Posts Tagged ‘Goalie’

There is a lot to cover so let’s get this show on the road.

Thank you to everyone who has voted so far in my polls. The “center” poll will close in a few day and the “left winger” poll will close shortly after that. Now we have to move onto the right wingers. Up for consideration:

Go do your research and vote. Remember, it takes 67% of the vote to get in.

Moving on. I have a folder on my desktop of cards I’ve scanned but have not posted about. It is sort of my backup folder for when I don’t get anything new for a while. Well, since I wanted to talk about more than just my Hall of Pretty Good series, I dug into the “Break In Case Of Emergency” folder and found this beauty…

Lorne “Gump” Worsley, that of pomaded side-part fame. The doughy and everyman looking goalie who smoked between periods and played without a mask into the 1970s was a fan favorite and one of the NHL’s greatest “characters.”

Born in Montreal, Worsley enjoyed success early on in his amateur career, posting winning records and pretty good GAAs in a variety of leagues. Playing for the St. Paul Saints of the USHL, he was named top rookie and best goalie. He followed that with a stint in the PCHL playing netminder for the Saskatoon Quakers, posting a 33-19-14 record. His stock was rising and it was only a matter of time before he would get his shot in the NHL.

Worsley was signed by the New York Rangers for the 1952-53 season and would play in fifty games, replacing the injured Chuck Rayner. The team success that Worsley enjoyed in the minors was hard to come by in the NHL. To put it mildly, the Rangers were terrible. During Gump’s rookie season, the team would win just seventeen games. Of those, Worsley would be in goal for thirteen of them. Despite a season record of 13-29-8 and a GAA of 3.06, the league saw great potential in the newcomer and would award him the Calder Trophy. After asking for a $500 pay increase following the season, the Rangers sent Gump to the Vancouver Canucks of the WHL. During his stint here he was named MVP and led the team to a championship.

The Gumper would return to the Rangers the following season and embark on a twenty year career. From 1954 through 1963, Worsley minded the New York net. Over that span, he would post a 191-242-93 record, finish with a winning record only twice, and lead the league in losses three times. The stats, however, have less to do with his play and more to do with the terrible teams New York put out on the ice.

After the ’62-’63 season, Worsley was traded, along with Dave Balon, Leon Rochefort, and Len Ronson to Montreal for Jacques Plante, Don Marhsall, and Phil Goyette. Thus began the transformation from lovable, talented goalie on a dreadful team to lovable, talented goalie on a powerhouse team. Early in the ’63-’64 season, Gump hurt his knee and played the remainder of the year for the Quebec Aces, getting back into playing shape and turning in a terrific season. Starting the following season with the Aces, Worsley joined the Habs halfway through and helped lead them to their first Stanley Cup in four seasons. Over the next four seasons with the Canadiens, Gump would win two Vezina Trophies and help win three more Stanley Cups.

Halfway through the ’69-’70 season, Gump quit/retired from hockey after a dispute with Montreal management. His sabbatical from hockey was brief as the North Stars agreed to trade for him. He would finish the season in Minnesota posting a 5-1-1 record. Worsley’s remained with Minnesota for the duration of his career, playing in 99 games over the next four seasons and posting a 34-66-23 record. Gump would retired at the end of the ’73-’74 season at the age of 44, looking more like a barber than an NHL pro.

Over 861 games, Gump Worsley posted a 335-352-150 record with 43 shutouts and  a 2.88 GAA. Oh, and he only wore a mask the final six games of his career. He is 10th all-time in games played, 18th in wins, 2nd in losses, and 81st in GAA. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1980 and passed away at his home in 2007.

The card above comes from the 2004-05 Upper Deck Legends Classics set and is numbered CS20. It features Worsley in all of his 70′s glory: Maskless and muttonchopped in his green North Stars uniform, standing up and making a save. His signature is small and messy, something I find uncharacteristic of players from his generation, especially those from Quebec.

Lastly, the playoffs are almost among us. Know what that means?

CONTEST!

I’m going to revisit my contest from last year’s playoffs.

So, here is how it goes:

There are 16 teams in the playoffs meaning this contest is limited to the first 16 participants.

Leave a comment with a number, 1-16. That number will correspond with a playoff team that will be randomly generated. Whoever wins the Cup, wins the contest.

Okay, leave a comment with a number and don’t forget to vote in the polls to the right!

Whoa, it has been about two weeks since I last posted. Not much has been going on card wise for me these past couple weeks and I’ve felt a little lazy. I was on vacation all of last week and planned to take a trip to Cooperstown to see that other Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, we had a blizzard midweek and my trip was derailed. Of course, it barely snows all winter yet on the week of my vacation, we get dumped on. C’est la vie.

Add to that the fact that my Bruins have been sputtering, the trade deadline brought over retread Brian Rolston (who I actually like, but is past his prime), and Tuukka is out 4-6 weeks and I’ve just been sort of meh about writing.

So what better way to get into the mood then by finally getting together the rejected players from my Hockey Hall of Pretty Good series and seeing if we can’t right some wrongs.

First, here are all the previous posts:

1961-1966
1967-1970
1971-1973
1974-1976
1977-1978
1979-1980
1981
1982-1984
1985-1986
1987-1988
1989-1990
1991-1992
1993-1995
1996-1997
1998-2000
2001-2002
2003-2005
2006-2008
2009-2011

All total, there were 57 players who didn’t make the cut. I’m trying to figure out the best way to present them and I think by position will be the most effective. Let’sfirst start with the centers who are up for reconsideration:

So, does anyone from this group deserve to be in? If so, leave a comment and tell me why. Then, when we go through each position, I’ll post the guys up for consideration and we’ll vote. Sounds easy, right? So DO IT!

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I was all set to post when I went to my LCS today and picked up a couple things.

First, there was this, which I had been eyeballin’ for a while…

1974-75 O-Pee-Chee WHA #40Frank Mahovlich

Mahovlich finished up a Hall of Fame career by signing with the rebel league in 1974. He would play two seasons with the Toronto Toros (pictured) and two seasons with the Birmingham Bulls. Man, I love that jersey!

At the same store, I picked up seven packs of 2011-12 Upper Deck Series 2 Hockey. While I didn’t get anything great, I apparently busted all sorts of odds.

Here are some of the better looking base cards I got…

These were the most unusual shots in the packs and outside of the Conklin, that is not saying much. I have to say, I’m a bit disappointed by Upper Deck’s photography this year. Gun to head, I give Pinnacle the nod for best photography this year. I will now light myself on fire.

I don’t think there are any big name rookies in Series 2, but you do have a shot at getting MVP,Victory, and O-Pee-Chee rookies of players lie Nugent-Hopkins, so I suppose that is the draw here. Here are some rookies I snagged…

No great shakes here.

I did pull a tough-ish insert…

Gabriel Landeskog rookie insert numbered out of /100 and in AWESOME DIE-CUT ACETATE FORM! Or, as I like to call it, eBay fodder.

And if you think that is the only hit I got, guess again. Check out these beauties…

Guys, these are really rare and valuable. These are ACTUAL pieces of jersey worn by the players! The Horak is an event-used piece, so I could let this go for like, $100, but the Roy is a piece of a jersey FROM AN ACTUAL GAME! I could be talked out of it for, oh I don’t know, $250-$300. JERZEE CARDZ!!

If anyone wants any of this junk, let me know, especially the Landeskog because that is most like going to go on eBay for like $25.