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

[jj cale]

.... a "stick" of it you say? I recall it (60's) being the same size & app thickness of the cards in the pack, dusted with sugar powder, usually beyond stale to the point that it cracked & disintegrated upon touch.... tasteless.... like cardboard.... so bad that for kids, Boys, we absolutely loved it. The more hideous, the more bizarre.... the worse, the cheaper the gum or candy... the better. Like "Thrills" chewing gum. Cheaper than like Wrigleys or Chiclets... tasted exactly like Sunlight Soap... eat the whole pack in one sitting... eye watering stuff Man.... hockey card gum on the other hand tasteless but the texture, the wafer thinness... all cracked & splintered, stale... the cards all covered with that sugar powder.... and sometimes the gum itself turning to powder, pour it out, all crystal, dust.... that was cool. Like King Tuts remains or something...

LOL...............you've nailed that bubble gum in all it's essence here, thank you!!

60's was before my time so the size and thickness of it it then I can't speak to but I trust your memories of it as you were there. My earliest recollections start in 1974 and I don't recall it ever being more then a thin stick and immediately cracked the moment you picked up the gum in your fingers(and most often times was already cracked in pieces before you ever opened up the package) it was just so dried out and brittle by the time you bought the pack, lol.

Ah the powder on the gum, how could I ever forget? and yeah...................you nailed it, the taste,like sunlight soap!! you got it!!

it was just dreadful stuff, yet if i came across someone that actually had a stick of it today I would pay them 20 bucks just to experience it one more last time.

Your descriptive recalling of of this is sublime.

 

[Howie Hodge]

Do I see Jerry Korab in there?

Yes! Second row on right. Bromley, Fogolin, Korab, and Mickey. Larry Mickey would lose his spot on a line with Luce and Ramsay that year to a "Johnny McKenzie" type player by the name of Danny Gare....

edit: and Meehan and Robitaille would be shipped to Vancouver for Jocelyn Geuvremont....

 

[Howie Hodge]

.... a "stick" of it you say? I recall it (60's) being the same size & app thickness of the cards in the pack, dusted with sugar powder, usually beyond stale to the point that it cracked & disintegrated upon touch.... tasteless.... like cardboard.... so bad that for kids, Boys, we absolutely loved it. The more hideous, the more bizarre.... the worse, the cheaper the gum or candy... the better. Like Thrills chewing gum. Cheaper than like Wrigleys or Chiclets... pure genius, tasted exactly like Sunlight Soap... eat the whole pack in one sitting... eye watering stuff Man & ya still made, available.... hockey card gum on the other hand tasteless but the texture, the wafer thinness... all cracked & splintered, stale... the cards all covered with that sugar powder.... and sometimes the gum itself turning to powder, pour it out, all crystal, dust.... that was cool. Like King Tuts remains or something...

Yes, but if your money was gone, you could work the hell out of the remnants of the gum sticks, and make a small piece of temporarily chewable gum. It would then disintegrate pretty quickly... Probably why I haven't chewed gum since!

 

[jj cale]

Yes! Second row on right. Bromley, Fogolin, Korab, and Mickey. Larry Mickey would lose his spot on a line with Luce and Ramsay that year to a "Johnny McKenzie" type player by the name of Danny Gare....

edit: and Meehan and Robitaille would be shipped to Vancouver for Jocelyn Geuvremont....

Nice, thanks!!

Used to really like Korab, I remember seeing him in the papers out on the town with this big garish sheep skin woolish over the top 70's winter coat, so funny. It makes a fella blush today to see it,lol

He was a real dandy!!

 

[Killion]

Yes, but if your money was gone, you could work the hell out of the remnants of the gum sticks, and make a small piece of temporarily chewable gum. It would then disintegrate pretty quickly... Probably why I haven't chewed gum since!

Actually it was so bad, so tasteless that you might as well be chewing on a piece of paper so in that respect the gum in the card packs good training... why spend money on gum when paper is plentiful & free, doesnt ruin your teeth... whats more with paper, weaponized, ammo... Bic pen.... the Principals Office.... Detentions... learned much through those hockey card packs, life lessons....

 

[Howie Hodge]

Nice, thanks!!

Used to really like Korab, I remember seeing him in the papers out on the town with this big garish sheep skin woolish over the top 70's winter coat, so funny. It makes a fella blush today to see it,lol

He was a real dandy!!

I had Jerry and Gil Perreault sign stuff for me at a car dealership that year. I should have purchased a couple decent pictures or something, as i had newspaper pictures signed...

I still have an autographed puck from that signing in a cabinet..

 

[Howie Hodge]

Actually it was so bad, so tasteless that you might as well be chewing on a piece of paper so in that respect the gum in the card packs good training... why spend money on gum when paper is plentiful & free, doesnt ruin your teeth... whats more with paper, weaponized, ammo... Bic pen.... the Principals Office.... Detentions... learned much through those hockey card packs, life lessons....

Well yes, I think it's the peeled paper from the card that made it hold together at all! Probably tasted better that way, better being a relative term.

The Fleer card gum was better, still low grade stuff but a bit tastier....

 

[jj cale]

I had Jerry and Gil Perreault sign stuff for me at a car dealership that year. I should have purchased a couple decent pictures or something, as i had newspaper pictures signed...

I still have an autographed puck from that signing in a cabinet..

View attachment 110923

Great stuff!!

 

[Howie Hodge]

I had Jerry and Gil Perreault sign stuff for me at a car dealership that year. I should have purchased a couple decent pictures or something, as i had newspaper pictures signed...

I still have an autographed puck from that signing in a cabinet..

View attachment 110923

I hadn't thought about this in years. Transitown Auto on Transit Road in Amherst. The line was around the dealership. There was half an hour left when my dad dropped me off. I knew I'd never get in.

I saw a slightly older little timid lady in the long line by the door. I went up to her and said loudly "that's where you are, I thought you'd gone and given up our spots in line." She replied quietly, "I don't mind you cutting in line, just don't go in before I do." Deal. No one is the wiser.

We were the last two they let in for autograph's before locking up. Hundreds of disappointed fans behind us n a line around the building.

That's how much the team meant to us in Buffalo in 1974....

 

[SidGenoMario]

I guess this is off topic but nothing makes me more sentimental than walking into an arena and getting the first smell of a fresh ice surface.

 

[frisco]

I thought the hockey card gum tasted great. Except the flavor would only last for about 13 seconds or so...

Shirriff coins were cool. My grandparents kept them and put them in the "toy" box with like cars and building blocks and stuff. After they passed away I took possession of them and realized they were worth pretty good money. Especially the star players and a few short print ones that are extra valuable. Could never sell due to sentimental reasons, though.

I went to a few Oiler games in the early 8o's and got everyone to sign my goalie trapper which was neat. Stupidly, I realized I needed the damn thing for games so after awhile all the autos rubbed away. That would be a cool piece of memorabilia today.

My Best-Carey

 

[Killion]

I thought the hockey card gum tasted great. Except the flavor would only last for about 13 seconds or so...

Shirriff coins were cool. My grandparents kept them and put them in the "toy" box with like cars and building blocks and stuff. After they passed away I took possession of them and realized they were worth pretty good money. Especially the star players and a few short print ones that are extra valuable. Could never sell due to sentimental reasons, though.

I went to a few Oiler games in the early 8o's and got everyone to sign my goalie trapper which was neat. Stupidly, I realized I needed the damn thing for games so after awhile all the autos rubbed away. That would be a cool piece of memorabilia today.

My Best-Carey

.... oh dear.... a good idea at the time, "get my Blocker autographed" but a little short on the critical thought process huh frisco?... maybe you needed a new Blocker & felt you could convince your Dad to buy you another "cuz this ones autographed"?..... apparently didnt work...... oh well.

... if you want real sacrilegious treatment of autographed sticks & game used equipment, stuff that no, no way do you ever actually use... a childhood friend & next door neighbor, his Father was the Food & Beverage Manager, then General Manager of the Westbury Hotel in Toronto, located on Wood Street right behind Maple Leaf Gardens which opened in 1957 & where all the visiting teams stayed (before that they stayed mostly at the Royal York).

As the F&B Manager, then GM, he of course knew all of the players, Coaches etc from the 06 era (& beyond), got free tickets, signed sticks, gloves, programs... you name it.... gave most of it to his kid... and as it was plentiful well... we took it for granted that it was easily replaced, always there... so.... need a stick for road hockey?.... nice CCM lefty, #4 (signed, brand new unused, taped & game ready) Beliveau or if you shoot right.... here, try this Northland, #21 (game used, Banana Blade but mint & yes, it too signed) Mikita.... and you know what kids are like with road hockey or shinny sticks.... hey, hockey equipment, sports equipment is made to be used not looked at, put in a case.... amIright?... break the lock, smash the glass, lets check er' out.

 

[UnrefinedCrude]

As a kid in the late 70's/early 80's my friends and I used to religiously collect the ScotiaBank Hockey College news magazine. I always used to grab 2 copies, one for reading and pulling the poster for the bedroom wall, and another to put away. Tragically thrown out by a dad who didn't share the love during a move.

 

[Tarantula]

Wooden hockey sticks, plain leather coloured goalie pads, Bruin jerseys from the early 70's with the shoulder patch and cleaner spoked B. In fact I miss most of the older jerseys.

 

[Tarantula]

Pipe organs, not the canned noise and planned mayhem that every rink seems to use.

Some of the organ players were somewhat legendary in the day, I remember Chicago standing out as I didn't get to see many games televisied out of there and St Louis, the old checkerdome had a great organ player as well, actually not surprising considering both cities contribution to the blues. Miss the pipe organ!

 

[ICM1970]

Pipe organs, not the canned noise and planned mayhem that every rink seems to use.

Some of the organ players were somewhat legendary in the day, I remember Chicago standing out as I didn't get to see many games televisied out of there and St Louis, the old checkerdome had a great organ player as well, actually not surprising considering both cities contribution to the blues. Miss the pipe organ!

Agreed. I like watching footage from games played at the Colisee in Quebec because they in particular, along with Montreal, Chicago, and Washington, had a very good organist.

 

[Lukin1978]

For me one thing is opening up the packages of hockey cards and immediately getting that overpowering smell from the bubble gum they used to include in them. Nothing else smelled like it to this day, it was awful tasting stuff but you still used to get all worked up for it as you went through your pack to see what players cards you got.

That smell and taste and the memories that go along with it...............it's implanted on my brain forever.

This right here I can still remember the taste and smell 20 or so years later.

 

[VaCaps Fan]

Early 2000s hockey before the lockout....

 

[ImporterExporter]

That Hal Gill was a Rod Langway for the young Penguins Cup team in 2008-09.

 

[Jim MacDonald]

If I can get some help on this guys/gals.....in NHL 94 when you were Montreal at home and scored a goal....I absolutely LOVED the song that was played after a goal was scored. When I was a teenager I heard it maybe a few times (just parts of it) watching a Hockey Night in Canada game in The Forum (but not necessarily after a goal was scored). Fast-forward to a biography I read called "Searching for Bobby Orr" by Stephen Brunt....they mention a series (I believe the 70-71 series) with the Canadiens where after the Canadiens won a game at home, a song called (and bear with me as I'm going to butcher the spelling) "Las Canadiens Sont La" (or something to that effect) was played, and it hadn't been played in The Forum in 15 years. Is this song the one from NHL 94?! This will make my day to learn either way. Thank you!

 

[The Panther]

I guess I'm sentimental for a smaller NHL. I think 32 teams (is it 31? I can't even keep track) is too many. We all have our opinions on what the ideal number of teams is. I was a kid in the 21-team era and there were 24 teams by the time I was 16. I personally thought that was enough, and I still think 24 is enough for today's League. I think 30-whatever is far too many teams and has watered-down the higher-end talent level, forcing all teams to rely on defensive systems to win instead of teams with more talented players playing to win with talent.

The first NHL game I ever attended in person (in March 1989) had 7 future Hall of Famers on the ice. In addition to those 7 Hall of Famers, that first game also had: Mike Vernon (Conn Smythe winner), Gary Roberts (910 point scorer), Hakan Loob (50-goal scorer), Theoren Fleury (1088 point scorer), John Tonelli (100-point scorer once; Canada Cup MVP), Dave Taylor (1069 point scorer), and Bernie Nicholls (150-point season; 1209 point scorer).

That's a total of about 14 highly elite/memorable players in one game that nobody following hockey then would forget 40 years later. That's utterly impossible today, mainly due to over-expansion (in my opinion).

 

[HawkNut]

Being in fifth grade in 2003 and the amazing Stanley Cup Playoffs that year, the shocking run Anaheim had. I saw the Game 4 OT winner against Detroit live on TV. Giguere was not human.

The Wild. A sixth seeded team in their third year of existence against a seven seed in the Western Conference Finals. Imagine predicting Minnesota and Anaheim in the Western Conference Finals in October 2002 and what other fans would have said.

Hopping on the bandwagon of the Devils that year. They're my favorite Eastern Conference team. I cheered for them against Ottawa and Anaheim in the Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Finals, respectively.

Sixth grade was fun, too, though I wanted Calgary to win it.

Then of course the Blackhawks. I got really hooked in 2007-2008 during the rookie seasons of Toews and Kane and watching Ovechkin tear up the league that year. The same went in the 2008-2009 season when my fandom went up another level and watched so much hockey that year. Losing to Detroit broke my heart.

Thankfully, 2010, 2013 and 2015 came about. All in special ways.

2010, I had just graduated high school, wanted the drought to end so badly and I was on cloud nine when it did.

2013, I was in college, watched them almost every chance I got, couldn't believe the run they went on and overcoming a 3-1 deficit to Detroit is something I'll never forget, plus Kane's hat trick in Game 5 against the Kings.

2015 was special just because of how badly Game 7 of the 2014 Western Conference Finals stung and seeing Martinez do it again a week and a half later to clinch the Cup, I was really hung up on that for the next year. Seeing the Hawks back on top in 2015 while the Kings sat at home after having missed the playoffs felt oh so sweet.

Also, I'm fond of the McFarlane figures I used to get back in the day: Gretzky, Mikita, Owen Nolan, Messier, Stevie Y, the Red Wings three pack. Those were the days. I'd love to try to get some more in the future.

ESPN NHL Hockey was a game I played for hours as a kid.

 

[Boxscore]

Being in fifth grade in 2003 and the amazing Stanley Cup Playoffs that year, the shocking run Anaheim had. I saw the Gane 4 OT winner against Detroit live on TV. Giguere was not human.

The Wild. A sixth seeded team in their third year of existence against a seven seed in the Western Conference Finals. Imagine predicting Minnesota and Anaheim in the Western Conference Finals in October 2002 and what other fans would have said.

Hopping on the bandwagon of the Devils that year. They're my favorite Eastern Conference team. I cheered for them against Ottawa and Anaheim in the Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Finals, respectively.

Sixth grade was fun, too, though I wanted Calgary to win it.

Then of course the Blackhawks. I got really hooked in 2007-2008 during the rookie seasons of Toews and Kane and watching Ovechkin tear up the league that year. The same went in the 2008-2009 season when my fandom went up another level and watched so much hockey that year. Losing to Detroit broke my heart.

Thankfully, 2010, 2013 and 2015 came about. All in special ways.

2010, I had just graduated high school, wanted the drought to end so badly and I was on cloud nine when it did.

2013, I was in college, watched them almost every chance I got, couldn't believe the run they went on and overcoming a 3-1 deficit to Detroit is something I'll never forget, plus Kane's hat trick in Game 5 against the Kings.

2015 was special just because of how badly Game 7 of the 2014 Western Conference Finals stung and seeing Martinez do it again a week and a half later to clinch the Cup, I was really hung up on that for the next year. Seeing the Hawks back on top in 2015 while the Kings sat at home after having missed the playoffs felt oh so sweet.

Also, I'm fond of the McFarlane figures I used to get back in the day: Gretzky, Mikita, Owen Nolan, Messier, Stevie Y, the Red Wings three pack. Those were the days. I'd love to try to get some more in the future.

ESPN NHL Hockey was a game I played for hours as a kid.

Hawk, the McFarlanes are great! But you're lucky you're not old enough to remember the Starting Lineup figures!

 

[hitman9172]

Being in fifth grade in 2003 and the amazing Stanley Cup Playoffs that year, the shocking run Anaheim had. I saw the Gane 4 OT winner against Detroit live on TV. Giguere was not human.

The Wild. A sixth seeded team in their third year of existence against a seven seed in the Western Conference Finals. Imagine predicting Minnesota and Anaheim in the Western Conference Finals in October 2002 and what other fans would have said.

Hopping on the bandwagon of the Devils that year. They're my favorite Eastern Conference team. I cheered for them against Ottawa and Anaheim in the Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Finals, respectively.

Sixth grade was fun, too, though I wanted Calgary to win it.

Was in 6th grade at the time and this is still probably the most memorable playoffs of my life. A lot of the same memories as you, although I’d like to throw in the Canucks 3-1 comeback vs the Blues and then the subsequent 3-1 blown lead to Minnesota (after Andre Brunette ended Patrick Roy’s career after coming back from down 3-1) and also being on the Ducks bandwagon because of how otherworldly Giguere was.

Was also cheering for Tampa over Calgary in 2004.

 

[Eisen]

.... a "stick" of it you say? I recall it (60's) being the same size & app thickness of the cards in the pack, dusted with sugar powder, usually beyond stale to the point that it cracked & disintegrated upon touch.... tasteless.... like cardboard.... so bad that for kids, Boys, we absolutely loved it. The more hideous, the more bizarre.... the worse, the cheaper the gum or candy... the better. Like Thrills chewing gum. Cheaper than like Wrigleys or Chiclets... pure genius, tasted exactly like Sunlight Soap... eat the whole pack in one sitting... eye watering stuff Man & ya still made, available.... hockey card gum on the other hand tasteless but the texture, the wafer thinness... all cracked & splintered, stale... the cards all covered with that sugar powder.... and sometimes the gum itself turning to powder, pour it out, all crystal, dust.... that was cool. Like King Tuts remains or something...

Still in the late 70s in Germany. Not with hockey but soccer cards or rub on "tattoos". You had to chew 10 minutes for it to have a consistency you'd expect of gum. The first couple of bites were like biting on shards. And one minute after, poof, it was gone.