What are you sentimental about that no one else would be?

[Dingo]

My grade 3 teacher didn't like seeing hockey cards in the classroom. About mid-year, she took away all of our hockey cards, and put them in her desk. I had forgotten about them. At the end of the school year, she pulled out stacks of hockey cards from the bottom of one of her big drawers, and asked which pile was mine. I still have those cards.

We had a kid, Nicholas Corchoran, actually cared for his cards. Proudly owned the entire 77-78 set, in a box. The teacher took them away, and sold them for a penny each. Every boy in the class gladly gave them back once Nick implored us, some might have held out for more dough, I can’t remember. But the girls, who had never cared for hockey cards, not for knockdowns, topsies, or closest to wall, not even for free scrambles, just loved the pain they caused him by NOT selling them back to him for any price.
Just brutal to watch.

 

[The Panther]

Cool about Anderson. He also retired to play in Europe just because he could travel that way. Funny player. Good, no doubt. Got to win everything many times, was probably carried or lifted more than nearly every other player ever, to heights where he is absolutely overrated, as genuinely good as he was. Just seemed to casually fall into all of it, nonchalant, living everyone else’s dream.

Kind of backhanded compliment there! Anderson was fortunate, of course, but look at his numbers in his first two seasons. 30 goals in 58 games, as a rookie, before Edmonton had any other star players! Then, 105 points in year two, second only to Gretzky.

When you add in what a playoff stud he was -- esp. in the Finals, including when Gretzky was long gone -- I think he proved he was pretty elite on his own, albeit his longevity was so-so.

 

[Iron Mike Sharpe]

A couple things:


2) The Complete Handbook of Pro Hockey - they probably weren't as good as the Hockey News preseason publications (which either weren't readily available where I lived or I wasn't aware of them when I was a kid), but they still had some good information, especially with some of the feature articles they had in the front of the book. I had (and still have) the 1985, 1986, 1987, and 1988 editions, and later acquired a 1982 edition. I think the hockey versions were discontinued after that, but the pro football, pro basketball, and baseball versions (of which I have many years of copies starting in the mid-1980s) were produced for at least another decade after that.

Oh, yeah, I loved those, bought every one when they came out 78-88. Sentimental memory of the detailed WHA stats being hammered out on a typewriter & you had to flip the book on its side to read them.

 

[Ice9]

The Cleveland Crusaders of the WHA...Very impressionable years for me.

 

[DannyGallivan]

Okay, I'll explain this one. It can be anything. A player you liked, an era that you liked that wasn't popular, a team no one liked, anything. Heck, maybe you are sentimental about those coveralls the Flyers wore in the early 1980s. Whatever it is, post it.

For me a sentimental time in hockey is not one that is shared by many. It was the first round of the 1998 playoffs. Look, this was not an exciting postseason in general. The first round wasn't either. It had one Game 7 and that game was a 4-0 blowout. So why am I a sucker for the 1st round in 1998? My Leafs weren't even in it. The day the playoffs started I got my 4 wisdom teeth pulled. All of them. They put me under for it and once I woke up and the novocaine wore off the throbbing pain set in. It didn't last, but I was out of commission for a while. Drowsy, flared up cheeks on the inside and out and just tired overall. I ate apple sauce, chocolate pudding and ice cream more or less for a few days.

But..............I was glued to the TV every night for the playoffs. I watched every game that was on, and this was 1998 when CBC and maybe just TSN had the games. It didn't matter. To this day I associate the first round of the 1998 playoffs with my wisdom teeth.

All of these are from the 1970's:

• Watching Hockey Night in Canada games televised from Los Angeles in the mid 1970's. First of all, these were very rare. Secondly, you got to see the Kings in all their gold-jersey glory. Third, the games actually started at 9:30 at night... which was my normal bedtime. I got to stay up two and a half hours later than usual!
• Peter Puck cartoons
• Those old between period player interviews where they sat down in front of the HNIC backdrop. They were asked several questions, like a real interview, not two questions in the hallway like they are now. They were still wearing their jerseys as well.
• Those old pocket books they sold before every season, with every players' career stats broken down season by season, all the current records, and an article or two. I collected those for several years. EDIT: I see this was mentioned by someone already. Well done!
• The novelty of playoff hockey. Back then, you only saw HNIC on Saturdays (when I was really young, they were on Wednesdays as well). But come playoff time, they were all throughout the week. Plus, I got to see Montreal away games, in their wonderful red jerseys (HNIC almost only showed Montreal home games in the regular season, so I rarely saw them play in their away "reds"). Plus, there was something about the warmth of spring and playoff hockey. To me, they go hand in hand.
• The Bruins old jerseys from the early 1970's. The shoulder yokes, yellow socks and the yellow "B" looked so much better than what they have now.
• Hockey fights. Sorry, but as long as it didn't turn into a circus, I liked them.

 

[Tarantula]

Watching Hockey Night in Canada games televised from Los Angeles in the mid 1970's. First of all, these were very rare. Secondly, you got to see the Kings in all their gold-jersey glory. T

I always liked any game broadcast from the US as they were rare those days. Loved the Kings gold home jerseys as well!

The Bruins old jerseys from the early 1970's. The shoulder yokes, yellow socks and the yellow "B" looked so much better than what they have now.

Recently watched a Boston broadcast of a Jan 1974 game between Chi and Boston, last year with those jerseys, they looked good home or away. I missed the gold shoulders immediately when I first saw a pic of a Bruin during the 74/75 season.

 

[Big Phil]

how old are you, Phil?

Hovering around the half century mark..................

 

[MeHateHe]

I miss the unique rinks - the Boston Garden with its postage-stamp-sized ice surface; Maple Leaf Gardens with those weird terraces at the back end. Rinks with idiosyncrasies gave teams actual home ice advantage.
I miss rectangular goal creases, for no other reason than I thought they made more sense than the semicircles.

 

[nnynetpotato]

The Forum .Went there on several occasions.Just nothing like it.
In a collegiate note,old Walker Arena at Clarkson.Ken Dryden hated that bell,and so did all the other ECAC goalies.
WBZ and Fred Cusick.
The TastyKake Player of the game on Philly radio.
my Hockey News subscription.

 

[Wolf357]

1980s Hockey Night in Canada
The Original theme song, Baby Blue Blazers, Howie Meeker, White Add Free boards, A unhelmeted Laflour , and watching it all with a Pick a Pop (A old Manitoba Soda pop company) with some Old Dutch Ketchup Potato Chips ( best potato chip that has or ever will exist)

 

[Johnny Engine]

Almost nobody else feels sentimental about the prospect pool the Leafs had in the mid 90s*. The St. John's Maple Leafs had posters all over our elementary school with Brandon Convery telling you to not do drugs, Marcel Cousineau telling you to stay in school, Darby Hendrickson with some other wholesome message, and so on and so forth. David Cooper, Matt Martin, Nathan Dempsey, Kelly Fairchild...these were the local celebrities that kids my age were exposed to, and out of the lot of them, Darby freaking Hendrickson might have been the best player out of all of them.

*Myself and anyone who was born in eastern Newfoundland in the mid 80s and loved hockey. Not the only one, but a tiny, tiny group on the whole.

 

[blood gin]

Goal lights ABOVE the back of the net.

 

[PurpleMouse]

It might not be that uncommon it hasn't been mentioned yet- everyone talks about "the Hockey Theme" but I'm actually much more nostalgic about some of the music they'd play in the background during intermission on old HNIC broadcasts in the early 90s. But because there are no words I can never find the particular song I'm looking for!

 

[Marotte Marauder]

Still have this, 75 cents at the 1972 school book fair.

 

[Thedogo]

Probably old hockey Magazines and newspapers.

 

[FerrisRox]

Steve Penney.

 

[The Panther]

Steve Penney.

What exactly happened to him? (His hyped period was just before I started watching NHL.) He seemed like a big deal c.1984-85 and then, like, a year later he was out of the league...?

 

[CHIP72]

What exactly happened to him? (His hyped period was just before I started watching NHL.) He seemed like a big deal c.1984-85 and then, like, a year later he was out of the league...?

I think the simple answer is Patrick Roy happened to him.

 

[FerrisRox]

What exactly happened to him? (His hyped period was just before I started watching NHL.) He seemed like a big deal c.1984-85 and then, like, a year later he was out of the league...?

Jacques Lemaire, the coach the pulled him out of obscurity and threw him into the starting job for the Canadiens in the 1984 playoffs despite the fact that he had never won an NHL game, left Montreal and Jean Perron took over as the Habs head coach. Penney injured his groin during training camp so the Canadiens broke camp that year with three goaltenders, Steve Penney, Doug Soeteart and Patrick Roy. Despite being healthy when the season began, Penney did not even dress which began a season long frost between Penney - who was coming off a very solid rookie year - and the new coach. Making matters worse, Penney struggled with injuries and developed a strange hiccup in his game that saw him surrender several long range goals. Meanwhile, veteran Soetaert excelled in spot duty and Roy played well as a rookie. Despite this, and despite a very volatile relationship with Perron, he was told late in the season that he would be getting the call to start in the playoffs because of is previous experience and success in the post season, however, late that year he suffered yet another knee injury and was used to the sidelines to watch as Roy who went on to win the Conn Smythe and the Cup for Montreal.

That summer, Penney asked for a trade out of Montreal and the Canadiens traded Penney to Winnipeg for Brian Hayward. In Winnipeg, he found himself in another threesome with rookies Daniel Berthiaume and Eldon Reddick, known as Pokey & the Bandit. Penney battled knee injuries and played just fifteen games for the Jets over the next two seasons. When he couldn't rediscover his game in the minors, and his knees continued to give him trouble, he hung up his pads following the 1987-88 season.

 

[The Panther]

Jacques Lemaire, the coach the pulled him out of obscurity and threw him into the starting job for the Canadiens in the 1984 playoffs despite the fact that he had never won an NHL game, left Montreal and Jean Perron took over as the Habs head coach. Penney injured his groin during training camp so the Canadiens broke camp that year with three goaltenders, Steve Penney, Doug Soeteart and Patrick Roy. Despite being healthy when the season began, Penney did not even dress which began a season long frost between Penney - who was coming off a very solid rookie year - and the new coach. Making matters worse, Penney struggled with injuries and developed a strange hiccup in his game that saw him surrender several long range goals. Meanwhile, veteran Soetaert excelled in spot duty and Roy played well as a rookie. Despite this, and despite a very volatile relationship with Perron, he was told late in the season that he would be getting the call to start in the playoffs because of is previous experience and success in the post season, however, late that year he suffered yet another knee injury and was used to the sidelines to watch as Roy who went on to win the Conn Smythe and the Cup for Montreal.

What a great response. Thanks!

That summer, Penney asked for a trade out of Montreal and the Canadiens traded Penney to Winnipeg for Brian Hayward. In Winnipeg, he found himself in another threesome with rookies Daniel Berthiaume and Eldon Reddick, known as Pokey & the Bandit. Penney battled knee injuries and played just fifteen games for the Jets over the next two seasons. When he couldn't rediscover his game in the minors, and his knees continued to give him trouble, he hung up his pads following the 1987-88 season.

I guess it kind of says it all that, as a young kid, I was following Edmonton's many games against Winnipeg in 1986-87 and 1987-88 and I had no idea Penney was on the Jets!

 

[Merya]

Hovering around the half century mark..................

Don't lie, you're closer to hundred than fifty.

 

[Lukin1978]

I miss the 90's hockey news format

 

[cajmonkey]

I remember sending in some cash and empty pack wrappers in exchange for the O-Pee-Chee card locker.

Also, Daniel Bouchard with Les Nordiques.

 

[Big Phil]

Don't lie, you're closer to hundred than fifty.

My goodness...................no. There is no 80 year old man here.

View attachment 201715
I miss the 90's hockey news format

I miss it too. Mostly because the excitement of getting it every week in the mail. The thing is, this was what you waited for. Nowadays you know all the scores and such just by looking online. Back then you read the articles and outside of magazines and newspapers that's pretty much all you had. TV too of course.

 

[frisco]

Touch icing.

Goalies who really played the puck and started rushes the other way.

One player per set, one company (OPC) hockey cards. No chase cards or limited stuff or sweater swatches and dozens of companies with rights.

Table hockey with the knobs and the players locked into their positions.

The NHL Guide And Record Book in actually physical book form! This year is the first year it hasn't been in hard copy.

Team media guides in hard copy. Are they really saving that many trees?

Weekly stats updates by team in the local paper on Tuesdays. I know it is all online but you've got to load 31 pages to see every team.

40 goal, 200 PIM power forwards.

Short, "reflex" goalies.

Games where forwards didn't backcheck and block shots like their life depended on it.

When goal scoring celebrations didn't include going by the benching and hand-slapping every guy.

1:45 shifts.

No loser point games. Even ties were fine.

Players hanging out in the neutral zone on the PK ala Gretzky and Bure.

My Best-Carey