2015 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day has similar but separate promotions slated for both Canada and the United States. Each country has its own set. They're also slated to take place a week apart. So if you live near the 49th parallels, one could use it as an excuse for some cross-border shopping.
Whichever country you live in, the premise of National Hockey Card Day is the same: visit a participating hobby shop and get free cards from a special set made just for the promotion.
Canada is first up, taking place on Saturday, February 14. American shops follow a week later on February 21.
Each set has 15 cards that are available in the free packs. These break down into three subsets for each country.
2015 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day packs also have five additional "What If?" Young Guns cards randomly inserted. These give retired players Young Guns-style cards despite the fact they debuted before Upper Deck started making hockey cards or they didn't make the cut during their rookie seasons. Canadian packs have Ron Francis, Pierre Turgeon, Vincent Damphousse, Theo Fleury and Doug Harvey What If? Young Guns. American packs highlight Corey Crawford, Johnny Boychuk, Peter Forsberg, Chris Osgood and Brian Leetch.
A small number of autographs are also available.
Like previous years, there's also a special 16th base card that's available for both sets with a qualifying purchase.
For Canadian collectors, participating Toys 'R Us and London Drugs locations also have five nine-card sheets to give away.
Looking for a shop? Upper Deck has posted lists of both Canadian and American hobby shops that are taking part in 2015 National Hockey Card Day.
