July 14--Mike McPhee

Mike McPhee

Selected by Montreal Canadiens, round 6 #124 overall in the 1980 NHL Entry Draft.

Left-winger Mike McPhee was a solid two-way worker for over 700 games spent mostly with the Montreal Canadiens. An imposing force in the corners who could stay with his check, he also registered four 20-goal seasons.

During the late 1980s, McPhee was selected to participate in the 1989 NHL All-Star Game. His stellar two-way work was a factor when Montreal won the Stanley Cup in 1986 and reached the finals in 1989. McPhee's work ethic and willingness to play the body and stay with his check made him a favourite of coaches Jean Perron and Pat Burns. His tenacious work earned him the respect of his peers and he was a three-time winner of the Jacques Beauchamp trophy as the team's unsung hero.

CAREER NHL STATISTICS Years Teams GP G A TP PIM 1984-1994 Montreal, Minn./Dallas 744 200 199 399 661

CAREER NHL PLAYOFF STATISTICS Years Teams GP G A TP PIM 1984-1994 Montreal, Dallas 134 28 27 55 193

Blue ink signed autograph IP on the back of program. Along with Mark Napier and unknown #4.

The 1984 Molson NHL Slo-Pitch Challenge. This was an annual event that I attended and got many IP signatures. The front has autographs of Dwight Schofield, Chico Maki, Rick Walmsley, Mike Kaszycki and a few others I can't decipher.

Detroit Red Wings page with Derek Smith and Lane Lambert.

Edmonton Oilers with Mike Zanier, Paul Coffey

Washington Capitals with Bob Gould, Kevin Hatcher, Ed Kastelic, Doug Shearer and Lou Corletto. NHL Old Timers Dennis Hull.

Here are the team rosters. (Tom Webster auto and unknown). I don't think there will ever be another event like this where you would have this many NHL players in one place. The only drawback was the games where played in three cities (Niagara Falls, St, Catherines and Welland). There were games being played at the same time so you kind of had to pick and choose which ones you would watch.

One last thing. This is my connection to the NHL. My wife is his second cousin. Oddly enough, I don't have any signed cards or photos. He is now an investment advisor with National Bank Financial in Halifax.

July 13--16 Birthdays

Again, with 16 available players to have today as their birthday, I have nothing to show. However, I will dig in my archives to see what goodness I can find.

WOW

7-11 Slurpee NHL Action Stickers advertising piece.  This was for a set of discs (2" in diameter) sold at 7-11 stores in Canada during the 1984/85 season. This set was  difficult to put together since the discs were sold one at a time with large slurpees and the disc was hidden under a panel on the bottom of the cup. So, you couldn't see which one you were buying. You would need to buy 60 slurpees with no doubles for a complete set. I see a lot of tooth decay here. There was also a 6" Gretzky for some unknown reason. I never did complete this set. As it happens, don't remember much on this item but got to know the cashiers there and got stuff in later years. Will post these at a later date.

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I read with interest the product information for 2011 Parkhurst Champions Hockey. In case you haven't heard or forgotten, they are including the introduction of Wire Photos which brings some of hockey's most iconic pictures to cardboard within the context of which they actually appeared.

Insertion Rate

Wire Photos (1:4) capture some of hockey's greatest moments. The 30-card set includes both single- and multi-player cards.

Wire Photo Autograph parallels (Single-signed: 1:400, multi-signed: 1:2,600) include such signers as Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman and Jean Beliveau. Multi-signature combinations include Gordie Howe ad Ted Lindsay, and Johnny Bucyk, Phil Esposito ad Bobby Orr.

 I guess they're reproducing these in card size. A wire photo is a photographic image that was transmitted from an agency to a subscriber via telegraph or telephone wires, and later, via satellite. Different agencies trademarked different terms, including Wirephoto, Telephoto, Laserphoto, Laserphoto II and others, that corresponded to their wire photos. The process was similar to sending and receiving a fax, where the photo was scanned in at one location, transmitted over "the wire", and printed at another location. Wire photos were printed on special, thin paper, rather than developed in a traditional darkroom. The resulting print has a tendency to fade and turn brown much quicker than gelatin-silver prints. With the advent of digital photography, the wire photo is truly an artifact of a bygone era.
Now my interest was piqued as I have probably 10,000 of these, mostly hockey and baseball. I only have them covering the years 1988-1991. I figure there may been 10 pictures a day over that time frame. Now I have some autographed ones also. This is one I have on memreg.com



April 23, 1989 CP laser wire photo autographed in black sharpie by Eddie Mio . I have some signed by Guy Lafleur, Gary Leeman, Vincent Damphousse and lots of unsigned photos of Gretzky, Lemieux, Yzerman--teams like the Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques and Hartford Whalers.  Guess I should have patented my idea. If anybody needs any player, team or from a game you attended, they are available. Shoot me a line and we'll come up with something. Thanks for reading.

July 12--17 Birthdays

There are 17 former and current NHL'ers who share birthdays on this date. For the first time this month, I don't have any autographs for any of them to share.

So I will just throw out some random musings.

Andy van Hellemond

When newspapers across North America ran a comic strip last month that referred to Van Hellemond as “the worst and most evil ref ever,” Van Hellemond hired a lawyer. The creators of the strip, Adam@Home, and numerous newspapers that published it, including the Toronto Star, have since been served with notices of Van Hellemond’s intention to sue for libel.

The four-panel strip in question, which ran in numerous newspapers consists of a back and forth between a father and a son. In the first panel, the son asks his father, “Think I could be an NHL ref?” Replies the father: “If Van Hellemond could do it, anyone can.”

The son wonders: “Who’s Van Hellemond?”

“Some say the worst and most evil ref ever,” the father replies.

In the third panel the son, whose interest in the legend of Van Hellemond is piqued, asks the father: “How bad was he?” The father replies: “So bad he couldn’t see ‘icing’ on a cupcake.”

And the worst thing, referees don't even call icing.

Van Hellemond is now a city councillor in Guelph—and you can be  assured that some municipal politicians can be very sensitive about criticism. Should be interesting as experts on libel law were divided on the merits of Van Hellemond’s potential case.

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These Coke booklets on how to play hockey are from my boyhood days with a 1966 copyright. Four different booklets

Comic illustrations from the David Keon booklet. Guess I didn't learn my lessons well enough.

 

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This booklet from Chex, part of Ralston Purina from 1962. Tips from Leaf coach Punch Imlach.

Even Punch couldn't get me to the NHL.

Man ,this thing is almost 50 years old. Hope someone enjoys seeing this stuff.

July 11--Sid Smith

Sid Smith



Smith grew up in Toronto admiring the Maple Leafs, but was never noticed until he reached junior hockey. The Leafs never expressed any interest in him, so it came as a surprise to Smith when he learned the Leafs had placed him on their protected list.

A model of consistency, Smith recorded six consecutive seasons with 20 or more goals.
Smith played 601 regular season games scoring 186 goals and 183 assists for 369 points. In 44 play-off games, he scored 17 goals and 10 assists for 27 points.

Recived these blue ink signed cards TTM.

He also included this 3X5 signed photo.

July 10--Ilkka Sinisalo

Ilkka Sinisalo



Signed as a free agent after his 1980-81 season in HIFK.
Growing up in Finland, Ilkka Sinisalo played hockey in and for his home country until making the jump to the NHL in 1981. Along the way he played in the World Junior Championships, IIHF World and European Championships and Canada Cup before signing as a free agent with the Philadelphia Flyers.
He would play with the Flyers for nine seasons, along the way having two seasons where he scored seventy plus points and helping the team get to the Stanley Cup finals in both 1985 and 1987. Sinisalo would leave Philadelphia in 1990 signing as a free agent with the Minnesota North Stars only to be traded towards the end of the season to the LA Kings. He would finish his career in the NHL as a King in the 1991-92 season.
Sinisalo moved back to Finland where he would play from 1992 to 1996, when he would hang up his skates for good.

Received these blue ink signed cards TTM. He also included this Flyers postcard

Front

Back

July 9--Phil Hergesheimer

Phil Hergesheimer



Right-winger Philip Hergesheimer played parts of four seasons in the NHL in the 30s and 40s for the Chicago Black Hawks and Boston Bruins. He played 123 games, scored 21 goals, 41 assists, 62 points.  He was a fine goal scorer in the minors and at the senior hockey level though he was more of a utility player as a big leaguer. Hergesheimer went on to play several years in the AHL and was selected to the league's first and second all-star teams twice each. He then played four seasons of senior hockey with the Kelowna Packers and Kamloops Elks before retiring in 1955.

Received blue ink signed index card with team and years.

Envelope and letter saying he did not have any pictures he could send. Postmarked 1988.

July 8--Doug Rombough

Doug Rombough

Selected in eighth round, number 97 overall by Buffalo Sabres in the 1970 NHL Amateur Draft.

After graduating from junior hockey, Rombough was sent to the Flint Generals of the IHL to develop his skills. He spent the next two years in the minors with the Cincinnati Swords before getting his shot at the NHL, playing five games with the Sabres in 1972-73. He managed to dress for 46 games with the Buffalo the next year before being traded to the New York Islanders for Brian Spencer on March 10, 1974.

After spending just over a year on Long Island, Rombough was dealt to the Minnesota North Stars with Ernie Hicke for Jean Paul Parise. He played in 59 games with the North Stars over two seasons. The final three years of his career were spent in the minors. He retired in 1978 at the age of 28

CAREER NHL STATISTICS
Years	Teams	GP	G	A	TP	PIM
1973-1976	Buffalo, NYI, Minnesota	150	24	27	51	80

Received these blue ink signed cards IP. This was during the Molson NHL Slo-Pitch Tournament in the 80's. He used to own Romby's Restaurant in St. Catherines during this time. It appears to have new owners now. And I miss the hockey hair and 'stache from the 70's.