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Comments:

Once again, UD Ultimate provides a wide variety of jersey cards within the set. Each one is also individually numbered and the numbering varies per set. There are single, dual, triple, and quad jerseys included in this year's offering. Patch variations and autograph variations of almost all the jersey sets can also be found. The NHL Shield Logo autograph cards should be some of the most coveted pulled cards from Ultimate again this year.

Within each pack, collectors can also find one autographed card. Once again, UD Ultimate provides nothing but hard signed autographs for collectors. When spending this much on a pack of cards, it's always good to know that you're getting cards the players actually held and took the time to sign instead of a sticker that was slapped on the card. The design for the autographs is pretty impressive. They feature holo-foil accenting and the player's autographs appear in blue ink in a special area reserved for the signature. You can also find other autograph subsets such as the Ultimate Achievements which feature autographed cards of players that are serial numbered to one of the player's hockey statistics.

While we may not have pulled the greatest autograph card, the checklist does include its fair share of superstars. Hard signed autos of Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr, Sidney Crosby, Mario Lemieux and more are all included in this year's UD Ultimate Collection.

I rated this pack 3 out of 5 HI Fives. While the player selection in our pack wasn't the greatest, it is hard to get a good overview of the product with just one pack. However, you can definitely see the potential this set has with the amazing designs and the checklist. While this year's set doesn't offer the one-two punch of Crosby and Ovechkin from last year, by limiting the rookie autographs of Malkin, Staal, and Kessel to just 99 copies, it could make them some of the toughest on the market to find.

I've opened quite a bit of UD Ultimate Collection hockey, and it isn't for the faint of heart. At an SRP of $100 a pack, a pack like the one we opened could have collectors crying on the way home from the hobby shop. However, there are some beautiful cards in the set, and if you're fortunate enough to pull one, you'll understand why the set continues to be popular with collectors year after year.