2012 13 Panini Certified Hockey NHL Trading Cards Box Break Recap and Review

2012-13 Panini Certified Hockey cards changed things up with a mirror finish as with the other Certified lines.  While this makes for a stunning presentation in person, it becomes next to impossible for pictures of the cards to do them justice.  Chances are you will hit something nice, whether it comes from a top veteran of the game or one of the Freshman Fabric signature Rookie cards.  Add to that the hot boxes that can be found and Certified Hockey make a strong return to the Panini line up of hockey cards.

We classify Certified Hockey in our premium cards category.  Each box contains 10 – 5 card packs with 4 Autograph or Memorabilia cards per box.

Here are some of the cards we pulled.

 Base Cards

 

Henrik Sedin, front and back

Dion Phaneuf, Shea Webber, Pavil Datsyuk

Evgeni Malkin, Rene Bourque, Dustin Byfuglien

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Claude Giroux, P.K. Subban

Jeff Skinner Blue #/99, Akim Aliu #/999

Inserts

 

B.J. Crombeen & Antti Niemi Path to the Cup #/399

 

Jenrik Zetterberg Certified Stars #/999, Ondrej Pavelec Masked Marvels #/999

The Hits

 

Kris Versteeg Fabric of the Game Mem #/299, Phil Kessel Certified Stars Mem #/100

Brandon Manning Freshman Signatures Autograph #/999, Harri Sateri Certified Signatures Autograph

Overall Look

The mirror finish make for great looking base cards on the front, but the small script font for the team names and same color foil numbering can get lost a bit.  The backs of the cards look sharp. Hit design here is classic to the Certified line of cards.

Quality and Variety of Players

This year’s checklist has changed things up with a 100 veteran player base set, 20 Masked marvels, 20 Immortals, 12 Certified Rookies, 24 Freshman Signature and 11 Freshman Fabrics.  Expect that to change again next year.

Do the Hits satisfy?

You are bound to get a Fabric of the Game card that is your standard swatch and unfortunately the classic Certified design does not enhance those single colored swatches, but get them in the numbered version with prime fabrics and that design becomes easier to overlook.  What helps everything here is that the majority of the hits are very solid.

Will you keep coming back for more?

Multiple boxes of Certified are understandable, perhaps a mini case to ensure a hot box. 

Rating 

4 1/2 out of 5

2012-13 Panini Certified Hockey offers a nice opportunity to pull some premium hits.



Review box provided by Panini