Week five of the SHL Trading Card system has arrived, and hopefully this will be the week that it delivers me my first Hall of Fame card! I am back to trying to open each day’s three-set of packs as I buy them, instead of the weekly mega-open. We’ll see if I can stick with this method going forward. Maybe it’ll bring some better luck? Let’s find out.

Overall Collection (84 packs, 504 cards):
0 HOF
13 Diamond
17 Ruby
20 Team logos
65 Gold
164 silver
225 bronze

Pack 85:
The first pull of the week is a dupe in silver Golden Face. This is the second time a duplicate of Golden Face has been pulled. Two bronze cards follow up the golden silver card, only for an actual Gold card to be pulled, 82 overall Daniel Karlsson. But it looks like that is also a dupe. But what isn’t a dupe is the next card, a Ruby! 87 overall Mikkel Asmus Sondergard, one of my newest teammates on Team Czechia! The pack ends with a silver, Leonids Balzams. A good start to the week with a Ruby! (1R, 1G, 2s, 2b)

Pack 86:
This pack starts off slow, with two bronze pulls to begin. In the three slot, a silver Cormac Ponaire appears. Another newer silver appears right after, in season 60 Bjorn Bjorn. One of the non-HOF cards I wanted the most pops up next, 93 overall Strom Chamberlain, a Diamond! I’ve wanted the GFG’s GM’s card for a while, as he’s definitely one of my mentors in the league! Super excited to get my hands on this one! A bronze card rounds out the pack. (1D, 2s, 3b)

Pack 87:
A bronze card starts off the last pack of the day, followed up by an 80 overall Gold in Jay Sink. Lots of younger players getting pulled today. Another Gold follows up, and it’s a mouthful, 82 overall Luc-Pierre Lespineau-Lebrunette. A dupe silver (x2) is pulled next, Matej Winters. A fresh silver follows in Carlos Brown. And the last card of the day is a bronze, and while I don’t normally bother to name the bronze pulls, I gotta mention that this one is none other than Ricky Bobby. Shake n’ bake, baby! (2G, 2s, 2b)

Pack 88:
Back for another day of pack openings! Hopefully we can keep the same luck as yesterday! This pack starts off with a silver dupe in Evil Allbran. One bronze pull later, an 84 overall Gold Luukas Lilja shows up. Another silver dupe, Atlas Rush, follows, and then two more bronze cards to end the pack. A solid C- of pack. (1G, 2s, 3b)

Pack 89:
Ricky Bobby shows back up to start us off with a bronze pull. Doubling up with a second bronze pull, leading us into card number three…a Ruby! 86 overall Jon Forty-One! Looks like we did, in fact, get some of yesterday’s luck. Next is a Gold duplicate, 84 overall Nat Emerson. For the second pack in a row, two bronze cards end the pack. Another new Ruby for the collection! (1R, 1G, 4b)

Pack 90:
The last pack of the day starts off hot, with another Ruby! Unfortunately, it isn’t a new one; it’s another Lil’ Manius, 87 overall. After a bronze pull, we get a new Gold, 82 overall Friedensreich Hundertwasser. Two more bronze cards follow, and then a silver dupe in Joln Dubolk ends the pack. Two Ruby pulls on the day, not bad at all! (1R, 1G, 1s, 3b)

Pack 91:
So much for opening packs every day this week! Life got a bit busy, so I’ll be opening 15 packs in this session! The first pack starts off with a silver Daud Ramza, followed by a Gold 83 overall Jeff Brogen. Two more silvers follow, Chuck Crutchfield and Shaquille Derisraka, and then two bronze cards to end the pack. Not a terrible start. (1G, 3s, 2b)

Pack 92:
Starting off with another silver, this time it’s Bjorn Thronsen. Another Gold in the second spot, this time it’s Richard Lafleur, 81 overall. Two more silvers, Neverbrokeagain Youngboy and Alex Marshall. After a bronze pull, the pack ends with a second Gold, 82 overall A Jobin. Keeping the bronze to a minimum, I’m good with it. (2G, 3s, 1b)

Pack 93:
So much for keeping bronze pulls to a minimum. The packs starts with two bronze cards, and then a Team logo, although it’s a duplicate in the season 60 Philadelphia Forge. Two more bronze cards get pulled, and then the last card saves the pack from being totally garbage; a silver Maui. Yuck overall. (1T, 1s, 4b)

Pack 94:
Back to a silver start, this time with two silvers, Joseph Lombardi and Dale Miller. A bronze follows, then another silver, Luca Veccelli. And then two more bronze cards to round out the pack. Yawn. (3s, 3b)

Pack 95:
A Gold start to this pack with 81 overall Noah Gallagher. A bronze follows, and then a RUBY! 87 overall Noah Brusky! Great card! A silver Bernik Vrzala follows, and then two Golds to finish the pack: Luc Blouin, 82 overall and Nicolas Winter, also 82 overall. Three Golds and a Ruby, now that’s a good pack! (1R, 3G, 1s, 1b)

Pack 96:
This pack starts off with a bronze, and then a Team Logo! A new one, in the Season 24 Toronto North Stars! Not to be outdone, the next card is ANOTHER Ruby! This time, it’s 85 overall Teylora Petrov! A silver Rick James (bitch) and two bronze cards complete the remainder of the pack. Another Ruby, love to see it! (1R, 1T, 1s, 3b)

Pack 97:
Sick of me pulling Ruby cards? Too bad! We’ve got another Ruby! This time it’s 85 overall Bob Bergen! Man has got some lettuce on him. Up next is a Gold, 82 overall David Kastrba. A silver Tomas Zadina follows, and then three bronze cards to wrap up the pack. Three packs in a row with a Ruby! What a streak. (1R, 1G, 1s, 3b)

Pack 98:
A silver starts off this pack, Daryl Urquhart. An all 5s bronze follows, and then, you may have guessed it, ANOTHER Ruby! Although a bit lackluster as this one is a duplicate, it’s 85 overall Gary Grease. Back-to-back bronze cards follow, and then a silver dupe in Fleetway Super Sonic ends the pack. Even if it’s a duplicate, that’s still four straight packs with a Ruby! (1R, 2s, 3b)

Pack 99:
The number of the Great One, will this be the pack that brings me a HOF card? Let’s find out. We start off with a Team logo, although unfortunately it’s a dupe, the season 44 San Francisco Pride. And then ANOTHER Ruby. I’m not kidding. This time it’s 86 overall Name Redacted, the better half of our goalie tandem in Czechia! After that is a Gold, 80 overall Geoff Higgins. Another set of back-to-back bronze cards, and then a silver Vincent Mietitore to finish off the pack. Five straight Ruby packs. Crazy. (1R, 1T, 1G, 1s, 2b)

Pack 100:
We’ve hit triple digits. This will be card pulls number 595 through 600. Still no HOF card in site. Could this be the one? A bad start to the pack, with two bronze cards. A Gold dupe follows, 84 overall Robert Phelps. Another bronze, and then another Gold in 84 overall Anders Christiansen. And finally, a silver in Maxwell Carrigan. No HOF card and the Ruby streak comes to an end. Here’s to getting a HOF card within the next 100 packs, I hope. (2G, 1s, 3b)

Pack 101:
Down to the final five packs of the week. This one starts off with a silver, Eduard Selich. A bronze and then another silver, Matty Sandeen, follows. Did anyone else miss getting Ruby pulls? Don’t worry, we got another in 87 overall Jean-Uhtred Soderberg-Tremblay! JUST! A bronze and a silver Rick James (bitch) end the pack. Ruby is back on the menu! (1R, 3s, 2b)

Pack 102:
The fourth to final pack starts off Gold, with 84 overall Vlad McZehrl. After a bronze, two silvers in Josh Dolphin and Turg Turg follow. Another bronze gets pulled, and then another Gold to end the pack, 81 overall Steven Moyer. A meh pack, all things considered. (2G, 2s, 2b)

Pack 103:
Three to go! This one starts off silver with Krysztof Kowalski. Second pull is a DIAMOND! The 15th Diamond of my collection, this time it’s Theo Morgan, 89 overall! A bronze follows, and then it’s a Gold in 82 overall Kermit Murphy. Two silvers round out the pack, in Kenny Creller and Danny C. I guess the Diamond cards got jealous of all the attention the Ruby cards were getting! Wish the HOF would do the same! (1D, 1G, 3s, 1b)

Pack 104:
The penultimate pack. A Gold start again, this time with 83 overall #A-Rye Izzy. A silver follows in Big Manius. After a gap bronze card, we get another Gold, Nicolaj Muller, 82 overall. A second bronze, and then a Ruby again! Must have gotten re-jealous after the Diamond last pack! This time it’s Barrett Blackwood, 85 overall! (1R, 2G, 1s, 2b)

Pack 105:
The final pack of the day and of week 5. It’s been a great day of pulls so far, let’s hope we can eek out one last great pack! A bronze card starts things off, followed by a silver Rinky McDangle. Another silver follows, this time it’s Cormac Ponaire, and then another bronze. A Gold shows up in the fifth spot, 81 overall Ren-Ekelemchi Shimizu-Okoli. And the final card of the week is…a bronze. Sad trombone noises. (1G, 2s, 3b)

Another week, another big run of Ruby and Diamond cards…but alas, still no HOF card. I did find a humorous error message when trying to open a pack too quickly (“bro chill we’re still opening that pack”), so that’s something. Onto week 6. It may soon turn into a race of getting my own card versus getting a HOF card.

This week’s packs summary:
0 HOF
2 Diamond
10 Ruby
3 Team logos
22 Gold
37 silver
52 bronze

Overall Collection (105 packs, 630 cards):
0 HOF
15 Diamond
27 Ruby
23 Team logos
87 Gold
201 silver
277 bronze