Panini Peek: 2011-12 Certified Hockey

[OzCardTrader]

This time last year,*Panini America officials were*still making preparations*for their*ballyhooed foray into the NHL trading card market and readying 2010-11 Certified Hockey to lead that charge.
There’s no denying that the celebrated launch of Certified last fall kickstarted a banner rookie season for Panini America that will*officially end*with next month’s release of 2010-11 Dominion Hockey.*And*judging by the company’s early lineup for 2011-12, there seems to be no chance of a sophomore slump.
Panini America will follow the October release 2011-12 Score Hockey*with the October release of a new and improved*Certified that will include more in-pack Rookie Cards and no Rookie Card TBDs.

“We knew we needed to make a strong first impression with 2010-11 Certified, and the product delivered in a big way,” says Panini America NHL Brand Manager Al Muir. “So many elements came together to make it a hit — the hot boxes, the Mirror parallels, the variety and quality of the insert programs. Obviously, though, we really dazzled collectors with the auto/mem RCs of guys like Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and Tyler Seguin mere days after they made their NHL debuts. That really set a new standard for the hockey category, and it’s something we’re very proud of.
“Collectors can expect to see a similar element in this year’s release. We’ll have live RCs of a couple of prominent holdover rookies, such as Toronto’s Joe Colborne and Vancouver’s Cody Hodgson, along with the cream of the 2011-12 freshmen crop. The checklist will be dependent, of course, on which players debut prior to packout, but we expect some compelling young prospects to fill out the checklist.”
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The product highlights for 2011-12 Certified Hockey*are many and include:

• The return of Fabric of the Game Die-Cuts*with fresh new patterns, including Positions and Nationals (highlighting the home country of all the NHL’s hottest stars)
  
• The return of Hot Boxes that fall*one per eight-count inner case and that are*filled with Totally Certified parallels and bonus hits
  
• A new lineup of inserts that*includes*Certified Gold Team,*Stars of the*NHL Die-Cuts and Soft Hands, *a memorabilia chase set that features game-worn*glove swatches
  
  
• The addition of*on-card*Private Signings autographs, featuring Alex Ovechkin, Don Cherry, Ryan Miller, Felix Potvin and more
  
  
• Freshman Signatures*on-card autographs*(falling one per box),*Freshman Signatures SPs*and Freshman Fabrics Signatures (the latter group numbered to just 499)
  
  
  

“Collectors really responded to the hobby callbacks*we made last season, so we’re throwing a few more into Certified,” Muir notes. “The Gold Team cards look great — a real advancement on what they looked like in the old days, plus there is an autographed parallel to the set that should be a huge draw. We also have Stars of the NHL die-cuts, featuring a great effort from our design department, and Soft Hands, an insert set that features swatches from game-worn gloves. And then there are the Big Pulls.”
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Enjoy the following sneak peek gallery and stay tuned to The Knight’s Lance for additional updates.

Read more over at the Panini Blog...