May 7

Nothing for todays birthdays. Weather getting nicer, sun is shining and grass is growing. Yard work.

Got my e-mail notification to pick up my volunteer handbook, schedule and apparel for the 2011 Mastercard Memorial Cup. Gotta do that sometime this week.

Some much to do, so little time.

Some miscellaneous scans.

Red Kelly signing some cards for me in  the 80's.

Front and back of postcard received from Tim Bothwell (see May 6 post)

Pat Ribble RC signed in blue ink (see post April 26)

That's it for today. Enjoy.

May 6

Tim Bothwell

Head Coach, Univerity of Vermont

Phone: 802-656-2044
Email: timothy.bothwell@uvm.edu

To help us celebrate today's birthday is Tim Bothwell. Signed as  free agent by the New York Rangers June 8, 1978.

He was a reliable stay-at-home defenceman who played over 500 NHL games spread out over a decade. His strength was taking out his man and clearing the puck out of his zone when the opposition was forechecking.
He served as an assistant coach on the Canadian Women’s Olympic Team that won a gold medal at the 2006 Olympics and begins his fifth season at Vermont in 2010-11. He was named the Catamounts head women’s hockey coach on June 5, 2006.

Received these dark blue ink signed cards and index cards TTM.

May 5

No cards for today's birthday(although I thought I had a Ziggy Palffy

somewhere.

Instead, I will talk about one of my hounding experiences. In the 80's Wayne Gretzky held a celebrity tennis classic during the summer. Today, we will look at June 11, 1983, held at the Brantford and District Civic Centre.

This event was sponsored by Molsons and raised funds for the CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind). Wayne and a bunch of celebrities (both sports and non-sports) would get together for a day of tennis. Each year, there would be a revolving door of people. It was a great time to get autographs. I must admit I did not watch a lot of tennis. I was standing right by the roped off area where the players had to walk by. As at any hounding event, you may be getting someone to sign for you while someone else walks by. You hope you can get them later. Besides getting cards and photos autographed, also bought the program and had it signed too.

Front cover signed in blue ink by Keith and Walter Gretzky.

Back cover signed in blue ink by Don Cherry.

Inside the program were the requisite sponsor ads and pages and photos of guests scheduled to appear.

Signed in blue ink by Cape Breton folksinger John Allan Cameron

Signed in thin blue marker by Mr. Hockey himself, Gordie Howe.

Signed in blue ink by TV newscaster Mike Anscombe.

Signed in blue ink by Colin Campbell and Rick Vaive.

Signed in blue ink by former Brantford Alexander Mike Bullard.

Signed in blue ink by Ron Duguay and Paul Coffey. Signed in red marker by soap star Gloria Loring.

As I mentioned earlier, this was one of many different events I attended during the 80's. Things were a lot different then. Access was no real problem nor was multiple items. Of course, with only two major card sets, there wasn't a lot to get signed. But fun times were had and you became friends with other hounds as you usually were at the same events. 

If you are interested in this item, it is available. Drop me a line with your offer.

Thanks for reading

May 4

Fred Stanfield

Stanfield, who entered the NHL with Chicago during the 1964-65 season, also played in Minnesota and Boston. He was an integral part of the Buffalo club that went to the Stanley Cup finals in 1975. He enjoyed playing for that team’s architect, former Sabre general manager Punch Imlach

Stanfield played 914 career NHL games, scoring 211 goals and 405 assists for 616 points

Can anyone say smooth transition?
     A veteran of 14 NHL seasons, Fred Stanfield retired from professional hockey in 1978. Since putting away the skates and sticks, Stanfield has proved to be as adept in the business arena as he was at the hockey rink. For the past two decades, the former Buffalo Sabre center has operated an office furniture business. What started as a modest business venture has blossomed into a major league operation.
     “We’ve been in business for 20 years,” Stanfield said. “It started with just myself and my wife. Now, there’s eight of us. We used to have one station wagon, now we have two trucks and a van. It’s been quite an experience.”
     Located at 4231 Transit Road in Clarence, Stanfield’s Office Furniture was situated in Amherst for the first 18 years of its existence.

Wrote to him in 1985

Received the blue ink signed cards below.

May 3

Peter Ihnacak

Selected in second round
by Toronto Maple Leafs , number 25 overall, in the 1982 Entry Draft

Centre Peter Ihnacak was a crafty playmaker and solid checker who played parts of eight years with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 80s and 90s. He also played several years in Czechoslovakia, Switzerland and Germany in a pro career that lasted nearly two decades. During the mid point of his NHL career he had the opportunity to play with his younger brother Miroslav.

CAREER NHL STATISTICS Years Teams GP G A TP PIM 1982-1990 Toronto 417 102 165 267 175

CAREER NHL PLAYOFF STATISTICS Years Teams GP G A TP PIM 1986-1988 Toronto 28 4 10 14 25

Wrote to his agent in 1987 and received the following letter

Received this blue ink signed card back.

May 2

Dave Hutchison

Selected in third round
 by Los Angeles Kings number 36
 overall in the 1972 NHL Amateur Draft.

CAREER NHL STATISTICS Years Teams GP G A TP PIM 1974-1984 L.A., Toronto, Chicago, N.J. 584 19 97 116 1,550

CAREER NHL PLAYOFF STATISTICS Years Teams GP G A TP PIM 1975-1982 L.A., Toronto, Chicago 48 2 12 14 149

Dave Hutchison was a rugged and reliable defenceman throughout his 12-year professional hockey career. In 584 regular season games, he totaled 116 points and 1,550 penalty minutes. He was a role player, an aggressive stay-at-home defenceman who was often paired with an offensive minded defenceman. In fact he was the defensive conscience of two of the top defensemen of his time: Borje Salming and Doug Wilson.
Hutch settled back in the London, Ontario area after retiring. He would find success as a real estate agent.

http://www.remax-oa.com/on/dave-hutchison-3683-ag/

Received these blue ink signed cards IP at a Leaf Oldtimer event.

May 1--Boo Hoo

Starting a new month the wrong way. No birthday cards to share so I'm gonna ramble on. Checked my mail box and there was a plastic bad with the dreaded white envelope inside. Attached was the notice form the USPS that envelope was received in this condition blah blah blah. This was funny as my wife received one from Canada Post the day before (luckily it did not contain any sports related material). Anyhow, my package was from the Carolina Hurricanes. I had forgotten that I e-mailed them earlier in the season for a fan pack. Here is what I received.

Folded in half to fit the envelope, from the 06/07 season, Carolina Hurricanes header card and card of Cory Stillman. Also the pencil (good thing it is unsharpened as I amy have poked my eyes out).

Good news as I won the ITG Between the Pipes Contest over at Cards on Ice

You can see what I won at their site.
http://www.hockeycardblog.com/
I will post scans of my winnings when I receive them. There's also a new contest going on now revolving around the announced Panini Score Rookie and Traded Set.

Oh my Leafs, what will they do next.

In having signed a Swedish goaltender famous for his rapping, the Maple Leafs — if nothing else — can argue they have the best nicknames among netminders in all of hockey.
Add Mark In Da Park to a list that includes Optimus Reim, The Monster and Jiggy.
On the ice, he’s Mark Owuya, a 21-year-old, 6-foot-2, silver medal winner from Sweden’s 2009 world junior team.
On stage, he’s Mark In Da Park, a rapper who appeared on Swedish Idol. He’s also got his own website, where you can download his songs, www.markindapark.com

At least this is better than Kris Versteeg at the Hawks SC celebration.

Hopefully the rest of the month gets better. Still waiting for more word on my Memorial Cup volunteer job.