Pacific Prospects™ AHLŽ Edition Hockey Features AHLŽ Stars
Pacific Trading Cards, Inc., along with the American Hockey LeagueŽ and the
Professional Hockey Players’ Association, has announced that its first hockey
card set featuring the stars and prospects of the AHLŽ will go on sale
Wednesday, May 12.
2004 Pacific Prospects™ AHLŽ Edition Hockey will mark the first time in a decade
that the stars of the AHLŽ will be featured in a nationally distributed hockey
trading card set. The product will feature the top young prospects in hockey
along with insert cards, autographs and game-worn jersey cards.
"The AHLŽ has strong roots in many American and Canadian cities, and it is
the premier developmental league in all sports. The AHLŽ not only has the top young
hockey stars of tomorrow, but it is also rich with its own stars that have
emerged in the league," said Jeffrey Morris, Pacific’s VP of Marketing.
"Both the AHLŽ and the PHPA were exceptional partners in getting this product
put together, and we strongly believe that 2004 Pacific Prospects™ AHLŽ Edition
Hockey will be one of the most relevant and collectible trading card products
issued this year."
For many young stars like goalies David LeNeveu and Hannu Toivonen, 2004 Pacific
Prospects™ AHLŽ Edition Hockey will mark the first time they have been featured
on a nationally released trading card. Several players like Kari Lehtonen, Ryan
Miller, Pascal Leclaire and Mattias Weinhandl are already household names among
many hockey card collectors, and they will appear in the Pacific Prospects™ AHLŽ
Edition Hockey set as well.
There are also two insert sets featuring recent AHLŽ grads like Rick DiPietro,
Jason Spezza, Trent Hunter, Jonathan Cheechoo, Michael Ryder, Andrew Raycroft
and other top young stars. Crease Lightning is an eight-card goalie set with
better than two cards per box, while Destined for Greatness features 10 top
young offensive stars with an average of five cards per box.
In addition to the 100-card base set, there are six AHLŽ All-Star Game-Worn
Jersey cards, with one inserted in every 24-pack box. Players included are Wade
Dubielewicz, Jeff Hamilton, Tomas Plekanec, Denis Shvidki, David LeNeveu and
Matt Murley.
There are also autographed cards featuring some of the AHL’sŽ top goalies,
including Lehtonen, Miller, Leclaire, LeNeveu, Dubielewicz and Ari Ahonen.
Autographs are randomly inserted at an average of one every 49 packs.
"We are excited about the release of the first 2004 Pacific Prospects™ AHLŽ
Edition Hockey set and believe collectors will be very pleased," stated Dino
Fazio, Director of Marketing, Licensing & Communications for the PHPA. "The
potential of the top prospects included in the set, coupled with the quality of
the inserts and the Pacific™ reputation combine to make this a great product."
The AHLŽ continues to serve as the top development league for all 30 National
Hockey LeagueŽ teams. More than 80 percent of all players to compete in the NHLŽ
this season have been AHLŽ graduates, and over 400 players have taken the ice in
both leagues in 2003-04.
2004 Pacific Prospects™ AHLŽ Edition Hockey will be available wherever hockey
cards are sold. They can also be ordered on line at www.theahl.com or at
www.phpa.com.
Source: Pacific Trading Cards, Inc.
Date: May 10, 2004
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