Pack Crackin': 2003-04 Upper Deck Victory

Two of the sixteen packs contained in the "value box" that I picked up from Meijer a few weeks ago were 2003-2004 Upper Deck Victory. For the sake of brevity, I've combined the crackin' of these two packs into one post. First off, I have to say that the 2003-2004 UD Victory base set design is one of the worst in the history of hockey cards. Superimposing the player photo on the card graphic gives the cards a bit of a cheap look to them. I prefer the old-school look, with the focus being the players and not flashy use of "artistic expression". I must not be alone in that sentiment, since Victory sets subsequent to this one have ditched the extreme design elements.

Anyway, on to the 12 cards contained in the two packs. First up are my team collection pulls:

Both are Red Wings, obviously, and neither are dupes. That's not saying a whole lot, though, since I had zero cards from this set prior to this Datsyuk anad Legace pull. Despite my general dislike for the design, I will pursue completing the team sets for this issue since Victory is one of the sets I regularly include in my Red Wings and Blue Jackets collections.

Each pack contained an insert, but both were of the Freshman Flashback subset:

The scans don't do justice to the use of foil, and the cards do look better than the photos (and the base set, for that matter). I'm still not pleased with the excessive use of color on the left side of the cards, or the cheesy glow to the edge of the player, but the effect isn't as horrific as that of the base cards.

Igor Radulov played two seasons for the Blackhawks before heading to Russia during the 2004-2005 season, where he's been playing ever since. Niko Dimitrakos stuck with the NHL a little longer, being traded to the Flyers in March of 2006 for a 3rd round draft pick - ouch. After a couple of more seasons in the AHL, Niko headed East to play in Europe. In 2011 he was back in North America looking to make a return with Vancouver, but was released during training camp. A short stint with the AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins followed before Niko returned to Germany.

The remainder of the two packs worked out like this:
10: Simon Gamache - Atlanta Thrashers
77: Sammy Salo - Edmonton Oilers
118: Janne Niinimaa - New York Islanders
132: Todd White - Ottawa Senators
136: Ray Emery - Ottawa Senators
145: Shane Doan - Phoenix Coyotes
151: Rico Fata - Pittsburgh Penguins
197: Michael Nylander - Washington Capitals

Anyone else think that the 2003-2004 UD Victory set was one of the ugliest in hockey card history?