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Thursday, April 4, 2019

Lost Rookies: 1984-85 OPC Marc Behrend

  Marc Behrend was drafted by the Winnipeg Jets, 85th overall, in the 1981 NHL Entry draft.  Behrend was the 10th goalie taken in the draft.  At one point, three of the goalies taken before Behrend were in the top ten for career wins by a goalie.  Those goalies were drafted by the Oilers, Flames, and Rangers.
  It took a few years for Behrend to make it to the NHL.  Behrend played college hockey for the Wisconsin Badgers, and won NCAA championships in 1981 and 1983.  Each time, Behrend was selected as the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.  He is the only player to win the award multiple times by himself.  Lou Angotti also won the award twice, in 1960 and 1962, but shared the award with two other players in 1960.  Marc would make another stop before joining the Jets in 1984.  Behrend played for Team USA in the 1984 Olympics.  There was no medal for Behrend, as the team finished seventh.
  Behrend made his NHL debut a week later and his first NHL start was a 6-5 overtime lose to the Edmonton Oilers.  About another week later, he recorded his first win, a 7-3 pounding of the Los Angeles Kings.  Teammate Dale Hawerchuk set a NHL record that night by recording 5 assists in a single period.
  In his NHL career, Behrend would play 39 regular season games and 7 play-offs games, including the first ever series clinching victory for the Jets, vs the Calgary Flames in 1985.  In Winnipeg, Behrend found himself stuck behind Brian Hayward on the depth chart.  After leaving the Winnipeg Jets, Behrend would take over the starting job from Patrick Roy...  for the Sherbrooke Canadiens of the AHL. (Okay, so Roy only played 14 games for Sherbrooke, including 13 in the playoffs, and albeit the claim is a bit melodramatic, it has a nice affect.)
  Marc would retire from professional hockey in 1987 and become a firefighter in his hometown of Madison, Wisconsin.  He never received an NHL card, and only had a single team issued card while with the Jets.  Below is what a 1984-85 OPC Marc Behrend rookie card may have looked like.


1984-85 OPC #401 Marc Behrend (RC)

  I also decided to through in a bonus card.  A 1984-85 OPC Olympic subset of Marc Behrend.

1984-85 OPC Olympians - Marc Behrend

2 comments:

  1. Glad to see you back updating this blog. Especially happy to see your great work with the 1984-85 set which was my favourite. Do more :)

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, I got the itch again. Right now I am just scheduling them once a week for Thursdays. Focusing on the 80s.

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