A Note from Dr. Price:

On behalf of In The Game, Inc. I would like to announce the acquisition of the assets of Sport Kings LP.

By making this acquisition, I will be able to continue the production of the Sport Kings brand as the consolidation of the brand into the ITG family makes it easier to move forward with future releases. In the past websites, marketing and sales were kept separately causing confusion in the marketplace, this acquisition removes that confusion.

I would like to thank my partners in Sport Kings LP for their support over the past seven years in reviving and building the Sport Kings brand, I could not have done it without them.

Sportkings Series F will be released in time for The National this August in Chicago. There are many new features in Series F along with the traditional hard-signed autographs, authentic memorabilia and captivating artwork that collectors have come to equate to the brand.

In The Game's exclusive trading card artist, Jared Kelley will continue to paint masterpieces for inclusion in Series F.

Memorable Moments

Our latest artistic innovation will be found in Series F. It is called Memorable Moments. Memorable Moments cards will depict 20 significant moments in sports' history. Jared will be painting four different cards for each Memorable Moment and when these cards are put together like a puzzle, magic will happen and a masterpiece will come to life.

Here are the four cards in the World Cup Victory Memorable Moments Set.

The first card in the set.

The second card in the set.

The third card in the set.

The fourth card in the set.

All four cards put together.

Body of Work Sportkings' artists have also been hard at work creating another new insert set Series F entitle, Body Of Work.

Each card is an on-card sketch along with a piece of authentic memorabilia.

There will be sixty different athletes and each athlete will have 9 different cards; however, each sketch will be different making each of these cards a 1/1 sketch/memo card.

Larry Bird Body of Work

Kobe Bryant Body of Work

Dan Marino Body of Work

Derek Jeter Body of Work

The Diesel adds some muscle to Sportkings Series F.

Shaq at work signing his Sportkings cards

We are extremely pleased to announce that Shaquille O'Neal Autograph and Game-Used Memorabilia Cards will be included in packs of Sportkings Series F. "I have been trying to get Shaq on the SportKings team for a number of years, said In The Game, Inc. President, Dr. Brian H. Price, "he finally agreed and we will be producing some great Shaq cards for Series F."

Other athletes joining the Sport Kings family for Series F include:

Hall of Fame Coach - Bill Parcells

MMA Legend Tito Ortiz

Basketball Hall of Famer - Scottie Pippen

Dodger Pitching Sensation - Fernando Valenzuela

Olympic Gymnastic Gold Medalist Kerri Strugg

Football Great - Frank Gifford

All of these great Sportkings and more will have hard-signed Autograph Cards in Series F. A complete checklist will be available in mid-July.

Box Top Redemption Program

Collectors buying boxes of Series F should not throw out their box tops, each box top will qualify for a Box Top Redemption Program which will be announced closer to the Release Date.

Many more important announcements will follow in the next few months but I thought it would be a good idea to bring Sport Kings' collectors up to date with the many things taking place to date.

Series F might be our best yet.

No other single brand of trading cards can claim the depth of great athletes that have been featured in their product; Ali, Magic, Ripken Jr. Marino, Howe, Namath, Bird, Hogan, Jenner, Chamberlain, Braddock, Rice, Nicklaus, Heiden, Gwynn, Mikan, Perry, Holmes, Namath, Shamrock, Knight, Lemieux, Leonard, Palmer, Brown, Olajuwon, Paige, Oliva, McGwire, Mayweather Jr., Mattingly, Marichal, Pele, Roy, Seaver, Shoemaker, Russell, Ryan, Sawchuk, Andretti, Arcaro, Ashe, Starr, Beamon, Beliveau, Lilly, Blair, Chastain, Carlton, Clemente, Dawson, Sanders, Esposito.

What other brand can make this claim?

So contact your local card store, your dealer or your distributor and reserve you Sportkings Series F.

You'll be glad you did.

Brian Price

It has been more than a decade since a product has been dedicated to the Draft Prospects. On June 20, 2013, In The Game will launch our first product dedicated to the Draft, 2013 Draft Prospects.

Each box will contain 12 cards. Three Autograph Cards, two Authentic Game-Used Memorabilia Cards and seven Premium Base Cards.

Autograph Cards

Always listening to collectors, we set out to get hard-signature on our Autograph Cards for this product even if it meant sending cards to Russia, Sweden and Finland. The results are astonishing featuring almost all the 2013 Draft Prospects that are projected to be drafted in the first round. This includes the "big three" of Seth Jones, Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin.

Some of the European prospects in this product also projected to be picked in the Draft are Aleksander Barkov, Rasmus Ristolainen, Alexander Wennberg, Robert Hagg, Jacob de-la Rose and Elias Lindholm.

 Along with the great list of 2013 Draft Prospects in the Autograph Card checklist collectors will find several Future Draft Prospects including Team Canada Star, Connor McDavid.

Connor McDavid at a recent signing for In The Game

Here are the results of the Connor McDavid signing.

Each player has two different Autograph Cards with both a silver and a more limited gold version of each card.

Click here to view the 2013 Draft Prospects Autograph Checklist

Authentic Game-Used Memorabilia Cards

The Authentic Game-Used Memorabilia in this product will be amazing. Insert sets include; Game-Used Jersey, Game-Used Patch, Future Prospect Game-Used Jersey, Future Prospect Game-Used Patch, Draft Year, Country of Origin, Past and Future, Present and Future, Past/Present and Future, Teammates, Top Prospect Game Complete Jersey. Some of the very limited Authentic Game-Used Memorabilia insert sets include; Auto/Memo, First Round Tag and First Round Nameplate.

The First Round Nameplate insert set features nameplates from players selected in the First Round of the Draft in past years. The list is a who's who of the game's bright young stars including Perry, Nuggent-Hopkins, Kane, Landeskog, Kadri, Courturier,,Myers, Little, Hodgson, Gudbranson, Boychuk and Alzner to mention a few. 

 Perry London Knights Nameplate "E"

Premium Base Cards

The extensive base card checklist will include the following subsets; 2013 Draft Prospects, First Round Picks, Future Draft Prospects and Draft Surprises.

All base cards will be premium foil cards and will have four parallels. This is ITG's product with parallels for those collectors who enjoy them.

There are seven Premium Base Cards in each pack.

Ryan Hartman 2013 Draft Prospect Base (emerald version)

Sergey Tolchinsky 2013 Draft Prospect Base (gold version)

Connor McDavid Future Draft Prospect (silver version)

Sergei Fedorov Draft Surprises (gold version)

Jaromir Jagr First Round Pick (onxy version)

Click here to view the Base Card Checklist

The Release Date is June 20, 2013 get your order in now, they won't last long.

We are really excited about this product, we hope you are too.

In The Game is pleased to announce some of our plans for the 2013 Spring Expo to be held May 3-5 in Toronto at the International Centre. We never miss participating at the Expo, it is our chance to meet many of our loyal collectors and reward them for their loyalty through our Redemption Programs.

We hope one day all ITG collectors will have a chance to participate in one of our Redemption Programs. The following are the three Redemption Programs at the 2013 Spring Expo.

Ultimate Memorabilia 12th Edition Redemption

Each collector opening a pack of UM-12 will receive an Ultimate Legacy card featuring three pieces of game-used memorabilia. That's right if you open a five-pack box of UM-12 you will receive 5 Triple Memorabilia Cards unique to the 2013 Spring Expo.

There are 75 different Ultimate Legacy Redemption Cards in the program. Each card is limited to 20 silver versions and 5 gold versions.

The entire checklist of Ultimate Legacy Redemption Cards will be posted prior to the Spring Expo 

Open a box of the newly released 2012-13 Between The Pipes at the Spring Expo and receive a specially made Masked Men Redemption Card limited to either 10 or 20 cards. These unique game-used memorabilia cards feature authentic memorabilia from a list of collector-favorite Masked Men. There are 60 cards in the Masked Men 5 Redemption Card checklist. The Game-Used Jersey cards have 19 silver versions and 1 gold version. The Game-Used Glove cards have 9 silver versions and 1 gold version and the Game-Used Pad cards have nine silver versions and 1 gold version. The entire checklist of Masked Men Redemption Cards will be posted prior to the Spring Expo.

Priority Signatures

2013 Spring Expo will feature the Inaugural Edition of In The Game's Priority Signatures. Open a box of 2012-13 Heroes and Prospects and receive a Heroes and Prospects Priority Signature Autograph Card. The Priority Signature Autograph Cards feature many of the great Autograph cards featured in Heroes and Prospects since its inception. Each card is limited to a maximum of five cards and many are limited to just one copy.

Game-Used Memorabilia Display

Each Expo In The GameLand features a stunning game-used memorabilia display. Past Expo have featured my All-Star Jersey display, my vintage Toronto Maple Leafs display and my Enshrined Hall of Fame display. For the 2013 Spring Expo, we are teaming up with the CHL to present a memorable display of CHL jerseys worn by some of today's greatest young stars. Taylor Hall-Windsor, Steven Stamkos-Sarnia, Dustin Brown-Guelph, John Tavares-Oshawa and many more.

In The GameLand is the place to be during the 2013 Spring Expo with many more attractions to be announced prior to the event including, Deal or No Deal sponsored by Prince Wholesale.

See you there, May 3-5th, Toronto International Centre.

The best hockey players in the world have sat, waited for their names to be called, walked up to the podium, donned their new team's jersey and posed for the draft day photo.

This year In The Game will celebrate the 2013 Draft with an exciting product, 2013 Draft Prospects. It has been over two decades since a hockey draft prospects product has been made and this one won't disappoint.

The top 2013 draft prospects from around the world will be represented; Jones, Drouin, MacKinnon, Barkov, Hagg, de la Rose, Monahan and many, many more.

Each box will contain 12 cards:

• - Three hard-signed Autograph Cards
• - Two Game-Used Memorabilia Cards
• - Seven Premium Foil Base Cards (with parallels)

The 180 Base Card checklist will feature 2013 Draft Prospects, former First Round Picks, Draft Day Surprises and Future Draft Prospects including CHL phenom Connnor McDavid.

The Game-Used Memorabilia insert sets include; Game-used Jersey, Game-Used Patch, Draft Year, Country of Origin, Past and Future, Present and Future, Past-Present and Future, Teammates, Complete Jersey, Auto/Memo and First Round Nameplates. More details including card images and checklist to follow.

Release date for the product is June 21st.

The Ottawa 67's are going through a rebuilding process this season, but they do have one of the best draft-eligible players in Sean Monahan, who is having another great year with the club.

Chosen 16th overall in the 2010 OHL Priority Selection, he made an immediate impact in the nation's capital by scoring 20 goals as a rookie in 2010-11 and winning a Gold Medal with Team Ontario at the U-17 World Championship. Last season, his development continued in a strong fashion as he put up 78 points over 62 regular season games and made some strong contributions during the playoffs.

As a result, there was a lot of buzz surrounding him heading into the current campaign and he ranked among the top scorers in the OHL with 65 points after 47 appearances. He kicked off the year with a seven-game point streak and also served as an assistant captain for Team Orr at the 2013 Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game. With the regular schedule heading into its home stretch, he is turning things up a few notches to make an even greater impression with scouts and has points in his last six outings - including a hat trick that came in an 8-5 win over the visiting Windsor Spitfires.

Monahan's first appearance in an In The Game product came in 2011-12 as part of the Heroes & Prospects Update Set. This year, he is featured quite prominently as part of the popular Class of 2013 subset in addition to having an Autograph card and several game-used memorabilia cards. Be sure to look for him in such limited collections as the SUBWAY Super Series Jersey & Auto, Class of 2013 Autographs and Nameplates as well.

With the release date about two weeks away, we would like to thank our collectors, dealers and distributors for their support with this product.

We are almost SOLD OUT in advance of the release. We are very proud of this fact.

We have a surprise for collectors of Motown Madness as well. We have waited until now to announce this insert because we were not sure if we would be able to make it happen in time.

We recently acquired pieces of the boards from both the Detroit Olympia and the Joe Louis Arena. Working with the boards from the Joe Louis Arena was relatively easy.

The boards from the Detroit Olympia were different. They were very old, not well stored and from a curved section. This made cutting them in to flat pieces for signing very difficult but not impossible.

Here are some of the results.

Steve Yzerman Joe Louis Arena Autographed Boards

Red Kelly Detroit Olympia Autographed Boards

We are not sure how many players will be on the checklist as we are getting close to pack-out but we are sure Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay will be included along with Yzerman and Kelly.

Just an extra little surprise from In The Game to our loyal collectors.

Enjoy Motown Madness and thanks for all your support.

The In The Game blog recently discussed Seth Jones of the Portland Winterhawks and with last week's release of the 2012-13 edition of Heroes and Prospects, we will cover the other prime prospect for the first overall selection in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft - Nathan MacKinnon of the QMJHL's Halifax Mooseheads.

A native Nova Scotian, MacKinnon has drawn comparisons to Sidney Crosby in recent years and is a product of the minor league system in Cole Harbour. From there, he followed in the big league star's footsteps to the respected program at Shattuck-Saint Mary's for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 campaigns. While he briefly considered taking the collegiate route, he was taken first overall in the 2011 QMJHL Draft by the Baie-Comeau Drakkar. Soon after, his rights were dealt off in a blockbuster trade with Halifax.

As a rookie in 2011-12, he drew a great deal of praise from both fans and scouts and demonstrated that he has the potential to become an elite player. He recorded 31 goals and 47 assists over 58 games and even had a five-goal outing against the Quebec Remparts. During the playoffs, he was spectacular with 28 points over 17 games as the Mooseheads came close to making it to the final round.

The 2012-13 season has allowed him to make a strong case for being the first pick on draft day and has recorded 67 points over his first 39 appearances. From October 2 to November 3, 2012, he recorded a point in 13 straight games which included a hat trick while facing the Saint John Sea Dogs. In addition to playing for Canada at the 2013 IIHF World Junior Championship, he also got yet another chance to impress scouts as Halifax hosted the 2013 Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game.

With the current season heading into its home stretch, the Mooseheads have a strong grip on the top spot in the QMJHL and a lot of attention will be placed on MacKinnon along with his draft-eligible teammates Jonathan Drouin and Zach Fucale. All three players can be found on a variety of cards within packs of 2012-13 Heroes and Prospects and are already highly sought by collectors. 

A big debate among many hockey fans these days revolves around which elite prospect will be taken first in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. On one hand, there is the exciting Nathan MacKinnon of the QMJHL's Halifax Mooseheads and on the other, there is Seth Jones, who currently stars for the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL.

A natural athlete that is drawing a great deal of praise from scouts for his puckhandling ability and physical play, his father, "Popeye" Jones, spent 11 seasons playing in the NBA and is currently an assistant coach with the Brooklyn Nets. Over the previous two seasons, Jones was a part of the United States National Team Development Program and was selected in the WHL Bantam Draft by the Everett Silvertips. The Winterhawks traded for his rights and he made his major junior debut against the Seattle Thunderbirds on September 21, 2012. As the 2012-13 campaign progressed, he recorded several multi-point efforts which included three assists in a 7-5 triumph over the Silvertips on December 4.

Selected to represent his country at the 2013 IIHF World Junior Championship, he led all tournament defenders with six assists and chipped in a goal as the Americans went on to capture the Gold Medal. Soon after his return to WHL action, he appeared in the 2013 Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game and served as Team Orr's captain in a 3-0 victory.

While the fate of Jones will not be clear for a few months, he will be making a major case for himself on the ice. With recent changes made to rookie card eligibility by the NHL and NHLPA, hockey card collectors will be demanding cards of the hottest young players - many of which will be found in the 2012-13 edition of Heroes & Prospects and Jones is going to have a strong presence in the product with a revolutionary 3-D base card to go along with autographed cards. One of those autographs is from the super-limited Class of 2013 set and only 13 copies will be found in packs.