1974-75 Topps card #3 Scoring Leaders

Card Features - Phil Esposito and Bobby Clark

 Okay. Last leader card featuring a Bruin for awhile. I promise. What's there to say other than the Bruins of the early '70's were a juggernaut. No team has dominated the scoring charts since like they did.

For my take on Phil, go HERE and read the post for card #1 in this set. For now, we'll concentrate on Bobby Clark.
Bobby was the captain for the Philadelphia Flyers, and at the time this card came out was just about to lead the Flyers in back to back Stanley Cup wins. Bobby went on to lead the NHL in assists in the 74/75 and 75/76 seasons. As well as playing in two of his 8 All Star games.

it's nice to see a picture of Bobby with all his teeth. A rarity for sure.

Hall of Fame - Phil in 1994
                       Bobby in 1987

What $2 at a card show can get you... Part Two

okay, I lied. Sue me. This part of my card show loot actually cost me $4. But the title from Part One mandated there be a Part Two. We'll call it writer's licence. Or poor planning. But I like the first better.

For $4, I picked up a completely random assortment of vintage '70's hockey.

First up, some 72/73 Topps. Since finishing my 74/75 Topps set, I've been thinking of starting to collect this one. Either that or the 73/74....

Dennis Hull. When you have a chance to pick up a Hull, you buy it. No questions. Unless it's Jody Hull. But that's another post.

 Ron Schock. Love those old Penguins sweaters.

 Cowboy Bill Flett. The real reason I picked this up is because Bill looks so odd in this photo. Normally, Bill looks like this..... (scroll down one)

 Boo-yah! Beardolicious.

 And a pair of old school Blues. One of the Plager brothers. Version Barclay.

 and a little known goalie, Jacques Caron

 one more of the 73/74 set. The Topps set has four different coloured borders. red, green, blue and yellow. The OPC only has red and green.

 With all the 40th anniversary talk surrounding the Canucks, I had to grab one of the original 'nuckleheads. Although Dale was traded to Chicago soon after.

 and my favourite of the bunch, a 70/71 Jacques Laperriere All Star. Anything vintage Montreal and I am all over it.

one roughish corner and a wee off center, but it's all mine.

So leave me any comments about which set you think I should go for.... especially if you have traders to help me out!

Auctions aplenty... where's my chequebook???

with the ever increasing popularity of sports memorablilia, there is an equal increase in the amount of sports memorabilia auctions. Two item in particular have piqued my interest this month.

The first, Rogie vachon's game used mask from his days with the L.A. Kings. Auction LINK The mask, seen here

is only $6500 at the time of this writing with 26 days left in the auction. I'm sure the wife wouldn't mind if I sold her car....

The next item I have to have is a true one of one. You may remember back in June, a Paul Henderson jersey that he wore when he scored the winning goal in the 1972 Summit Series sold for $1,272,707.00 Amazing money for a game used jersey. Seen here in one of the most iconic and recognizable hockey/sports photos in history.

 Well, the guy who passed him the puck, was Yvan Cournoyer. #12 in white. And now, Yvan's jersey from that game is being put on the block. Who knows how high this will go. I'm sure my wife wouldn't mind me selling the house, right? Yvan's red jersey that he wore in an earlier game of the series sold in March for $20,000.... but this is the white one. The one in the photo... the one in our memories with Foster Hewitt's voice ringing in our ears...

You ever see a player go after a referee with his stick before???

1974-75 Topps card #2 Top Assists Leaders

Card features - Bobby Orr and Dennis Hextall.

 For the second straight leader card, we feature a Boston Bruin and a Minnesota North Star.
Bobby Orr led the NHL with 90 assists in 73/74. It was the fourth of five times leading the NHL. Bobby added 32 goals to go along with a Norris trophy win that year.

Dennis led the West with 62 assists. That, and his point total (82) would be career highs. Dennis also appeared in his first of two All Star games.

 Bobby Orr was on the cusp of arguably his greatest season. 1974/75 saw him score 46 goals 89 assists for 135 points. Another norris trophy win for top defenceman, and Art Ross win for leading scorer, and a Ted Lindsay Award for Most Outstanding Player as voted by the players. And then, it was over. Training camp in 1975 saw Bobby suffer a serious knee injury, limiting him to only 10 games. After leaving Boston for Chicago, another knee injury 20 games into the season saw Bobby miss over a year and a half of action. He tried a comeback in 1978, but after 6 games, hung up his skates for good. The greatest hockey player besides Gordie Howe. Maybe even better than Howe. Depends on my mood. Over waaaay too soon.

Dennis Hextall had a journeyman's career in the NHL with stops in 6 cities. 12 seasons 153 goals 350 assists. Dennis comes from a hockey family. His father Bryan, brother Bryan Jr, and nephew Ron Hextall all played in the NHL.



Hall Of Fame - Bobby Orr was elected in 1979

What $2 at a card show can get you, Part One.

The monthly card show took place this past weekend. A good time was had by all, except for the dude that got stabbed the night before. When I arrived, the whole place, parking lot and all, was taped off as a crime scene. Cops were everywhere. Forensics vans, cruisers, you name it. Welcome to Calgary. Oh, btw, the event where buddy was stabbed? A wedding. Nice. There's something for the scrapbook. Ribbons, check. Bouquet, check. A Piece of the cake, check. Crime scene tape, check.

Anyways, onto the show... once I was able to get inside, I found more 'dealers' than last month. (I use the word 'dealers' loosely.) Card shows here are vastly different than the ones I read about on some of your fabulous blogs. Some of the differences... there are no quarter boxes. No dime boxes. Why? Because every card is worth $$$. Beckett says so. This is why I never spend more than $10-$12 at one of these things. This month, I spent $6. I know.

Let's see what the first $2 got me.

I've been working on the 2010/11 UD Victory set since it came out. I didn't want the set, only the P.K. Subban card from it, but I've bought so many damn packs, I almost have the whole set. Except of course, the Subban. I found three guys selling the short printed rookies. Two tables had no prices and each enterprising seller reached for their Becketts when asked how much. A range of $2-$7 each was heard. Not by me though, I had already left. The third had a stack of about 15 rookies sitting there. How much? Meh... he said, .50 cents each or 5 for $2. They don't sell for that much online, and there's no Subban or Kadri in there...

I almost kissed him.

Unfortunately, I didn't bring my lists. Always bring your lists kids. So I went by memory. (a sure way to fail) A lot of what he had, I knew I had already, but I found five that did not look familiar.

I knew I needed Dustin, so he was the first one I grabbed.

 an Islander rookie not named Tavares

 one of the Flyers 43 goalies over the past two seasons....

 and here's where I screwed up. I already had Palmieri...

 AND Clune. Always bring your lists kids!

 I handed the guy my toonie (two dollar coin) and said, oh and these too, how much? Don't worry about it, he said.

 Free Montreal goalie cards are one of my favourite things in the world. Right after Pizza. That Patrick card is from a set that came out while I was away from the hobby. It's one of the sets I really, really wish i had collected. And the Dryden is from a celebration set that came out last year. I couldn't collect it because people want WAAAAAAAY too much money for it.

So there you have it. Part one of my card show experience. For those of you breathless with anticipation, the latter half will be posted in the next day or two.

1974-75 Topps #1 Top Goal Leaders

Card Features - Phil Esposito and Bill Goldsworthy

 Phil Esposito led the entire NHL in 73/74 with 68 goals. It was the second highest total for Phil. He would pot 61 the following year, but never more than 42 in his final 6 seasons. Phil finished his 18 year career with 717 goals.

Bill Goldsworthy finished with 48 goals in 73/74, good for 5th in the league, but tops in the west. This was Bill's best year. 37 the next year and out of the NHL three years after that. One thing I would love to find, is video of Bill doing the "Goldie Shuffle". A goal celebration dance he did after scoring on home ice.

Both Phil and Bill were traded to the Rangers within three years of this card coming out. They also played together with Team Canada in the 1972 Summit Series. And really? Philadelphia? In the west? There's a reason Conferences and Divisions were renamed.


Hall of Fame - Phil was elected in 1994

Deceased - Bill passed away in 1996 from complications due to AIDS. Bill tried to pass on a warning to all young hockey players about the dangers associated with the abundance of Puck Bunnies who make themselves available to all NHL'ers on the road.
Not sure anyone has heeded that advice. Would you?

Saturday night highlights

A few great games in the NHL tonight. A few of the highlights, Toronto is 2-0 for the first time in.... in.... well, Toronto has never been 2-0. Montreal came back and scored twice in the last 90 seconds to beat Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh 3-2. New building, old building, same result.

But the best of the best, was in Vancouver. The Canucks (and Sabres) are celebrating their 40th season in the NHL. For Vancouver's home opener against Los Angeles, the throwback uni's came out. And they were glorious. Look for a post on that in the next day or so, as soon as I can score some pics from the game.

Finally, a buddy of mine and I were talking about hockey, and he asked what the P.K. stood for in P.K. Subban.

I had no idea, so I looked it up.

Yeah. P.K. it is. Good call.

(as you may be able to tell, I still have no Subban cards, so I had to make another one...)

Opening week...

We've had a great opening few days to the 2010/11 NHL season. A few teams opened the year playing in Europe. Yawn. I hope that experiment goes away quickly.

The folks in Calgary have had to postpone the Stanley Cup Parade. After going 7-0 in the preseason, most around here thought it was a done deal. Then the opening 4-0 loss to Edmonton. 800,000 servings of crow later, the parade is on hold.

Our thoughts and prayers are with goalie Ondrej Pavelec. A scary sight to see him collapse during the game against Washington. LINK

But with respect to Ondrej, what I wanted to focus on here, is one of the great efforts in any hockey game. Most of you know what a Hat Trick is. (when one player scores 3 times in the same game)
There's something special in hockey. It's named after the greatest player to ever play the game. It's called a Gordie Howe Hat Trick.
What's that? A Gordie Howe Hat Trick is when you get a goal, an assist, and a fight in the same game. They're kinda rare, but we had the fortune of seeing one take place in the Detroit / Anaheim game last night.

and here's where it gets good. The receipient was none other than Pavel Datsyuk of the Red Wings. Pavel is the four time winner of the league's Lady Byng Trophy as the league's most gentlemanly player. It's only the second fight of his career, and the first in the regular season.



God I love hockey!

Cherry Picking.

So the very first Just A Bit Offside hockey fantasy draft just concluded. 10 bloggers. Winner take all. Thanks to those that signed up, and thanks to those that expressed interest, but didn't sign up in time. Maybe next year.

You'd think with it being my league, I would've ended up with a better draft position. But no. Hell no. I ended up with the 10th pick. Dead freakin' last.

So that means a drastic, last minute, change in strategy. Forget about elite goal scores and top flight goalies. They'll be gone by the time I pick. Let's concentrate on some of the scoring catagories I can win. Penalty minutes. +/-, blocked shots, hits...

Starting lineup is 2 Centers, 2 RW, 2 LW, 4 Defense, 1 Forward, 2 Goalies

So with that in mind, I give you the Don Cherry Pickers.

Round One - 10th pick - Mike Green, Defense Washington

Round Two - 11th pick - Drew Doughty, Defense Los Angeles

and with that, I locked up the top two elite defensemen in the NHL. Others weeped.

Round Three - 30th pick - Jimmy Howard, Goalie Detroit

Round Four - 31st pick - Joe Thornton, Center, San Jose

one of the top 5 goalies in the league, good for 40 wins, and the top assist man in hockey.

Round Five - 50th pick - Jeff Carter, Center, Philadelphia

Round Six - 51st pick - Mike Cammalleri, LW, Montreal

one of the top all around players in the league, and the #1 point scorer for my favourite team. (homer pick)

Round Seven - 70th pick - Scott Hartnell, LW, Philadelphia

Round Eight - 71st pick - Steve Downie, RW, Tampa Bay

here's where I go big or go home. Two 25 goal scorers who are always in the top 5 in penalty minutes. Took them early, but had to.

Round Nine - 90th pick - Carey Price, G, Montreal

Round Ten - 91st pick - P.K. Subban, Defense, Montreal

Price is the man in Montreal now, a lock for 30-38 wins easy, to get him this late was golden.  Everyone knew I was getting Subban, it was only a matter of when.

Round Eleven - 110th pick - Mike Knuble, RW, Washington

Round Twelve - 11th pick - Lubomir Visnovsky, D, Anaheim

a 30 goal 70 point man in the 11th round? Yes please. And 20 goal man Lubomir rounds out my defense core nicely.

Round Thirteen - 130th pick - Dustin Brown, RW, Los Angeles

Round Fourteen - 131st pick - Antii Niemi, G, San Jose

a tough gritty winger who is one of the top hitters in hockey, and the #1 goalie for the best team of the last three years.

Round Fifteen - 150th pick - Mason Raymond, LW, Vancouver

Round Sixteen - 151st pick - Wojtek Wolski, LW, Phoenix

two good 20-25 goal wingers this late, absolutely.

Round Seventeen - 170th pick - Scott Gomez, C, Montreal

the number one line center of the Montreal Canadiens for Mr Irrelevant.

So there you go. No Ovechkin, No Stamkos, No Crosby or Brodeur.... but I'll win it all just the same.

Darcy Tucker retires...

Castor, Alberta native Darcy Tucker announced his retirement today after 14 seasons in the NHL.

Darcy, known as an 'agitator' in hockey circles, ('agitator' = pain in the ass) finishes his career with 215 goals, 261 assists and 1410 penalty minutes in 947 games played.