Box Break: 2010-11 Score Blaster Box

Well it looks like I'm a little late to the party when it comes to Score (My Hockey Card Obsession, Drop The Gloves!, Puck Junk, Just a Bit Offside, and The Cardboard Review). Regardless, I've been looking forward to busting some packs since the product was announced and I finally got around to buying an 11-pack blaster box for $9.99.

I've been watching plenty of Score breaks on the various forums and have been impressed for the most part, especially knowing there's a chance at an autographed card in a $1 pack, that's awesome! Plus there are a few Howard's for me to chase after.

Base:

I really like the base design for this set. It borrows heavily from the 1990-91 Score design and for good reason as this one marks the 20th anniversary of that set. I love the old school Score logo in the upper right and the position silhouette in the upper left. The red borders are identical to the original set, which is a nice touch. I also like the black name bar as the white font really stands out on it. 

Hot Rookies: 6

This is definitely an interesting looking design to say the least. I really like the font on the Hot Rookies text at the top of the card and the background is pretty decent. The bottom of the card is not the best in my opinion. The angles vertical stripes are kind of odd looking and the Score logo in the middle is way to isolated. 

Franchise: 1

I like the idea for this insert set but the design is a complete fail in my mind. The worst part has to be the vertical font on the team name, it just looks awful. I don't know if it's just this card, but the giant TM in the middle is very distracting. I will say though that I do like the faded look of the team logo in the background, but that's about it with this one. 

Playoff Heroes: 2

I also like the idea for this set, as well as the look of it. The picture on this card is perfect for the set, as it shows the level of excitement that the playoffs bring. As far as the design, I like how all of the font, aside from the logos, runs vertically. The font on the playoff heroes text is pretty nice too. 

Net Cam: 1

I love goalie themed sets and this one is no different. I know the idea has been used before but you have to love the goal cam shots when they're used properly. I was hoping for the Howard from the set, but this Vokoun works for me. I like how the blue base of the card is curved slightly and how the Score logo comes in from the left side. I also like the font on the net cam text and how the team logo is neatly placed right between the two words. 

Just for kicks, I wanted to do a quick side-by-side comparison of the two Score sets, 1990-91 and 2010-11. On the left you have Chris Osgood from the new set and on the right you have Wayne Gretzky from the original set. 

As you can see, they swapped the team logo and position silhouette, which doesn't make much of a difference to me. The most noticeable difference has to be the lack of the blue and red stripes up the sides of the card on the newer set. I understand Panini probably did not want to copy the original design exactly so the little changes like the black score logo and revamped name bar are welcome in my mind. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this break. The cards all look pretty nice and there was an excellent player selection. I didn't pull any autos or any of the big rookies, but that's ok as the only cards I'm actively chasing from the set are the Howard base, parallels, and Net Cam cards.