Although it‘s been only eight weeks since the Chicago Blackhawks recorded the franchise’s first Stanley Cup championship in 50 years, a new NHL season is nearly upon us and Upper Deck has gone back to work with the release of its first 2010-11 trading card set: Victory Hockey. A 250-card collection, Victory Hockey hits store shelves this week and provides collectors with the very first rookie cards of any players who made their debuts at the end of the 2009-10 NHL campaign and guarantees at least one rookie card or superstar insert card in every pack!



“Victory Hockey represents the perfect way to start off the new season,” said Josh Zusman, Upper Deck’s hockey brand manager. “We were thrilled with last year’s outstanding rookie crop and there were several first-year players who made it up to their team’s roster and even made an impact in the postseason. This set gets the new NHL season started off in style.”



The insert chase begins with “Victory Rookies” falling at an average of one in every two packs. Standouts like Toronto’s sizzling forward Nazem Kadri, Montreal’s versatile defenseman PK Subban and Ottawa’s stellar blue-liner Jared Cowan are just some of the upstarts from last season who made their presence felt. Next, superstar inserts like “Game Breakers” and “Stars of the Game,” both falling at a rate of 1:4 packs, combine to deliver a 1:2 packs average hit. Proven players like Alexander Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Sidney Crosby and Dany Heatley, along with top-notch rookies like John Tavares and James van Riemsdyk from last season, are part of the “Game Breakers” lineup, while tested veterans like Martin Brodeur, Jarome Iginla, Roberto Luongo and Joe Thornton are all spotlighted in “Stars of the Game.”



There is also a pair of set parallels to collect: the rare Gold version (base cards, 1:36 packs; and rookie cards, 1:144 packs) and the scarcer Black variation. Both levels will no doubt keep set collectors cracking packs in search of completing their overall collections.



Upper Deck’s 2010-11 Victory Hockey includes six cards per pack and 36 packs per box, and is currently available on hobby and retail store shelves.



About Upper Deck

Upper Deck is the leading sports and entertainment trading card and collectibles company. For more information on Upper Deck and its products please visit www.upperdeck.com.