Collectibles Wish List
For the first time, the Clark Cup Finals will feature a pair of Nebraska teams, as Lincoln and Omaha square off for the USHL's biggest prize. However, there's more to this series than geographic proximity, as the Stars and Lancers just happen to be the league's two hottest teams since Christmas.
I saw the other day on one of these Internet auction sites that specialize in sports that you can bid on a Wayne Gretzky Edmonton Oilers jersey. Nothing special about it, the description says, but it was worn by The Great One when he was an Edmonton Oiler. Oh, and it’s signed. It could be yours for two thousand dollars.
Boy, did I fall all over myself to get out my checkbook!
Now, why would anyone want a jersey signed by a hockey player? By anyone, for that matter? What do you do with it? Do you wear it and eagerly brag to your friends, “This is Wayne Gretzky’s jersey!” as you point to his signature by an underarm?
No way. If I’m going to bid on hockey collectibles, this is what might cause me to part with somebody else’s money (I sure don’t have the jack to bid on this stuff):
Jacques Plante’s first mask. Did you eversee pictures of this thing? A plastic head sleeve with grotesque eye holes. And this guy wore it to face pucks shot by the likes of Bobby Hull, Gordie Howe and other sharpshooters of the Fifties and early Sixties. When you look at the NASA-style goaltenders’ masks, which look like something you’d wear if you’d jump out of an airplane, you have a new appreciation for Plante, who has to be the most courageous, if not the greatest, goalie ever.
Bob Baun’s bandages. Baun, a defensemanwho played 18 seasons for Toronto, Detroit and the defunct Oakland Seals, took a shot off the stick of Gordie Howe in the third period of the sixth game ofthe 1964 Stanley Cup finals. With his Maple Leafs trailing Howe’s Red Wings inthe series 3-2, and the score tied, 3-3, Baun refused medical aid other than a shot of pain killer and a bushelful of bandages. Then, he came out of the dressing room and scored the winning goal in overtime - with a broken ankle.The Leafs then won Game 7 and their fourth straight Stanley Cup.
Bill Chadwick’s whistle. Chadwick was the first American referee in the NHL and one of the best referees ever. He worked in an era when Marty McSorley-like stick-swinging incidents happened nearly every day, and grudges would span several seasons. Chadwick inherited one particularly rough playoff series between the Leafs and Wings, and started the game by proceeding to toss into the penalty box anyone from either team who so much as glared. “Whaddya think you’re doing, Bill!” an exasperated Ted Lindsay fumed, after Chadwick whistled him for his third penalty of the period. “What would you do?” Chadwick retorted. “The same damn thing!” Lindsay admitted, as he took his seat in the sin bin. The NHL honored Chadwick by giving him the first No. 1 jersey. He richly deserved it.
The first squid ever thrown on the Detroit ice. A longstanding tradition with Red Wing fans, who used to throw the (presumably dead) creatures on the ice at the old Olympia Stadium in Detroit to celebrate the Wings’ playoff success. Who started it, I have no idea. But it’s better - and safer - than the batteries that are likely to descend from the rafters of the no-longer-cheap seats.
Lester Patrick’s goal stick. Patrick, a former goaltender, was already a celebrated coach and general manager when he took the twin positions with the New York Rangers. During the 1928 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Rangers trailed the Montreal Maroons in games, 1-0, and were struggling in Game 2 of the best-of-three series in Montreal. To make matters worse, their netminder, Lorne Chabot, took a shot in the left eye off the stick of the Maroons’ Nels Stewart and had to leave the game. Amazingly, teams didn’t carry spare goalies in those days. Patrick, 44, put on the pads and begged his charges: “Check like you’ve never checked before, and preserve an old man!” The Rangers won in overtime, 2-1. The NHL named a trophy after him, but I’d rather have the stick.
The bat that terrorized Buffalo. Allright, I admit I have a fondness for critters when they have to do with hockey. This particular bat somehow flew into the rafters of old Buffalo Memorial Auditorium during a 1975 playoff game between the Buffalo Sabres and the Philadelphia Flyers. “It was dive-bombing the crowd,” the Sabres’ Jim Lorentz remembers, “and a couple of times it came near the ice, and I remember [Flyers goalie Bernie] Parent taking a couple of swings at it with his goal stick and missing.” Lorentz quickly whacked it with an overhead two-hander, and the bat went crashing, lifeless, to the ice. Rick MacLeish of the Flyers scooped it up with the blade of his stick and deposited it in a penalty box. Now, wouldn’t that make a more interesting keepsake than a stupid old jersey?
By Ira Lacher
Ira Lacher has covered pro hockey, including the NHL, for a variety of newspapers and magazines throughout North America