Bad Hockey Card of the Day

I like Espo's plaid pants.

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

By now we can just accept that O Pee Chee somehow justified the need to airbrush hockey cards back in the day. Above we see one of the best airbrush jobs of the 1970s in this Ted Irvine card. Only one problem - that's actually Ted Harris they airbrushed over!

Bonus: Bad Hockey Card of the Day

Why was it necessary to airbrush Rick Vaive's hair?

Georges Laraque: The Story of the NHL's Unlikeliest Tough Guy

Georges Laraque, noted hockey tough guy but also noted for his variety of interests outside of the hockey rink, has made the biggest splash in terms of making headlines with his new autobiography. In Georges Laraque: The Story of the NHL's Unlikeliest Tough Guy, Big Georges rocked the hockey world withallegations of rampant drug use. He also took a few jabs at some coaches,most notably Wayne Gretzky. 

He also goes on to talk about all sorts of subjects - from racism to politics, from humanitarian efforts to vegan diets.

"The goal of the book is not even to talk about hockey, it's to talk about other stuff," Laraque has been on record saying. “I didn’t even want to talk about hockey in the book, but the publisher said I should because that’s what I did for a living. I wanted to do more than that. I wanted to help people to become more open-minded. That’s why I talk about politics, about religion, about gay rights, about animal rights, all that stuff.”

Buy The Book: Amazon.ca- Chapters - Amazon.com

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

On November 3rd, 1970 the Buffalo Sabres claimed veteran defenseman Bobby Baun from the Detroit Red Wings on waivers. The following day the Sabres traded him to St. Louis. Baun refused to report to the Blues, so he was traded again, to Toronto.

Unfortunately for Baun's hockey card, O Pee Chee apparently needed to decide on that day of limbo what to do for his card. So they removed the Red Wings logo, guessed at the team and went with it.

20 Questions With Paul Henderson

Paul Henderson sat down with Sean Fitz-Gerald of the National Post for a sit down session of 20 Questions. Henderson has some great stories, such as this one:

Q: When was the last time you scored a goal?

A: The last NHL goal I scored, I was playing for Atlanta, and we came in and played the Leafs. We beat the Leafs 5-3. I got two goals and an assist and I was first star of the game. And after the game, I skated out, and Ballard and [King] Clancy were down in their box, and I went and waved to Ballard. That was not the classiest thing I’ve ever done.

Here's the full story, well worth the read.

Henderson and author Jim Prime have also teamed up to present the new book How Hockey Explains Canada. I have my full review at HockeyBookReviews.com.

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

Bobby Orr airbrushed. The nose on the Indian logo is WAY too big.

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

Ron Duguay looks like he has entered a Jon Bon Jovi look-a-like competition. Other than the badly airbrushed jersey.

Vladislav Tretiak: No Stretch

It is no stretch to say Vladislav Tretiak is one of the greatest goaltenders in hockey history:

Bonus: Bad Hockey Card of the Day

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

Apparently O Pee Chee only had one photo of Glen Hanlon to work with. Too bad he's . . . ummm . . . adjusting his equipment.

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

There has been no more photographed hockey player in history. Even by 1982 he was the focus of camera lenses more than any other man on the ice. So why did OPC find the need to airbrush this Wayne Gretzky card?

Win A Trip To The All Star Game!

There's just a few weeks left in Scotiabank's High Five Your Way To The All Star Game contest. First prize is a trip for 4 Canadian residents to attend the 2012 NHL All-Star Game in Ottawa including flight, hotel and $500 spending money. There are also 12 Secondary Prizes each consisting of 4 tickets to see an NHL team of your choice.

How do you enter? Simply go to their Facebook page and pick your favorite hockey team. Every time your team scores, simply "High Five" within 10 minutes of the goal. Each "High Five" is an entry into the this amazing contest.

To help promote the event, Scotiabank has given me three prize packs to give away. These prize packs (consisting of a hockey jersey, bag, toque, water bottle and a hockey puck) have always been popular prizes when I have given them away before. (Please note: the prizes may not be exactly as shown in the picture to the right)

So how do you win the prize packs? Tell me your favorite All Star Game memory. Simply leave your memory along with your name and email address in the comments section to his post. I will randomly select three lucky winners!

My favorite All Star game memory? Gotta be the night Gretzky scored four goals in the third period of the 1983 All Star Game. Or how about Owen Nolan calling his shot? Maybe Alex Ovechkin donning the funny hat and glasses? Maybe you've actually attended an All Star Game in person?

So be sure to enter Scotiabank's High Five Your Way To The All Star Game contest as well as this Scotiabank Prize Pack give away.

Stan Mikita's Bowling Injury

Okay, so the title is a little bit misleading. But still, I could not help but chuckle when I read this quote from Stan Mikita about his most painful injury.

Somehow the tongue of the skate didn't stop a darn thing. It cracked a bone in there. I remember coming home from the hospital on crutches. I sat down on a chair and fell asleep. My son Scott – for Christmas he got those plastic bowling pins and the ball. All of the sudden I felt the most painful, excruciating pain in my life. He swung the pin and hit my foot. I'll never forget seeing him standing there with a smile on his face."

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

The airbrushing in this 1970s hockey card is almost a masterpiece by 1970s standards. But my question is why? Jacques Lemaire never was traded to the Sabres, never played for the Sabres, and, as best as I can tell, was never rumored to be joining the Sabres at all!

Gordie Howe's Heroes

"Hockey is a man's game," Gordie Howe used to be fond of saying. Which is appropriate, because when it comes to hockey, Gordie Howe is the man.

Gordie's son Mark was recently inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He did not have to look far to find his hockey hero when he was growing up.

Which begs the question - who did Gordie hero worship as a kid?

Mark "Scoop" Malinowski found out in a Getting To Know feature for The Hockey News:

"My brother Bernie was a tough defenseman. I remember grabbing his bag and dragging it through the snow when he was going overseas during the war.

"The late Alf Pike who played for New York. What he did with me...I was with the New York Rangers camp and then I was sitting there looking at everybody. Then he just grabbed my arm and said, ‘Let the kid here eat or he'll starve to death!’ So he took me in line and let me eat. Then he was really nice because he, from there, drove me over to camp. And the way he dressed is the way I dress today. I was watching him - I found a hero who helped me.

"Ab Welsh was another one. I asked for an autograph at the old City of Saskatoon rink. I walked in there - I must've said the right thing - he took me in the room and all the players signed my program. He said, ‘Do you play?’ I said, ‘Yes sir.’ That's when he went to the back room. He gave me his stick - an old three-piece stick - I'd never seen one before. I slept with the stick. So what bothered me more - was the autograph. What it meant. I said, ‘If I'm going to be a total hockey player then I better learn how to write.’ So the signature I'm using now is the one my mother picked out. So it's like a legacy every time I write. It's like a legacy toward my mom."

Malinowski's full feature can be viewed here. Find out every thing you ever wanted to know about Mr Hockey, from his favorite hockey moment to the best he ever did for himself, even though it gave him hives.

Interview With Kirstie McLellan Day

Photo by Chris Bolin for Macleans Magazine

MacLean's magazine has an excellent interview with hockey's best selling author Kirstie McLellan Day.


Kirstie Day has written Bob Proert's autobiography Tough Guy. Theo Fleury's autobiography Playing With Fire and, new in 2011, Ron MacLean's autobiography, Cornered - all bestsellers in Canada. She also wrote the foreword for Joe Pelletier's new ebook Pucks On The 'Net.

In the MacLean's interview Kirstie talks about her relationship with Fleury and Probert, surviving an angry Bret Hart, and future plans including a Fleury movie and possible Wayne  Gretzky book. 

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

Airbrushed yes, but why screw up the logo that much?

Michel Plasse Learned The Ropes

Here's a great story of a practical joke Quebec Nordiques played on back up goaltender Michel Plasse in the early 1980s. The story, as told to The Hockey News, is told by starting goalie Dan Bouchard:

"The trick that we played on the ice on Michel Plasse, who unfortunately passed away not long ago. The old rink in Washington, the Cap Center, was the first with the Jumbotron over the center ice. Behind the benches they had the lace to drape the towels behind the player bench. One of our players unlaced the lace and put it through the loop in the back of the uniform of our backup goalie, Michel Plasse.

The cameraman was watching what was going on - our player was trying to lace the back of the pants, to tie the lace in there. He (the cameraman) showed it and everybody could see it on the Jumbotron. At one point I was talking to Plasse when I went to the bench on a delayed penalty, I was talking to keep him occupied and he was telling me about his playoff bonus. We were winning 8-1. Everybody saw what was happening except for Michel. Everybody stayed to watch what would happen.

At the final buzzer I went to the penalty box and all the players followed. Michel Plasse jumped on the ice. When he got to the end of the rope, he got pulled back. Both feet flung forward. Everybody got a good laugh. They got their money's worth that night. I was wondering if it was on YouTube or if anyone has that video of it. You don't see things funny like that now."

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

Hall of Fame Implications

Steve Simmons raises an interesting point about recent news that Brian Burke has joined the Hockey Hall of Fame Selection Committee:

With Pat Quinn co-chairman of the Hockey Hall of Fame committee and Burke now among the voters and the board-room voices, you have to know that if Pavel Bure remains out of the Hall, it will be because Quinn and Burke don’t want him there. If Cam Neely’s short career was considered Hall of Fame worthy, you can’t keep Bure out.

Here's more from Simmons

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

Andy Bathgate's Side of the Story

It is one of the most famous moments in all of hockey history.

November 1st, 1959. Goaltender Jacques Plante takes a puck to the face and is injured badly. He leaves the ice, and returns with a protective mask, literally changing the face of hockey forever.

Most people know those integral details. But did you know the puck that hit Plante in the face came off of an Andy Bathgate shot? And did you know Bathgate's intentions in that moment were not so innocent?

Here's what Bathgate had to say about what led up to shot:

Jacques Plante tripped me one night in New York. Jacques Plante used to come out of the net, he was the first one to stop the puck behind the net and circle the net. We had sort of a verbal talk on the ice. One time playing the puck, he sort of showboated, 'Like picking cherries, Bathgate.’ Then later I said, ‘Oh, you played great tonight, you had five shots.’ I had to remind him he didn't have much to worry about. Later he came back behind the net and he tripped me. I hit the end boards pretty hard, luckily I didn't hurt myself or break my neck, I hit it hard. Just cut my ear, got it stitched up and came back out. He tried to hurt me. There's other ways I can get you back. You want to play that way, I can play that way, too. Later he had his stick out and I gave him a shot right on his cheek, it wasn't a slapshot. He went off and came back on with the mask on. We thought it was a joke. But he revolutionized the game. I'm not taking credit, but it changed the game for sure."

Bathgate of course was a Hockey Hall of Famer in his own right, best known with the New York Rangers but also with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Pittsburgh Penguins. In 2009 Pittsburgh drafted another Andy Bathgate - his grandson.

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

Billy Burch's Lucky Strike

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

Enter Now

A Game For The Dog

She did not like it when the Canucks played the Blackhawks.

That's my fault. During the epic seven game showdown between Vancouver and Chicago in the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs I got too emotionally involved. With every scoring chance, with every big hit and with every big goal I invested myself into the Canucks to the point where I exhausted myself and down right scared my girlfriend, her kids, and her dog.

It forced me to look at how seriously I take the game of hockey. I went into a long period of self reflection. How could I take this silly game that seriously? Is it really worth it?

Despite making what most people would consider to be a complete fool of myself, she always stood by me. No matter how scared or concerned she was, no matter how hard it was for her to understand, she always hung around to make sure I was okay. And when Alex Burrows scored the dramatic winning goal in overtime of game seven, she was right there with me, happy that it was over.

I'm talking about the dog.

Don't get me wrong. My girlfriend and the kids are still beside me though they still have trouble understanding it all as well. Usually they leave me to my own devices to watch the big hockey matches. The dog, no mattered how spooked by my behavior she got, loyally stood by.

"Tip" loved hockey. Well at least she loved hockey pucks. Wintery sojourns to the family cabin on Lakelse Lake were always days to look forward to. Shinny on the frozen pond was my highlight, and the dog's too. But she made it difficult for the rest of us to play. She hounded us for that puck as though she were Brad Marchand. And if you lost the puck to her, she quickly grabbed it in her mouth and take it back to the cabin. We learned to bring spare pucks, but she learned to collect them all from us. Soon enough we were skating in circles and with no pucks.

The dog never took much interest in the Canucks or hockey on TV in general. But she had this weird sixth sense when Vancouver played Chicago.

Earlier this season the Canucks thumped the Blackhawks by a score of 6-2. All day long she was acting kind of weird. She was really anxious, pacing around, always eyeing me with a drooped head. We could not figure out what was up with her.

But when Jannik Hansen scored to secure the game at 4-2, I loudly voiced my approval. The dog jumped just like she did last playoffs. My girlfriend and I both looked at each other and almost in unison said "she knows it's the Blackhawks!"

Tip didn't make it to Wednesday night's game against the Blackhawks. She died of old age the day before. So as the Canucks played the Blackhawks my heart was not quite in the game the same way.

I'm fairly certain Tip was up in doggy heaven watching down on us watching the game. Once Jonathan Toews scored to make it 3-1 I'm sure she buried her head in her paws thinking of me.

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

Catching Up With The Past: Edgar Laprade

Allan Maki of the Globe And Mail recently caught up with Hockey Hall of Famer Edgar Laprade in this fascinating piece:

In his home, in green-and-blue plaid pajamas, he sits in an easy chair across from his wall of memories. There’s a framed photograph of him with Wayne Gretzky. There’s one of the Hockey Hall of Fame building autographed by the greats. There’s a photo of the Calder Trophy he won as the NHL’s top rookie in 1946. There’s a photo of an early Madison Square Garden and another of him on the ice during a full-scale brawl with the Montreal Canadiens.

Playing for the New York Rangers, he is on the fringe of the fighting where, true to his nature, he is playing peacemaker, holding back a charging foe. Then as now, Edgar Laprade has always been a gentleman. Because of that, he’s not sure he likes the NHL any more.

Here's the full story.

Remembering Roger Christian

Last week I was out hiking in the Vancouver area. I did not get a chance to celebrate the life of Roger Christian. Christian, a true American hockey legend, passed away last week at the age of 75.

Richard Goldstein of the New York Times has a great piece on Christian:

Roger Christian, whose four-goal game propelled the United States to its first gold medal in Olympic ice hockey, an improbable championship at the 1960 Squaw Valley Winter Games, died Wednesday in Grand Forks, N.D. He was 75. 

Here's the full story.

Roger and brother Billy Christian were linemates on the U.S. team in the Squaw Valley Games. The key decision was a 3-2 victory against the Soviet Union, when Roger assisted on two of Billy’s goals. Roger also scored four goals in a 9-4 victory over Czechoslovakia for the gold medal.

Roger Christian played on five U.S. national teams and is enshrined in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. For 20 years Roger starred with his hometown Warroad Lakers. The brothers later partnered to form Christian Brothers, a hockey stick maker in Warroad, Minn.

The Christian family of Warroad are American hockey royalty. Roger's nephew (Billy's son) Dave went on to play a big role in the United States "Miracle On Ice" gold medal win at the 1980 Olympics as well as a lengthy NHL career.

Players Police Themselves? NHL Can't Go Back, So They Better Step Up

 
The NHL's failure to suspend Milan Lucic for deliberately running down Buffalo Sabres goalie Ryan Miller has led to no shortage of cries for letting the players police themselves.

Here's what Hall of Famer Mark Howe had to say about it on the weekend:

"I like the game a little better in our era, mostly because the players policed the game. I think there's so much onus put on the officials right now ... I don't mind the fighting in the game, I know they're trying to take a lot of it out.

"The game in the old days got rid of the pretenders and the guys who do the whacking and the hacking, guys that are chirping back. That stuff got eliminated years ago. If somebody was taking a shot at your best player, somebody got rid of that right away.

"The reason I think there's a lot more injuries now? Guys are bigger, stronger, better fit overall. But you can just take runs at people left and right and they're coming at full speed. And in the old days, you eliminated that from the game."

This is what many opponents of the instigator rule have been saying for years. It's all about accountability. All players would be held accountable for their own actions on the ice by their peers.

But as the NHL has taken that out of the game more and more, we are seeing more pests, more injuries to star players and more frustrating discrepancies in justice from incident to incident. The NHL fails to set a standard. At least in the old days the standard was simple: Do something wrong, and you can expect to answer the bell.

In the same link as above CBC's eloquent Elliotte Friedman theorizes:

"What if the reason we're seeing so many dangerous on-ice plays is that we've forgotten how to deal with the bully in the schoolyard? You can run to the principal all you want. Eventually, you've got to stand up for yourself."

Of course, old school, vigilante justice can not always the answer either. Here's what that looks like when it goes to far:



Line brawls, jumping superstars and denting goalie masks with bare fists. As entertaining as that video clip might have been for us older fans, do we really want to see that come back on a regular basis?

Not doing anything is no good either. Montreal never challenged Zdeno Chara after the Pacioretty/stanchion incident. The Canucks may have lost the Stanley Cup in part because they did not get as dirty as the Bruins, and the referees did not properly reward them. And now Lucic gets away with running one of the top goalies in the league. Those teams left it up to the NHL to police it. They did not. And Jeremy Jacob's Boston Bruins keep taking advantage.

Somewhere there has to be a balance. The answer is the NHL has to eliminate pests. I've been on this tangent for a long while now. The league has gone after goons, which is fine, but they have continued to allow the pests to ruin the game. Eliminate the pests, and you eliminate a lot of the reasons for fighting in hockey to begin with. Then the stars can shine.

But the NHL instead has set the standard now where you can run and concuss other teams goaltenders and only get a two minute penalty. But if you dare do anything about it, like everyone is saying the Sabres should have done, it will be you who gets into real trouble.

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

Hockey Hall of Fame 2012

The  first year eligible class for 2012 includes two shoo-ins in Joe Sakic and Brendan Shanahan, while Jeremy Roenick, Mats Sundin, Curtis Joseph, Olaf Kolzig, Teppo Numminen, Markus Naslund, Gary Roberts, Claude Lemieux and Bobby Holik will all get good consideration. 


Although it may not be immediate, ultimately the Hall of Fame's Toronto Maple Leaf bias will get Sundin over the hump, but probably not Joseph.  Jeremy Roenick will likely also make the grade one day, though he may be aided by his immense likeability and his stature as a top American player.


As we all know, there is still quite a logjam from previous years, including Eric Lindros, Adam Oates, and Pavel Bure (and maybe Tom Barrasso) should make it. I would also argue vehemently that Sergei Makarov should also make the Hall of Fame, though that would almost certainly fall on deaf ears again.

The Write Stuff: HHOF Inductions

One of the best things about Hockey Hall of Fame weekend is the countless high quality writing put out on each inductee. Here's some of the best:

Mark Howe

Mark Howe: His Own Man - Lance Hornby/Toronto Sun
Tears of joy for Gordie Howe as son joins him in HHOF - Globe and Mail
Remembering Howe Hockey Was Played - TORO Magazine
Mark Howe At Last In HHOF - Jeff Klein/New York Times
Howe likely WHA star in HHOF - Bruce McCurdy

Ed Belfour

Unmatched Competitive Fire Key to Belfour's Success - Toronto Star
Ed Belfour's Manic Dedication - ESPN
Desire For Perfection Led To Unique Habits - Montreal Gazette
He Was Demanding, But Belfour Always Delivered - National Post
Belfour's Road to HHOF Inspired by Tretiak - Globe and Mail

Joe Nieuwendyk

The Winning Touch - Toronto Sun
Nieuwendyk Ensured Everyone Knew His Name - NHL
Lacrosse Skills Helped Nieuwendyk - NHL
Nieuwendyk Truly Deserving of HHOF Induction: Dallas Stars

Doug Gilmour

Gilmour Led With Killer Intensity - CBC
Gilmour's Path To HHOF Paved With Grit - Calgary Herald
Gilmour's Rise To The Top Wasn't Easy - National Post
Gilmour Always Played Big - Standard Freeholder
Gilmour: In His Own Words: London Free Press

Hockey Hall of Fame 2011

Mark Howe

Make no mistake: Mark Howe was not Gordie Howe, his legendary father. But Mark too was a great player.

Gordie Howe was a fearsome physical presence and a goal scoring machine. Mark Howe was one of the steadiest, cleanest and most accomplished players of the 1970s and 1980s.


Full Mark Howe Biography

Joe Nieuwendyk

Joe Nieuwendyk was a winner. He won three Stanley Cup championships with three different teams - Calgary, Dallas and New Jersey. Plus he won an Olympic gold medal with Team Canada in 2002.

In 1999 he was so important to Dallas' Stanley Cup championship that he was named as the Conn Smythe trophy winner - about as prestigious of an individual award a hockey player can earn.

Full Joe Nieuwendyk biography

Ed Belfour

Eddie "The Eagle" Belfour has a tremendous resume with a Stanley Cup championship (1999), a Canada Cup title (1991), Olympic Gold Medal (2002), 2 Vezina trophies, 4 Jennings trophies, 484 career wins (3rd best all time), 76 shutouts (9th all time).

Known for his explosive personality Belfour is generally considered to be on par with his contemporaries Dominik Hasek, Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur. And it is now proven with his Hall of Fame inclusion. 


Full Ed Belfour Biography

Doug Gilmour

Doug Gilmour has reputation as a hockey warrior. He was an imperative piece of the 1989 Stanley Cup championship in Calgary. He willed Toronto to two consecutive final four appearances in the 1990s, not to mention two more in St. Louis a few years before that. He is seventh all time in Stanley Cup playoffs scoring, 5th in terms of assists. His points per game production actually increased in the playoffs. The only other of the NHL's top 50 all time to also be able to make that claim is Mark Messier.

Full Doug Gilmour biography

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

Wayne Gretzky's Loving It

Check out this old photo of Wayne Gretzky enjoying lunch at McDonalds:

Which reminds me of The Great One's McDonalds commercial"

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

They butchered the Whalers logo in this bad airbrush job.

Bad Hockey Card of the Day