By The Box: 2005-06 UD Trilogy Hockey

2005-06 UD Trilogy

Packs Per Box: 9

Cards Per Pack: varies from 2-5

Cards Per Box: 33

Set Completion: 11 percent (24 of 220)

Quality Control: A few minor corner dings that would annoy the most finicky of collectors



WHAT WE PULLED

Honorary Swatches (3) Marty Turco, Ryan Smyth, Saku Koivu

Honorary Signed Swatches (1) Joffrey Lupul /10

Frozen In Time (3) Chris Drury, Patrice Bergeron, Jarome Iginla

Ice Scripts (1) Daniel Briere

Auto Scripts Future Stars (1) Maxim Afinogenov REDEMPTION

Rookie Premiere /999 (3) Jeff Hoggan, Andrew Alberts, David Leneveu



We Say: There's no denying that Trilogy is a flawed product, but like the hot girl you just know is going to break your heart, you can't help but take a chance.

On the plus side are the Frozen in Time subset cards, which are spectacularly chunky slabs of plexi-glass that offer as much eye-appeal as any card we've seen in years. I'd bet the plexi-glass Ice Scripts autographs will become the most hotly pursued signature cards of the year. Even a yawner like we pulled, Briere, is a must-have on the merits of its looks alone. If UD manages to top these this year, it'll be quite an achievement (one suggestion--save the plexi-glass for the RCs!). The only problem with these cards is that they're incredibly easy to pack search. More care needs to be taken with that in the future to ensure the viability of these packs on store shelves.

Finding a jersey in every-other pack provided decent value for the money, even with the semi-star level pulls. The signed Lupul/10 was the stunner of the box, but for cryin' out loud guys--if you're going to limit a jersey card to 10, could you at least include a premium swatch? If you're going to make a special card, make it a special card!

The base set design is attractive, but it looks recycled, and too many of the photos are a couple years old (Jason Spezza wearing #39? Scott Gomez with a 2003 Cup Finals patch???).

This year's rookie crop is packed with potential, but for some reason we keep pulling defensive defenseman Andrew Alberts and Phoenix stopper David Leneveu from every box we open. And come on: at this price point, a print run of 999 on the RCs is much too high. These should have been limited to 300 or fewer to ensure value. Finally, the less said about the indignity of pulling yet another Afinogenov redemption card, the better.

Trilogy has just enough ooomph to ensure that the entire run is busted over the next few months. After that, be prepared to lay out some serious coin for the Ice Scripts autographs. The rest of the product may be forgotten, but these have long-term collectibility written all over 'em.