A blast from the past: 97-98 Upper Deck Hockey

Good Sunday evening to all, hope that your weekend has gone well.  I decided to bring back the blast from the past series to feature a couple of sets that I had started many moons ago, but of course never finished.  The 97-98 Upper Deck hockey set mimicked the 1998 Upper Deck baseball release (or the other way around, however you want to look at it).  I have always enjoyed the photography on Upper Deck hockey releases, and this set is no different.

the Cat

Upper Deck was famous for these kind of head shots for goalies in the 90's.  Felix Potvin was the mainstay in the nets for the Leafs during the 90's, and his mask was very famous depicting the cat features. 

The back features career stats that overlay a second in action shot.  The only thing I really didn't care for in this set (and for me this is important) is the fact that the card number is really small, and difficult to see in many of the photos.  Take a good look at this photo, the white "367" is very difficult to see.  The neat feature of the hologram in the lower right is that it is shaped like a goalie mask. 





















The set was released in 2 series of 210 cards each.  The majority of the key RCs in the set are still playing in the NHL.  Players such as Marian Hossa, Brad Richards, Vincent Lecavalier, Patrik Elias, Olli Jokinen, Simon Gagne and Mike Ribeiro all have had solid careers in the NHL.  I will post the want list on my hockey want list tab, hopefully there is someone out there who has the remaining cards to fill out the set.


thanks for reading, Robert