s country flag. I’m assuming these represent the various occupations of the Canadians they highlight in the set.
The card backs have a small write-up on the player, in addition to the certificate of authenticity information.
The Autographed cards we pulled were:
• (2) Autographs: Angela James (A-AJ) and Boris Mikhailov (A-BM)
Authentic Memorabilia Cards;
There be four Authentic Game-Used Memorabilia Cards in each box of Canada vs. The World. The Authentic Game-Used Memorabilia Cards will be extremely collectible including; Canadian Cloth, International Materials, My Country-My Team, World Junior Grads, Global Greats, International Showdown, Triple Goal and others.
We pulled a Silver Version of the Canadian Cloth Jersey, which is limited to 30. According to In The Game’s website (
2011-12 ITG Canada vs. The World Checklist), here’s the breakdown of these cards:
• Black - 120 of each card inserted
• Silver - 30 of each card inserted
• Gold - 10 of each card inserted
This is landscape format, and the top left includes the card name, top right includes a maple leaf, bottom left has player’s name and card type (JERSEY SILVER), and bottom right has the ITG logo.
The left center of the card has the player’s photo, the right center has the large swatch window (where we pulled a nice two-color swatch!), and these are separated by two swoosh lines.
The next memorabilia card we pulled is a Black Version of International Materials, which is limited to 135. According to In The Game’s website, these cards are broken down into two versions:
• Black -120 of each card inserted
• Silver - 30 of each card inserted
• Gold - 10 of each card inserted
This card is portrait format, where the top of the card features the card title, ITG logo, and player’s photograph. In the background is a grid-style globe.
The middle of the card features the swatch. To the right and left of the window are two arrows pointing inwards toward the jersey, which helps draw your eye to it, making it the focus of the card. Above this is the player’s name, and in the background it says the player’s country.
The bottom of the card features the card type (JERSEY BLACK).
In the background, from the top to the bottom of the card, there is a dual swoosh line, just like what was seen in the Canadian Cloth card; tying the two sets together in a way.
The third memorabilia card we pulled is a Gold Version of My Country My Team, which is limited to 10. According to In The Game’s website, these cards are broken down into two versions:
• Silver - 50 of each card inserted
• Gold - 10 of each card inserted
This card features a swatch from the player’s jersey that was worn while they played for their country’s team (Olympics?), as well as their jersey for their normal team they play for.
The card is landscape format, and the design is split into 4 main parts. The top left says the card’s name. The top right has the player’s “country” jersey, and the country flag is seen behind it. The bottom left is the player’s “team” jersey (and the ITG logo is near this). Finally, the bottom right features the player’s photograph. In addition, the background is a photograph of an ice rink.
The final memorabilia card we pulled is a Silver Version of Stick Rack, which is limited to 9. According to In The Game’s website, these cards are broken down into two versions:
• Silver - 9 of each card inserted
• Gold - 1 of each card inserted
The card is portrait format, and the design is fairly simple. To the left is the card title, which takes up about 25% of the card. To the right, in the background, it looks like strips of wood (stick rack). Above this, at the center of the card, is 4 windows stacked, which includes a piece of a hockey stick. Directly to the right, it says why these relate to the 4 player’s hockey sticks (1984 Rivals). To the right of that is says the person’s name by their hockey stick.
The Authentic Memorabilia cards we pulled were:
• (1) Canadian Cloth Jersey Silver Version: Devan Dubnyk (CCM-06)
• (1) International Materials Black Version: Vladimir Myshkin (IMM-04)
• (1) My Country My Team Gold Version: Joe Thornton (MCMT-17)
• (1) Stick Rack Silver Version: Mark Messier, Dominik Hasek, Chris Chelios, & Igor Larionov (SR-05)
Final Thoughts on 2011/12 In The Game Canada vs. The World Hockey Hobby Box;
I like sets that have continuation between multiple products, like the 100 Years of Hockey Card Collecting cards. It makes collecting the set a challenge, and I wish we’d see it more often. I also love the throwback look to the players.
The non-memorabilia inserts had some interesting facts to them, and simple, yet nice, designs.
The autographs have some recurring themes from other products, which makes you easily recognize it as an ITG autograph. I like how they have an identity about them.
For the memorabilia cards, we pulled 1 “regular” version, and the rest were limited parallels! The Canadian Cloth (nice two-color swatch) and International Material have a large swatch, the My Country My Team has two swatch windows, and the Stick Rack has 4 hockey sticks! A lot of game used material is in the product, and nice sized pieces of the memorabilia! These were limited to 120, 30, 10, and 9!!!
I’m glad the box didn’t say “9 Hits” on the box, like our 1980s Decade box said (since there are 3 non-memorabilia inserts).
I really like the design that In The Game comes up with in their sets.
A great set for the memorabilia collector!
3 cards limited to 30 or less! (Two are limited to 10 or less!)
A fun and exciting break!
Here's how I would rate this product;
- Value = 5
- Innovation = 4.5
- Fun and Experience = 5
- Rebuy Value = 5
I rate this product a solid " A " for In the Game!
I would like to thank In The Game and Trader Retreat for giving me the chance to review this new product.
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