Carlsbad, CA, Monday December 21, 2009
In celebration of "National Hockey Card Day" on January 30, 2010, the Upper Deck Company is preparing to give away hundreds of thousands of exclusive "National Hockey Card Day" NHL® trading card packs for free throughout Canada. Once again, Canadian hobby shops and mass retailers are invited to take part in this historic hockey trading card promotion, which is now in its second year and remains exclusive to Canada.

“Hockey is the national sport in Canada so Upper Deck wanted to come up with a way to celebrate that incredible devotion,” said Chris Carlin, sports marketing manager at Upper Deck. “We started this program last year and it was a huge success with countless hockey fans and trading card collectors visiting hobby shops and retailers across Canada. We expect just as much excitement this time around.”

Just like last year, the buzz surrounding this promotion lies in the National Hockey Card Day set itself. The 15-card set consists of some of the top Canadian-born rookies, current stars and legends with a special “National Hockey Card Day” logo-stamp adorning each card front. What’s more, the card backs will be printed in both English and French. The five rookies featured include John Tavares, Matt Duchene, Jamie Benn, Evander Kane and Logan Couture; the “Pride of Canada” active stars are Sidney Crosby, Vincent Lecavalier, Martin Brodeur, Mike Richards and Rick Nash; while the “Hockey Heroes” lineup consists of Jarome Iginla, Jonathan Toews, Roberto Luongo, Wayne Gretzky and Steve Yzerman. Each pack will yield five randomly assorted cards featuring the aforementioned players.

Canadian-born NHL player Ryan Getzlaf of the Anaheim Ducks recently met up with Upper Deck’s Sports Marketing Manager Chris Carlin to talk about National Hockey Card Day. Click on this link to see what Getzlaf had to say: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szki-ZuTLWU.

Wayne Wagner, owner of Wayne’s Sportscards in Edmonton, AB, participated in last year’s promotion and is looking forward to continued success this time around. “I’m going to use an old cliché, ‘If you build it, they will come,’” he said. “This is one of those programs and card sets that Upper Deck has put together that collectors want. I don’t know any collector out there who would not want this set.

“Last year, I had more than 300 people come through my store on National Hockey Card Day, which is a lot more foot traffic than I normally do. So if shop owners advertise it in their stores, they too will see customers come through the door.”





About Upper Deck

Upper Deck is the leading sports and entertainment trading card and collectibles company. For more information on Upper Deck and its products please visit www.upperdeck.com.

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