The Upper Deck 2023 Team Canada Juniors (eBay link) release showcases some of Canada’s finest. Included are championship winning players from the U20 team, U18 and Women’s National teams.
The 150 card base set is made up of three different subsets. The first 63 cards include players from the U18, U20, and the Women’s National Team. The Pride of the Program subset can be found on cards 64-100 and includes some of the top talent on the U18 and U20 teams. Finally, the more short printed Program of Excellence subset makes up 101-150.
There are 10 different parallels to chase across the hobby and retail packaging. They range from unnumbered red foil to 1/1 Finite and have scarcities at a wide range of levels in between.
The Pattern Foilboard, Red Exclusives, and Gold Pattern parallel cards are pictured.
Five different insert cards add a chase element. Prospectus Momentus are the most common falling 1:10 packs. Go To The Top falls 1:28 packs and is a new insert for the product. Team Canada FX (1:112), License to Ice (1:120), and Skating the Wave (1:240) round out the insert sets.
Autographs and Game Worn relic cards are another feature of the product. Each 15 pack box contains a combination of four autographs, relics, or autographed relic cards. This is one of the first products to find “prospect” autograph and relic cards from up and coming players such as highly touted Connor Bedard! (eBay link)
Box Breakdown
I had a chance to open a box courtesy of Upper Deck. Here is what I found inside:
The autograph, game worn relic cards, and premium License to Ice insert card from a hobby box.
Base Cards:29
Pride of the Program:19
Program of Excellence:4
Red Foil Parallel:15
Insert Cards: 3
Unnumbered Foil Parallels: 4
Numbered Parallels: 5
Relic Cards:3
Auto Relics:1
This isn’t your traditional minor league “prospect” set like the AHL and CHL products (available on eBay). It plays to a sense of national pride like the Panini Stars and Stripes baseball set on the US side of the border. I love how all the relic cards are game used and there is a mix of both the men’s and women’s teams in the same product.