Just prior to the start of the NHL season, at the MasterCard Centre in Etobicoke, Ontario, Upper Deck was back at it with the best of the NHL’s finest young guns prepping to make their on-ice debuts. The event was the annual NHLPA Rookie Showcase in Toronto, and Upper Deck staffers showed up to capture unique on-ice film and footage of the NHL’s newest rookie recruits. The photo shoots were awesome, which allowed the company to secure shots of the players sporting their new NHL uniforms for the first time, but it was the video vignettes that brought the house down. There were 23 NHL newcomers in attendance (up from 14 last year) sporting their new hockey uniforms in a variety of poses for upcoming card releases. Along with the photo sessions, Upper Deck also produced a total of five rookie videos, the last of which is now ready for its theatrical release – just in time for the Conference Finals.
The three-minute clip is entitled “Upper Deck Pinpoints Overzealous Fans for NHL Rookies” and stars three first-year centers: Brayden Schenn (Los Angeles Kings); Jeff Skinner (Carolina Hurricanes); and Joe Colborne (then with the Boston Bruins). The story line is this: Fans can sometimes be unreasonable, a little squirrelly and even outright demanding. How should a professional hockey player react? Watch as Schenn, Skinner and Colborne handle the likes of fantasy hockey fan to man-crush fan to greedy autograph collector fan, respectively.
Additional skits included media training scenarios and how to sign autographs like a champ. Rookies ranging from Colborne and Tyler Seguin (Bruins) to Erik Gudbranson and Jacob Markstrom (Panthers) to Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle (Oilers) all took turns in front of the camera as Upper Deck put them in various scenes. It was a thrill for each of the rookies to participate.
Collectors can look for rookie cards of these NHL newcomers appearing this month inside Upper Deck’s 2010-11 SP Authentic Hockey release, which hit store shelves a few weeks ago. Wait are you waiting for?
